Syrian Sword This replica of 16th century Syrian sword was bought on my trip abroad. The sword is casted from steel and the casing has three emeralds embedded in it. Arabic scripture engraved on blade. Weight 1.5kg |
THE LEGENDARY SWORDS OF DAMASCUS - Now Only Museum Pieces
“The Damascene swords are not made any more. We have long lost the secret of how they were produced. There are only a few left, mostly in museums and rare antique shops. But look! I have one here! If you can afford it."
The Damascene merchant was dramatic as he drew a curved sword from its scabbard, informing us that this was one of the very few still to be found for sale.
He went on to inform us that the swords one sees for sale in the shops of Damascus, mostly produced for tourists, are only replicas of their ancestors and are only bought as decorative pieces, by the wealthy and those who have a passion for traditional handicrafts.
Historically, these swords are believed to have been made by hammering a batch of low carbon wrought iron into thin sheets, then tying these tightly into bundles. A batch high carbon caste iron was then heated until molten, then the bundles were thrown into the melted iron. The bundled sheets would suck in the melted cast iron into the empty spaces, in the process partially melting the wrought iron sheets and welding the bundle into a solid mass. The mass would be hammered into a rough shape of a sword while still hot. After being cooled, the blade would be filed, ground and polished, then finely decorated.
The finished swords would usually have a coloured surface pattern. According to Nick Evangelista in Encyclopedia of the Sword, the most prized were the ones with a series of bars crossing the blade, known as Mohamet’s Ladder. Damascening, the art of decorating weapons by inlaying with another metal such as gold or silver, was a characteristic of these swords. Visitors to Damascus during the Middle Ages were always impressed with the artisans inlaying their swords with elegant ornamentations.
The reputation of Damascus as a producer of fine swords likely came, not only from producing these blades, but also from the fact that the city was the centre of the sword trade in the Middle East - dealing in swords from as far as Persia, India and the Yemen.
By about 1000 A.D., the Arabs introduced the art of making Damascene steel to Toledo in Arab Spain which thereafter the city earned a reputation as a producer of delicate steel. Today, remnants of that industry still remain, producing souvenir swords for tourists.
True Damascus steel stopped being produced on a large scale in the 14th century when Tamerlane, devastated Damascus and carried all the sword smiths back with him to work for his armies. By about the 15th century, production of these exceptional swords had almost ceased. Damascene steel, which had once spurred envy and myths among Europeans, had ceased to exist.
Today, descendants of the great craftsmen who had in medieval times made superb swords for great armies now produce replicas of the work of their ancestors for the endless tourists.
