Subject: irregular armored cavalryman
Culture: Turco-Iranian
Setting: civil war, Zand-Qajar Persia mid-late 18thc
Object: impact weapons
Axe
* Persian arms and armour 2000 p66
"Tabar (hatchet)[:] The name refers to hatchets that were not worn by the saddle. Most of them had a longer handle, not always made from metal. The head was in the shape of a half-moon. Some tabars had double heads and some had a spike at the top. The heads were often decorated with a chiselled ornament with gold damascening. ... They were seen more as a decorative item than a combat weapon. ..."
* North 1985 p44
"[A] type of axe, often found in Persia, has a large crescent blade set at either side of the head, the surface of which is chiselled in the elaborate floral and figurative ornament of the Qajar period."
Mace
* Persian arms and armour 2000 p66
"Gorz: This name refers to maces of all types, especially those with a spherical or egg-shaped head with a circumference of about 7-15 cm. ... The gorz head was sometimes shaped like a demon's or a bull's head."
* Stone 1934 p421
"The typical Persian [mace] form was a bull's or devil's head which had openings at the nostrils and ears which gave a whistling sound when a blow was struck."
* North 1985 p42-44
"Many collections of Islamic arms contain maces with heads in the form of bulls or demons, usually of watered steel damascened in gold. A bull-headed mace is said to have been carried by Genghiz Khan and Tamerlane. These are also depicted in the hands of well-known characters from Persian legend, inlaid into metal vessels and illustrated in manuscripts of the period. The majority of these figurative maces found in collections date from the 18th or 19th centuries. They appear to have been made solely for parade."
* Khorasani 2006 p261
"Unfortunately, none of the authors who describe this type of weapon as a ceremonial or parade piece state in which type of parade or ceremonies they were used."
* Wilkinson 1978 p143
"A few Persian examples [of maces] have the 'knob' in the form of a horned head."
* Weapons of the Islamic world 1991 p84 (describing a Persian mace XIIth-XIIIc AH)
"Bludgeons were most probably cavalry weapons."
* Made of iron 1966 p198 (describing a mace with horned head, Persia, XIX century)
"According to the academician Saīd Nafissy, who saw ceremonies still performed at the beginning of the century, this piece is a typical cane-mace of the Persian Dervishes. It was considered protective against malevolent influences."
