Info Favorites Register Log in
myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index Memberlist Usergroups Spotlight Topics Search


myArmoury.com is now completely member-supported. Please contribute to our efforts with a donation. Your donations will go towards updating our site, modernizing it, and keeping it viable long-term.
Last 10 Donors: Daniel Sullivan, Anonymous, Chad Arnow, Jonathan Dean, M. Oroszlany, Sam Arwas, Barry C. Hutchins, Dan Kary, Oskar Gessler, Dave Tonge (View All Donors)

Forum Index > Historical Arms Talk > egyptian maces Reply to topic
This is a standard topic  
Author Message
William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 2:30 am    Post subject: egyptian maces         Reply with quote

ok. heres a querie i have.. regarding egyptian weapons,

the idea (not sure which) is that maces fell out of favour when increased amounts of armour became more common, helmets more widely used or something to that effect.. i honestly cannot remember the exact wording as i heard it a long time ago


what would be the source of this idea, was there a decline at all? or was it due not to more armour but improved metallurgy allowing more swords and axes?

it seems odd from a weapons standpoint, seeing as how precussive weapons are seen as being specialised in compromising armour is this perhaps due to the armours available in the period?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Dan Howard




Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Joined: 08 Dec 2004

Spotlight topics: 2
Posts: 3,636

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 4:21 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

There is an argument that metal helmets drove the mace from the Bronze Age battlefield. There does seem to be a corrollation between the increased prevalence of helmets and decreased prevalence of maces.
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen and Sword Books
View user's profile Send private message
Geoff Wood




Location: UK
Joined: 31 Aug 2003

Posts: 634

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 8:17 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

If Egyptian maces were more often stone (which I don't know, just working/guessing from limited recollections), perhaps that material didn't fare so well against metal armour as did the metal maces used in later ages (maybe more fragile, and/or not able to form such sharp points, flanges as is the case with metal). Just a WAG.

Geoff
View user's profile Send private message
Matthew Amt




Location: Laurel, MD, USA
Joined: 17 Sep 2003

Posts: 1,456

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 9:18 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It could be simpler than that. With metal you can make edged weapons that will do damage to the human body much more easily than a mace. The mace depends on heavy force or a square hit at speed, whereas a light slap or quick jab with a blade will lay flesh wide open. And there simply wasn't enough armor around at that point to tip the balance back to maces or hammers--still plenty of targets for edges and points.

Matthew
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
William P




Location: Sydney, Australia
Joined: 11 Jul 2010

Posts: 1,523

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 8:09 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Matthew Amt wrote:
It could be simpler than that. With metal you can make edged weapons that will do damage to the human body much more easily than a mace. The mace depends on heavy force or a square hit at speed, whereas a light slap or quick jab with a blade will lay flesh wide open. And there simply wasn't enough armor around at that point to tip the balance back to maces or hammers--still plenty of targets for edges and points.

Matthew


that's what i figured, metal axes can deliver concussive force as well as a cut

do we have any idea when this shift occured if it did at all?
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Philip Dyer





Joined: 25 Jul 2013

Posts: 507

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 8:54 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I agree with Matt, being to lobbs of a limb of an armored opponent allows attacks to be faster and with less effort, axe heads can hook shield, weapons can be made lighter and with the same or more because metal can bend deform under stress and can hammered or refored back into same and stone crackes and break under stress, Dan, their rule of logic that just because something corelates with sonething else, doesn't mean it the cause. The falling out of favof maces at the same period of use of metal could just that weapon makers were more used to working with metal, show by the ability to shape small domed helmets and left stone working to the architects,
View user's profile Send private message
Ronald M




Location: vancouver bc canada
Joined: 06 Oct 2015

Posts: 66

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 11:11 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Matthew Amt wrote:
It could be simpler than that. With metal you can make edged weapons that will do damage to the human body much more easily than a mace. The mace depends on heavy force or a square hit at speed, whereas a light slap or quick jab with a blade will lay flesh wide open. And there simply wasn't enough armor around at that point to tip the balance back to maces or hammers--still plenty of targets for edges and points.

Matthew


and axes did basically the same thing

smiley face 123? no? lol yeah well im here cause i like...swords and weapons and stuff obv
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Dan Howard




Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Joined: 08 Dec 2004

Spotlight topics: 2
Posts: 3,636

PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 11:17 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Philip Dyer wrote:
Dan, their rule of logic that just because something corelates with sonething else, doesn't mean it the cause. ,

Which is why I specifically said "corrolation" with no mention of "causation". I agree that an increased prevalence of edged weapons is a more likely reason for the decline of maces.

Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen and Sword Books
View user's profile Send private message


Display posts from previous:   
Forum Index > Historical Arms Talk > egyptian maces
Page 1 of 1 Reply to topic
All times are GMT - 8 Hours

View previous topic :: View next topic
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum






All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum