Hi, y'all.
I have a question concerning "Ballock Daggers", and the shape of the hilt. I was going to buy one of these and I showed a picture to a friend of mine that is not into this kind of thing. He thought it would not be a good buy because the shape of the hilt reminded him of er.......male genitalia. After hearing that and looking at a couple of ballock daggers I couldn't help but agree.... And as these were worn on the belt near that region, I was wondering if they were specifically designed to look like you know what. Are there any historical documents, etc. that confirm or denounce this, um, theory?
Thnx
Z
http://www.myArmoury.com/images/reviews/mi_bd1_s.jpg

The design is intentionally aimed at being a representation of the male anatomy.

Did you read our Spotlight article on the Ballock dagger? It's linked in your post, above.

[ Linked Image ]
Spotlight: The Ballock Dagger
An article by Jason Elrod

Thanks man! Sorry I had not seen that article.
Thnx,
Z

Cool. One other thing worth mentioning is that the original photo you provided as a link is an example that is particularly "anatomic" in nature. Not only are the "lobes" present and quite defined, the grip and "pommel end" are also carved to represent the male anatomy.

In medieval culture, the phallic nature of imagery and art was not frowned upon, but was embraced and often flaunted. The ideas of shame and modesty were different than ours are today. They, of course, existed in their society, but they were not the same as modern notions.

Many ballock daggers are quite stylized, but like the one you show above, others are very lifelike. As our ballock dagger spotlight article mentions, the prudish Victorian culture renamed these daggers "kidney daggers" to deny the obvious phallic association.

Just a note for anyone else who didn't realise- "ballock" or "bollock" are (rather old) English slang terms for testicles. :D