thence infer that they were not always provided with some other more efficient weapon; and in leading their troops to the charge, we see them armed in the same manner as the king when he fought on foot. In chariots they had the bow; and every chief prided himself upon his dexterity in archery, and emulated the skill as well as the valour of the monarch.

The axe, or hatchet, was small and simple, seldom exceeding two, or two feet and a half, in length: it had a single blade, and no instance is met with of a double axe resembling the bipennis of the Romans. Of the same form was that used by the Egyptian carpenters; and not only did the soldiers carry it as a serviceable weapon in close combat, but even for breaking down the gates of a town, and felling trees to construct engines for an assault. Independent of bronze pins which secured the blade, the handle was bound in that part with thongs of hide, in order to prevent the wood, split to admit the metal, from opening when exposed to the sun; and the same precaution was adopted in those belonging to joiners and others, who worked in their own shops.

The axe was less ornamented than other weapons; some bore the figure of an animal, a boat, or fancy device, engraved upon the blade: and the handle frequently terminating in the shape of a gazelle's foot, was marked with circular and diagonal lines, representing bands, as on the pro

A hatchet in Coptic is kelebin; but it does not appear whether it was applied to this weapon. The name kelebin calls to mind the Saxon cleofan, to cleave; as the words ко¬т and khopsh, or shopsh, to chop.

jecting torus of an Egyptian temple, or like the ligature of the Roman fasces.* The soldier, on his march, either held it in his hand, or suspended it at his back, with the blade downwards; but it does not appear from the sculptures whether it was covered by a sheath, nor is any mode of wearing a sword indicated by them, except as a dagger in the girdle, the handle sloping to the right.†

The blade of the battle-axe was, in form, not unlike the Parthiant shield; a segment of a circle,

* Vide wood-cut, No. 41., and at the end of Chap. III. fig. 1.
As in wood-cut, No. 39.

Vide Hope's Costumes, vol. i. pl. xx.

divided at the back into two smaller segments, whose three points were fastened to the handle with metal pins. It was of bronze, and sometimes, if we may be allowed to judge from the colour of those in the paintings at Thebes, of steel; and the length of the handle was equal to, or more than double that of, the blade. Mr. Salt's last collection, part of which was purchased by the British Museum, contained a portion of one of these weapons*, whose bronze blade was thirteen inches and a half long, and two and a half broad, inserted into a silver tube, secured with nails of the same metal. The wooden handle once fixed into this tube was wanting; but, judging from those represented at Thebes, it was considerably longer than the tube, and even protruded a little beyond the extremity of the blade, where it was sometimes ornamented with the head of a lion or other device, receding slightly†, so as not to interfere with the blow; and the total length of the battle-axe may have been from three to four feet. In some battle-axes, the handles were very short ‡, scarcely exceeding the length of the silver tube, above-mentioned, which in this specimen is only eleven inches and a half longer than the blade, and may have been the entire handle; the small aperture at the lower end § serving equally for admitting the pin which secured the wood inserted into it, whether this extended beyond, or merely filled, the tube.

The blades of the battle-axes represented in the

* Vide wood-cut, No. 42. fig. 1.
As fig. 6., which is from the sculptures.

+ As fig. 3.

Fig. 2.

paintings of Thebes offer two forms, one of which is more circular than that of Mr. Salt's; from the excellence, however, of its workmanship and materials, we may conclude that this last was of the

most general and approved shape, and perhaps belonged to some military chief, or to the king himself; and it is singular that an axe very similar to this was formerly used by the Germans, and other European infantry.

The battle-axe may answer to the Teλexus, as the pole-axe to the aim of the Greeks.

The pole-axe was about three feet in length, but apparently more difficult to wield than the preceding, owing to the great weight of a metal ball to which the blade was fixed: and if this increased its force, and rendered the blow more destructive, it required, like the mace, a powerful as well as a Figs. 3. and 4.

skilful arm to use it with success, and to make it as efficient a weapon as the battle-axe.

We rarely find an entire corps of men armed with it; the only instance I remember occurring at E'Sioot, where the same soldiers bear the cumbrous shields already noticed; it may, therefore, have been peculiar to certain troops, and to the chiefs, in whose hand it is usually represented. The handle was generally about two feet in length, sometimes much longer; the ball four inches in its greatest diameter†, and the blade varied from ten to fourteen inches, by two and three in breadth.

No. 43.

фиг

2

Pole-axe.

Thebes.

The mace was very similar to the pole-axe, without a blade, and appears to correspond to the xopun of the Greeks, which was frequently of iron. That used by the Egyptians was of wood, bound with bronze, about two feet and a half in length, and furnished with an angular piece of metal, projecting from the handle, which may

metal.

Vide wood-cut, No. 34.

+ I suppose it to have been a ball, rather than a flat circular piece of