Original 19th Century Abyssinian Ethiopian Shotel Sword with Silver Mounted Scabbard circa 1850 Original Items

Original Item: One of a Kind. These very unusual swords with very very curved blades come from the “Horn of Africa,” which includes Abyssinia, which we now know as Ethiopia. Made famous just before WWII by the Italian Invasion of that Country, and the appeal by it’s Emperor Haile Selassie to the League of Nations, which the Western Powers basically ignored. It’s Capital is ADDIS ABABA, a city dating back some 2,000 years and more. A Country much in the news but also a land largely still in the middle ages in some respects.

The Shotel Sword, with its very characteristic heavily curved blade, dates back to the reign of AMDA SEYON the 1st, known as “the Pillar of Zion” who was Emperor from 1314 – 1344. The design was intended to “go around” an opponent’s shield and then to pull it aside, so he became defenseless and was promptly dispatched.

Our example dating to around 1850 has a 29″ blade, sharpened on BOTH sides mounted onto a horn hilt made of exotic material, surmounted with an intricately decorated silver pommel. The translucent horn today is said to be a great aphrodisiac. The sword comes complete with its original silver mounted rawhide leather scabbard.

A fascinating and very rare African Sword, whose origin dates back maybe 650 years. Fully cleaned and ready to display!

More Information on the SHOTEL Sword:

A shotel is a curved sword originating in Abyssinia (ancient Ethiopia). The Ethiopian swordsmen who were trained in using this weapon were known as shotelai. The curve on the shotel’s blade varies from the Persian shamshir, adopting an almost semicircular shape. The blade is flat and double-edged with a diamond cross-section. The blade is about 40 inches (1,000 mm) in total length and the hilt is a simple wooden piece with no guard. The shotel was carried in a close fitting leather scabbard.

Evidence for the shotel dates from the earliest Damotians (Damites) and Axumites, used by both mounted and dismounted warriors. After the Solomonic restoration of Atse Yikuno Amlak I, the resurgent Emperors began to re-establish the Axumite armies. This culminated in the reign of Amda Seyon I. Ethiopian forces were armed with short and long swords such as the Seif and Gorade. The Shotel swordsmen known as Shotelai and organized in the Axurarat Shotelai comprised one of the elite forces of Amda Seyon’s Imperial host. Along with the Hareb Gonda and Korem cavalry, Keste Nihb archers and Axuarat Axuarai lancers were said to be the forces that “..flew through the air like the eagle and spun on the ground like the avalanche”, by a contemporaneous historian. Shotel techniques among others included hooking attacks both against mounted and dismounted opponents that had devastating effect especially against mounted cavalry. The shotel could be used to hook and rip the warrior off the horse. Classically the Shotel was employed in a dismounted state to hook the opponent by reaching around a shield or any other defensive implement or weapon.