# Communities > Antique Arms & Armour Community > Middle-East, India & Africa (MEIA) >  Collection of Arms and Armor from Turkey

## Tomé Loh

Hi folks,

I've just returned from a trip to Istanbul, and while there I've managed to squeeze in a little time to view the collection of Islamic Arms and Armor, as well as the captured Crusader equipment and weapons and weapons from the Crimean War.

All pictures are taken of items on display at the Topkapi Palace Armory, and the Turkish Military Museum.

Ottoman helm, possibly 13-15th C


Mace and axes, possibly horseman's


Ottoman Helm & Maille, front & back view


Maille, and details


Helm, with Chainmaille Aventail


Armor Plates, Ottoman

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## Tomé Loh

Shamshir and Yatagan

The Yatagan made it's appearance in the second half of the 16th Century. The hilt is generally made of bone or ivory and the pommel is flared.  It's short , slightly curved blade is sharp on one edge and comes to a fine point.  This form continues unchanged until the end of the 19th Century.  The yatagan was widely used in both the Ottoman army and navy.

Shamshir and 17th C Executioner's Sword

The turkish sword is usually consisted of a blade which is grooved, a hilt, guard, and scabbard.  It's basic form is well illustrated by the sword of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, with it's slightly curved blade that thickens at the back. During the reigns of Sultan Bayezid and Suleyman the Magnificent, the Turkish sword attained it's classic form, becoming shorter, lighter, and straighter.  These changes made it a more effective and efficient weapon. Swords are usually embellished with inscriptions and motifs typical of the period.

Islamic Armor and Helm, rear view

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## Tomé Loh

Katana & European Longsword (Sword of Stefan, Roman, 15th Century)

The origins of the Sword of Stefan was not given, but it is likely to be a gift to the Ottoman Sultans, as with the 17-18th Century Katana, which was displayed together with a full set of Japanese Armor.

European Swords

I think the two larger specimens were probably meant for ceremonial usage or possibly tribute or gifts.  They were about the height of my wife, who is pictured to give a sense of scale (her height is 163cm ~ or about 5' 4" for those who don't think in metric)

Islamic Army Standards and Pikes / Spears

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## Tomé Loh

And that's all for tonight.  I'll need another day or so to upload the far larger collection on display at the Turkish Military Museum, Istanbul.

For those who would like to have a closer look at other pictures not featured here, kindly lefty clicky >here< for the Photo Set and >here< for the slide-show.

Thank you, and any comments are welcome  :Smilie:

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## Mat Rous

Those are great pictures - I know it can be hard to take good photos of displays.

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## Gonzalo G

Tomé, I send you a salute from Mexico, and I thank you for this wonderful photos. I will wait with great interest the more to come.
My best regards

Gonzalo

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## Shayan Q.

Thank you so much for these photos! They are absolutely top notch--I'm saving them to my computer to consult, and live vicariously through you  :Wink:

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## Greg T. Obach

thank you
very nice pic's... love the swords..  and armor is fantastic

excellent
Greg

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## Emanuel Nicolescu

Great pictures Tomé! Thank you for posting them.

A slight correction though: the swords pictured next to the shamshir are shashkas, not yataghan. The yataghan has a forward curve and a different type of hilt http://www.oriental-arms.com/search....an&s.x=0&s.y=0

The sword of Stefan is the sword of "Stefan cel Mare", Stephen the Great, the Romanian prince of Moldova.

Best regards,
Emanuel

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## Tomé Loh

> http://www.oriental-arms.com/search.php?q=yataghan&s.x=0&s.y=0[/url]
> 
> The sword of Stefan is the sword of "Stefan cel Mare", Stephen the Great, the Romanian prince of Moldova.


Thanks! I was hunting high and low for that information.

The following pictures are from the in the Istanbul Military Museum, Turkey.

Ottoman Warrior Display


Details of Armor: Belting Harness

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## Tomé Loh

Mounted Warrior displays



Details of Greave attachment to harness:

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## Tomé Loh

Fabric-covered shirt of Maille, Ottoman, belonging to Grand Vizer Mahmut Pasha (? - 1474)


Shirt of Maille, belonging to Sultan Keykubat I (1317-1344)


Surprisingly (to me anyway  :Big Grin: ), many of the maille armor were opened in front, allowing them to be worn like coats.


Details of Fastenings

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## Tomé Loh

Illustrations or armored warriors, and chainmaille construction:


Arm guards and Gauntlets

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## Tomé Loh

Gold-plated Breastplate, Ottoman, 17th Century


(left) Ottoman Helm, 16th Century, (right) Persian Helm, 16th-17th Century


Greaves, Islamic, 15th Century

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## Mat Rous

I really like the blade on the Horseman's spear/lance. really big

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## MumtazB

I love the calligraphy and inlay on the Ottokman armour and helmets....thankyou for sharing

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## Emanuel Nicolescu

Excellent Tomé! Perhaps moderators could make this thread a sticky, it would be great to have it as a constant reference.

In the picture with close-ups of the infantryman's harness, we can see a khanjar in his sash. That type of khanjar is associated with Syria so I I find it interesting that the museum officials/curators used a Syrian style of khanjar instead of a Turkish one.

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## Tomé Loh

Armor being used; Mether Performance.






The Mether was the world's original military band.  It's drums were used first by the mongols to disrupt enemy morale, and other instruments were later added.  The Mether bands were the inspiration for modern european military bands in the 16th century onwards.

The reconstruction of the Mether band by the Turkish Military Museum includes three "guards" in full armor, with another three "Janissaries" in traditional garb.

A video of the performance, can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeTUfLOWN7E

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## Tomé Loh

Recurve Bow Illustrations:


Recurve bows:


Arrows:


Leather Archery Target:


Coming up next, captured weapons and armor from the Crusades and other wars with Europe!  :Cool:

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## Manouchehr M.

Tome

Thank you very much for sharing these pictures with us.  They are excellent.

KInd regards
Manouchehr

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## Manouchehr M.

Tome

Could you possible post the pics directly on SFI?

Kind regards
Manouchehr

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## H. Gaballa

Great pics Tome, thanks for sharing them.

Do you have any higher res pictures of the Mamluk mail-and-plate armours by any chance?

Thanks.


On a slightly unrelated issue, i've noticed that the curators at the Askeri Muse are still under the misapprehension that greaves are vambraces.

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## Tomé Loh

Hi, sorry for the break, but work has been murder ~ and a flu added does not help.




> Could you possible post the pics directly on SFI?


Manouchehr, I'll see what what I can do. The pics are at about 2mb each; will the storage be a problem?


Now, on with the show:

Swords, German, 14th C


Rapiers, 17th C


Early Rapier, European, 17th C (I'd say Germanic, but I could be wrong)


Sword, German, 15th C (although it looks more like a Schiavona)


Sword, Spnish, 16th Century & Lance, Bohemia, 1437-1439, Made for King Albrecht and Queen Elizabeth


Sword, Italian, 15th C

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## Tomé Loh

Long Sword, European, 15th C


Great Sword, German, 17th C


Arming Sword, French, 15th-16th C


Arming Sword, Italian, 15th C


Arming Sword, European, 15th C


Ranseur, Italian, 16th C


Long (?) Sword, Italian or Spanish, 15th C


Long Swords, German, 15th-16th C


Swords, European, Various

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## Tomé Loh

Nemesis Force Wea... err... I mean, Sword with Revolver, Second Half of 19th C


Swords, Mamluke, 15th-16th C


Sword (possible early C&T vide rapier), European, 16th C


Arming Sword, German, 14th C


Arming Sword, European, 15th C


Long Sword, German, 14th C


Sword, Italian, 15th C


Long (Great? due to length of hilt)) Sword, German (Passau), 15th C


Halberd, Italian, 16th C

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## Tomé Loh

> Do you have any higher res pictures of the Mamluk mail-and-plate armours by any chance?


Which ones are you looking for? I could possibly e-mail them to you this weekend when I get home.

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## Tomé Loh

Sword, German, 14th C


Sword, Italian, 15th C


Closed Helm (Maxamillien), German, 1520-1530


Tilting Helm, Italian, 16th Century


Helm, Hungarian, 16th Century, Bishop's Mantle, Probably Hungarian 16th Century


Helms, Various


Helm, Dutch Pot, 1640-1650


Helm, Russian, 17th Century


Helms, Various

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## Tomé Loh

And, that's all. I hope that the series of exhibits was as informative for you as it was for me.

Thank you.   :Smilie:

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## Greg T. Obach

thanks again
those are some cool pictures
think i've been over the armor pictures several times..  very nice

it was informative for me.. :Wink:  :Wink:  :Wink: 

Greg

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## H. Gaballa

> Which ones are you looking for? I could possibly e-mail them to you this weekend when I get home.


Thanks for the generous offer. I meant the gilded mail-and-plate armours you had in your first and second posts. I have previously only seen poor quality Black and white photos of these armours. At least one of them is attributed to the 15th century Mamluk sultan Qaitbay.

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## MumtazB

cool pics Tome , thankyou .

I notice that the Arming Sword, German, 14th C and the Long Sword, German, 14th C have arabic script on the blades

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## H. Gaballa

> cool pics Tome , thankyou .
> 
> I notice that the Arming Sword, German, 14th C and the Long Sword, German, 14th C have arabic script on the blades


I'm guessing the Arabic script would have been added after the swords were captured by the Ottomans. A lot of the European items in the Askeri Muse would have been captured during the Ottoman campaigns in Central Europe and the Balkans.

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## Wim Durinx

Tomé, thank you for the great photos, especially of the often forgotten Military Museum. It seems only schoolchildren are dragged there! Reminds me, when I was visiting the museum five years ago, I was thrown out - in the most friendly way- of the museum, for trying to photograph the armours and swords. The staff considered ALL items sensitive military objects...

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## Tomé Loh

> Tomé, thank you for the great photos, especially of the often forgotten Military Museum. It seems only schoolchildren are dragged there! Reminds me, when I was visiting the museum five years ago, I was thrown out - in the most friendly way- of the museum, for trying to photograph the armours and swords. The staff considered ALL items sensitive military objects...


You're most welcome.  It seems like they've changed their attitude somewhat; all you need to do is to pay a 12 Lira fee to bring a camera in and ensure that no flash is used on the exhibits, and the curators will generally leave you alone.  :Smilie:

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## Manouchehr M.

Did you realize that European swords are also called kilic? :Smilie: 

Kilic is a general term for sword in Turkish as shamshir is in Persian.

Tome did you find out how to resize your pictures so that they can be posted on SFI directly?

Kind regards
Manouchehr

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## Tomé Loh

> Tome did you find out how to resize your pictures so that they can be posted on SFI directly?


Yes, I have. However, on reconsideration, I have decided to keep the pictures hosted on flickr to keep the rights on them.

Regards, and Happy New Year!  :Smilie:

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