I know that there are many fans of this weapon out there, each of them thinking himself special and lonely for liking such an obscure thing, so this should please them. www.LloydianAspects.co.uk
I own a falcata, but despite many hours of research, I have yet to find consistent structural definition for these weapons. There are some minor stylization and construction differences between the two but structurally kopises and falcatas overlap almost completely in how they look and, I assume, feel. Basically, same weapon, different regions. If you brought a falcata to Greece, everyone would just call it a kopis.
EmmaCross94 maybe the blade profile, I for find that falcatas have broader blades all around than the kopis. The kukri is more easier to spot as it doesn't have a guard, generally.
I would recommend lindy's video on pole-arms for how silly the semantics of these are. I mean, really being a litter fatter but being nearly identical in most other ways is a very goofy distinction. Different names for the same thing. "That's not a sword, those are english, that's a svard, you can tell because it's got a smaller guard"
@@Djzommer1 Nope. The war ended in a treaty. Nepal remained a sovereign state with its own full ability to rule and governing unlike British India. The first British Gorkhali soldiers were mercenaries. They were nepalese army soldiers and inhabitants of the former nepalese land given to the then British East India Company as terms of the treaty in exchange for cooperation, peace and sovereignty. Obviously when that land was given away, u couldn't have national soldiers living in foreign land so those nepalese soldiers lost their jobs and were hired by the British because they saw damn well how good they were at fighting. Later during World War I they wanted more Gorkhali soldiers so they so they paid requested the Nepalese government for more soldiers in exchange for money and infrastructure development aid. If Nepal was a bitch u wouldn't even have needed to ask.
+th3r3ck1355 Sax/Seax means knive/longknife and is exactly this, a knife. Do you mean "Falchion"? Because that thing is a very topheavy one edged sword and could be interpreted as a breed of an axe and a sword much like a big machete. But to be honest a Kopis/Falcata is just like a Falchion with a bend or a machete with a bend...there are to many names for stuff that is very similar.
The ancient world had plenty of ships sailing around the Mediterranean. Weapons of war travel more than most objects. There is no good reason to suppose that these two near-identical weapons developed ion perfect isolation. The variation within falcatas and kopises is enough for me to regard them as the same weapon, with local styling. I've seen some very thin falcatas.
+Plight_of_Icarus Well, in general terms for the Modern Age, most things of consequence actually were indeed invented here. Even now a goodly proportion of new or innovative advances and technologies start their lives in British brains. It's a bit of a mystery given the parlous state of our economy and the poor fashion in which science and engineering is funded ... maybe it's down to the terrible weather :D :shrugs:.
+Dallas Sukerkin Do you have a comprehensive list of major inventions that pertain to the modern age? If so, I'd love to see the breakdown that shows Britain invented "most" of them. I'd maybe believe a plurality, but certainly not a majority.
+KingdomOfDimensions You are quite right, KoD. I was guilty of thinking only in terms of major developments which lead to very commonplace technologies e.g. RADAR, Sonar, Computers, jet engines, the WWW, the underpinning theories that lead to nuclear power etc. That sort of thing. Essentially, if it's a technology that people think the American's developed the science or concept usually came from here. These days, sad to say, in terms of numbers of specific patents, we are faltering badly due to lack of investment. Whether we shall recover or just fade is in the balance :(.
I love it how he just looks around and there's a weapon under the camera and he takes it out as if it was just there by chance XD I bet he has weapons all over the floor or next to each wall and piece of furniture in that room :))
I laughed so hard when he did that I had to back up the video. Looks around, holds up the kopis "imagine its kind of like that" then goes back to the kukri. ROTF
I know I do! I have swords and knives and guns all over my room. I even sleep with 2 Kukri's, an Uzbeki Pichok and a small Indian saber on my pillow. Sounds a bit crazy right? Well, good luck to anybody stupid enough to try to break into my room while I'm sleeping!
Well... Greeks did invent cultural chauvinism, as evidenced by the word "barbarian"/"barbarism" (looking down on everyone who does not speak one's own language - a "barbarian", literally, "someone who speaks unclearly") which has come a long way since then (even the Berbers got their name from that, along with the barbary-coast ...) - so I guess that's just consistent, ain't it?
PyrrhoVonHyperborea Back then it was understandable to feel superior than the rest in Greece. The cultural and scientific achievements they'd accomplished are not comparable to any single nation in history if you take in account how small Greece is. But now it is just stupid to brag about this stuff. Yet to know that your ancestors were these amazing people makes you feel special.
Relatively recently, there was a Gurkha Soldier (the Nepalese Unit known for wielding these) who used this weapon to successfully fight off a horde of train robbers when they decided to escalate from robbing to attempting to rape a young woman on the train. Attempting being the key word, because he stepped in and within twenty minutes, 3 were dead, 8 were injured and the other 30 or so men fled.
tenjenk There was a British officer who served in the Gurkha regiments. He had a saying. "If a man says that he is not afraid of dying, then he is either lying, or a Gurkha."
The accounts vary between 15 and 40 robbers. The ones which give the highest number of robbers are also the ones which speak of the grandest accomplishments by Bishnu Shrestha. But by his own account, he only injured three before they overpowered him. He did not succeed in killing anyone, but succeeded in injuring three - before losing his kukri and the robbers used it against him. When he slumped to the floor, bleeding profusely, he says the fight left the remaining passengers and they did the robbers' bidding. The robbery was not thwarted by Bishnu Shrestha, though he made a valiant effort.
Misconception dear sir! :) we all know they are demigods from mythology or Titans been dropped from high by Zeus hand or some other eloquent vivid and colorful stories, we made the science to transverse them ^^
Gripping hard with the little finger, though, with this sort of grip stops the weapon from swinging further forwards. The big problem is hanging on to the thing. It has such mass that if you don't grip somewhere you'll end up throwing it. Yes, to start the chop, you use the little finger more than any other (I have a video about this).
The Filipino itak, bolo, or tabak (many names here too) works the same way. It's generally used for cutting firewood, opening coconuts, clearing a path through the jungle, or even mowing your lawn (if you use it for that you will have amazingly sore thighs and biceps after you do). On top of that, it is the go-to slashy thing for revolts. I have one, and I can tell you it is VERY satisfying to chop things with.
I am Greek and I can verify that we have indeed invented EVERYTHING. Jokes aside, great video. And the name "kopis" might as well mean something like "chopper" as you mentioned, because it derives from the verb "kόpto" (the thingy above the first o is the stressing point) which means "to cut"
I should point out, the reason a hammer head is forward of its haft is entirely different than the reason the edge of a kopis is curved forward. A hammer's head is balanced above the haft, generally, which means some weight will be behind and some will be ahead. This isn't ALWAYS the case, but it almost always will be. It's because a hammer is quite heavy, comparatively, and it would take more force to balance the thing correctly while you swing it. As it's not thin the way an axe is, it's extremely important for a hammer to balance across the haft, or it would feel incredibly awkward when you swing it. As anyone who's played with a kopis or falcata can attest, they're already wildly out of balance. Why did they design them this way? Well, a falcata or kopis operates somewhat like an axe, in that it does benefit somewhat by tilting the balance forward. By changing the direction of the blade, they change the direction of the force being applied. You swing the handle in a certain direction, but the blade arrives at a different angle. Three things primarily are happening here: -More blade technically arriving to back it. When a sword strikes something, only that area of mass behind the part of the blade arriving (generally within 45 degrees) contributes directly to the kinetic energy delivered. This is the major disadvantage of a sword compared to something like a hammer. Since the blade is angled at the tip, it arrives with a bit more blade behind it (which is why those swords, as they angle forward, also bulge out) -The direction of the force shifts. Instead of striking with a relatively straight blade, which largely delivers force in the direction it was traveling, the kukri pictured would "draw" across, a bit like a katana. As it arrives, even though it is being swung directly, it somewhat arrives glancing. This means that it naturally forces the blade to draw-cut across whatever it hits. This is incredibly effective for cutting through dense clusters of tissue (like people) but suffers somewhat against well-made armor. -The off-balance nature of the blade makes it less prone to slipping forward. It's not technically a concave blade (as you can see the blade is actually convex), but with the direction of the force now essentially pushing towards the wielder if it hits something, the blade wants to rip out of the hand rather than skitter off towards the wielder. Essentially, you can continue applying force until the blade has no more momentum to move forward or it rips itself out of your grip, it's much harder to deflect towards you. This helps somewhat in applying more force. Ancient peoples sometimes didn't know what they know. They knew that this design seemed to work to deliver far more cutting force almost by trial and error, but they didn't know exactly why. Still, there's a reason these things are still in use, particularly in places where heavy cutting isn't just a combat necessity, it's a part of everyday maintenance life. They do work a lot like axes (though not entirely), but not particularly like hammers. You almost never see a hammer head turned inward that way; they aren't built to apply force at an angle. Hammers are almost unilaterally meant to drive laterally directly behind the head, using the mass to generate the kinetic energy on arrival.
Love how amongst all the comments asserting that, "no, no, Kopis(?) and Kopeshes(?) are nothing alike, promise!" and "Kopis don't exist, you have a falcata, there, and I should know, I have the internet!" no one paused to realise...and laugh at the fact that he opened by showcasing a Kukri, talked a bit, asked us to imagine a Kopis based on it, sighed, /grabbed a nearby Kopis/ said "Like that, imagine it looks like that", set the Kopis down, and carried on, using the Kukri. Because I can't stop laughing.
+The Learned Soldier Honestly, I suspect that is because his sample of a Kopis is an unusually large one. The ones I've seen in museum collections (cast bronze, every one) were considerably less massive. In fact, they much more closely resemble the Kopesh he had in that other vid than this modern wall-hanger he's got here, save that they are straighter with a much longer point. I expect he's aware of this.
+IoKnight No, the Falcata is just a newer term. If I were to bet, I'd estimate that the Iberians took the idea through the Mediterranean culture spread from the Greeks(possibly through Roman culture later on). Not for certain yet though.
+IoKnight I know the wikipedia page for kopis refers to falcata as being Iberian, but just take a look at the falcata page to see what's up with that if you don't believe me.
Rick B Can you send a link please? So far it looks like the falcata dates around 3-4BC and the Kopis was used around 6-8BC is what I'm finding. I figured the Greeks had colonies early on, but not early enough to originate it-so you nailed them being separate. Also, please don't glorify weapons as if any style could slice through any armor. Skallagrim rants about this often and he's right- we see this way too often. And I hate to be that guy...but shotguns have no penetration(being pellets that hit you, gauge determines number of pellets but lower mass means less force), and sawing off the barrel reduces gas pressure propelling the shell's pellets(reducing velocity also)-not such a good comparison.
+Kotos Autumn Falcata spawmed much before Rome became even a powerful city state. There were many Greek colonies across the coast of the Iberian peninsula so maybe the origin was Iberian and Greeks took it, maybe the origin is Greek and Iberians took it. Nonetheless, even though the shapes are very similar each other, the falcata fabrication is different and the resultant iron was stiffer and harder than the one used in Kopis.
+Ciruelo No We know there were some contact between these two cultures(Greek colonies in Iberian peninsula plus Greek cities of Italy using Iberian mercenaries) but as he said it is a bet therefore more or less an opinion. There are not enough evidence to support one theory over another. There even scholars that support the etrouscan origin of the sword so maybe they both borrowed it from somewhere else. I don't find the paralel evolution of the swords completely imposible either though I do not think it is as likely.
I'm glad you mentioned how sharp a Kukri is. I did read, many years ago, that it was one of the few things that really bothered the Japanese troops in the last war. Apparently, they had a piece of advice for anyone who fought Gurkhas: "If he waves his curved knife at you in battle, don't nod your head later - it might fall off."
Couple notes. While the Kopis was likely originally taken from the Kopesh, as the ancient Greeks were massively obsessed with Egypt, they were used differently. If you look at the Kopesh, it doesn't have much weight behind it. It's about as thick as a curved cavalry saber. Given the lack of powerful armor in Egypt, Nubia, and the Levant (that is, the border of Egyptian combat), a slicing weapon would be more dangerous than a chopping weapon, which (as the Romans figured out when they fought the Parthians) was a very effective anti-armor weapon of the time. With the Greek focus on armour, their adjustment of the weapon weight isn't particularly surprising. It was also primarily (not exclusively, but primarily) a cavalry weapon, which ought to give it some context. The Xiphos was preferred for infantry usage, because stabbing is better than cutting/chopping if you can hit the fleshy parts, but it was much harder on a horse. Given that this was before anyone figured out stirrups, cavalry had less of a charge and more of a skirmish role, especially in Greece (not so much in Macedonia, but that had much better land for horses and Illyrian and Thracian influence which made more aggressive cavalry feasible), so it was to be expected that there would be a decent bit of sword fighting on a horse, rather than just spearing which would have had a better chance of knocking you off balance in some situations.
Unus Domus Mostly checked comment section in hopes that someone would've made these notes. Admittedly you were way more knowledgeable with these than I would've been, so kudos to you
Unus Domus I have the same thing Lindy is waving around. It is a heavy beast. Heavier than my bastard swod and half as long. The Geeks/Macedonians used it for cavalry but reportedly the Iberians used it as an infantry weapon. I wonder how the weight of mine compares with the origional because you would sure need a shield as the kopis would be pretty slow on the parry and the shield would be needed to hide the sword hand and give you some sneak attack time. Apparently the Romans hated them and had to put extra iron in their helmets because the iberians were splitting them with the Kopis.
Grahame Nicholson Do you mean the Falcata? While they were very similar and almost certainly had a similar origin, the Kopis is Greek/Macedonian and the Falcata refers to the Iberian design, which (apparently) was shorter (side note; while Lindy is right in that it is an ahistorical term, this is largely because through most of history swords of every type and variety were just called swords. If we were to restrict ourselves to historical terminology, we'd never get any decent communication about weaponry done). Which is probably the adjustment that made it more practical for infantry. More like using a hatchet than a two and a half foot long axe. On the helmet thing... in varying sources, I've heard it was reinforced because of the Iberians, the Dacians, and the Parthians. Given that they all used forward curving blades (even though the Falx was more anti-shield focused than anti-helmet), its quite probable that bringing it as a permanent change wasn't a result of any one of them but rather a series of incidents where they just gave up and kept the reinforced design.
Unus Domus Yup. Heard the same stuff. There is the one about Julius magistrating a claim and the defendant had a messed up face and he tells Julius it was a falcatta/kopis wound he got on Caesar's Iberian campagin.(or an Iberian Gladius or whatever he would have called it). He got the verdict. Apparently the ones dug up in spain tend to have an open hilt while the Greek ones had the chain across and a horse head. The horse is probably like a modern instructional sticker of 300 BC saying "Cavalry Use Only". I wouldnt doubt mine would split a helmet and the head inside but I think mine is too heavy and the smith has overdone it. I think it needs less weight so you could get a bit of wrist into it and pick up some speed. My gladius would stab you before my Kopis could brain you. However my wife has chosen the Kopis as her go to home defence weapon. She says it looks like a crazy persons hatchet and she is going big on terror factor to protect her virtue. (needs it she is a little Swiss fox) Lucky me
Gustavo Larancia I've always found the axe origin for the Kopesh unlikely. The Kopesh was used almost entirely as a slicing weapon, whereas the Axe is focused around chopping (the kopesh just wasn't concentrated enough in terms of weight; if you used it like an axe, it would end up completely bent out of shape). If we're relating to other implements, the Kopis would more likely come from a butchers knife (unlike other weapons that developed like that, Greece did not have the type of jungles necessitating a machete like tool) and the Kopesh would be more likely to be derived from a form of sickle. Still, the close names and visual similarity combined with the absolute hardon the Greeks had for all things Egyptian makes me think that there was probably at least some cross cultural contamination in terms of at least that weapon design.
I obtained a Kukri in Nepal many years by swapping a pair of Dr Martin's boots and a shirt. We were told the best ones were made from old landrover springs.
"If you go to modern Greece today, the Greeks will insist they invented [i][b][size=too big]EVERYTHING[/size][/b][/i]." By God, that was loud, you might as well have clapped my ears!
the word kopis comes from the ancient greek word kopto( κοπτω) and yes it means chopper or cutter. We don't know if the word kopesh was used by the Egyptians(because we won't never listen at their accent and how they pronounced words) . We don't even know if they were actually using this kind of sword because we have only found small triangular swords and axes from the Egyptian era. Egyptians were concuered by the Greeks so the influence was enormous( Even today the signes in the city of Alexandreia are written in arabic, greek and english, not to mention the some thousands of greeks living there). Maby the Macedonian Greeks of Ptolemaios found a similar sword there and paralelied it with the Greek kopis.
Πασχάλης Ιωαννίδης you know the kopesh is an early Bronze Age weapon right? And we can actually trace back pronaunciation of ancient Egyptian words from most time periods
"We don't even know if they were actually using this kind of sword because we have only found small triangular swords and axes from the Egyptian era." -- Rubbish. egypt-museum.com/post/180529958356/khopesh-sword-of-ramesses-ii
I think the handle is designed that way so when the weapon is at rest, the blades centre of gravity is directly above the wrist, avoiding uneccesary strain..
I also think it may stem from the fact your strongest grip comes from the last two fingers, while fine control comes from the first two and the thumb... so you get a good strong grip with the slightly narrower cross section at the bottom of the hilt, but then the extra bit further up lets you control the angle better, both of which are important for a good slice
Your sense of humor is fantastic. So many of your videos have made me laugh at loud, like the joke you did with chainmail. You're great at toying with expectations, as shown at 1:46 . Love these videos, ancient arms and armor have always been an interest of mine.
It seems a little too coincidental to me that there was the original Kopesh, and this Kopis, and that cutting trees is to "coppice" I am sure all them simply mean "to cut-down" which would explain how the Kopesh fell out of use before the Kopis came in: they are not related, they just share the same practical description of what they do.
One suggested root of the word "khopesh" is the Egyptian word ḫpš (this is the transliteration of the hieroglyphs) which means "leg," referring most likely to the similarity in shape.
I've always put it this way; a khukuri was a kopis, made into a sidearm. Before the days of rifle infantry, it was secondary to either swords, spears (relatively rarer than in Europe given close-in terrain), or bows. Those are about 13-16 inches in blade length, for you'd likely battle with it. The new generations came with breechloading and repeating rifles, 10-13 inches in length, and actually a tertiary weapon, a close-in backup for the rifle and bayonet. The current ones rarely exceed 11 inches in blade length, but is now back to a secondary. Riflemen don't typically pocket around a pistol, but then again, modern rifles are dead nuts reliable and have plenty of bullets to spit out. they're used mostly for field craft and kitchen work, the only time it'd be drawn in anger is room-clearing distance if your gun shits itself.
The Kukri, Falcata and Kopis are all very similar but the Falcata and Kopis usually have more ornate handles that tend to wrap around the hand. They are all amazing weapons and happen to be some of my favorite edged weapons. The Falcata and Kopis were more designed for combat whereas the Kukri has many uses from combat to gardening and digging to clearing brush to ceremonial use. I own 4 Kukri's and I love them all but my favorite is my EGKH AEOF Khukuri from Ex Gurkha Kukri house in Nepal. It's made of 5160 high carbon leaf spring steel with rosewood handles and weighs almost 2 pounds! The blade is almost an inch thick on the spine and it chops like an axe! No doubt one of the best knives for the outdoorsman because it serves so many purposes.
That "Kopis" in his hand is in fact an Iberian Falcata. It was used all over Iberia among Iberians as well as among Celts and Celtiberian to fight the Cartaginian and later the Romans. I can tell that by "horse shape" hilt. Maybe it was invented by the Egiptian or Greek but it became the most efective weapon in Iberia and the reason for that was the high edge blade technology the Iberians had and also the high quality metal ore. We were the best weaponry makers of the ancient world and some of the best soldiers that is why Rome took 200 years to conquer this piece of land.
Big fan. The reason for the blade angled forward and the grip pushing the blade slightly back is to increase angular momentum for a downward strike. That combined with the extra weight from the "meatier" part of the blade increases the amount of force upon impact--increased force on impact increases efficiency for severing limbs, necks, and possibly chopping into linothorax or bronze armor.
makes sense to have a horse head shape, Kopis was a favorite weapon of Greek and Macedonian Cavalry, also that shape makes it hard for it to slip out of you grip
Great video. I just discovered your channel and I must say I'm impressed. Interestingly you mentioned that the kopis was a compromised sword, which on its own I completely agree with your logic. However after giving it some thought (I'm no expert) I think it would be fairer to say that perhaps the purpose and ergonomics of the kopis was intended as a secondary weapon? Whereby first a spear and shield/buckler would have been the primary? indeed when looking at the weapon design of the kopis as part of a system instead of just individually, the whole design and ergonomics appear to be both far less compromised even to the point of being complementary and rather deliberate? To me at least it seems far more lethal and also effective to have the long reach of the spear followed by the quick transition of the kopis, than say a longer sword on its own. ultimately i'm a complete novice on this type of topics and as such i would really welcome your opinion. Many thanks again for your video..
+CiviPrepper Greek soldiers (hoplites, phalangites, etc.) primarily fought in big shield walls with spears. However, they occasionally used swords, for two reasons: 1) In the close quarters of a chaotic melee, a smaller sword will serve you better than a honking big spear. The Kopis was used in this capacity to some extent, though generally the more nimble Xiphos was preferred since it could be used for both chopping and thrusting, and it was fairly lightweight and cheaper than a kopis. 2) Mounted use. The relatively short, thrusting-oriented Xiphos wouldn't be much use on horseback, but the Kopis really comes into its own since you have gravity and inertia on your side, and once you've thwacked your enemy you can ride away before they have time to react (making up for the lack of parrying ability).
I have 2 of these in my collection and never really thought much of them. When he held up the longer version, I immediately thought to myself that I need that
Dear Llyod, this was a very good explanatorial video about those two weapons. What i kind of missed was a reference to those Dacian/Skythian scythe-swords/knifes, which hurted Trajans legions so badly. I'm quite sure, that the greek kopis might most likely originate from this 'barbarian' weapon. Best regards!
Haha i though the same, i love both channels, but lately i've come to think that they might have some disagreements on sword usage and technics, since Lindy has a more historian aproach to the subject, more deduction based less pratical aproach and Skalls simply learned from translated manuals. For instance, Lindy believes some bronze age weapons were used in a punch like fashion, to open wider wounds, while skall, knowing how impratical it would be in a actual fight, would find this laughable. This two types tend to disagree, Weapons experts and enthusiasts claim that historians never picked up a weapon in their hands before and don't study their uses enough and historians claim weapons enthusiasts have little to none history knowledge to be a authority on the subject, and it goes on and on...
Well, now I know how to find the description on a yt short when I didn't even know they had one before. Thanks Lloyd! Always had a particular liking of blades with this kind of shape, it's just so different compared to what you see day to day in the hobby. I''d also like to throw Falcata pronounced with a "ch" out there, for no reason other than to infuriate people.
Well, wrists don't bend enough for that to happen much. The mass of the thing, and the angle of the swing makes it much harder to hang onto than a straight sword after a swing.
lol, I get the impression you're wading through weapons and tools just below camera shot! :D Love the videos by the way, I came across this during one of my epic "getting sidetracked while doing something utterly unrelated" sessions, but now I'm gonna subscribe!
The kopis is basically the fundamental blueprint for a 'multipurpose tool sword'. It's influence can even be seen today in the machete, which also has a similar fat end to increase it's chopping power.
If you consider a line from the pommel to the tip, the shape of the grip forces the user told hold the weapon in a position that not only works fine for cuts, but aligns the grip and tip better for thrusting.
wasn't the khopesh a dramatically different shape than the kopis? like the khopesh was like a question mark shape and only sharpened on the outside edge, not the inside. Every picture of a khopesh I have ever seen even the archaeological finds are that shape, and the kopis is always kukri shaped. and the words derive from completely different sources, khopesh- leg of beef (because of the shape apperently), and the kopis- I cut (because it cuts)
Barghest Blue the similarity comes with the curved shape. While the khopesh does create a more question mark shape, possibly from its original form being a sickle, it still has that curve, like the kopis.
The khopesh has a curve but the curve is actually opposite the kopis, the kopis curve forward with the center point of the circle being in front of the blade. A khopesh curves backward with it's center point being behind the blade, the curved bit is actually just set out a little forward of the handle, it doesn't actually curve forward at that bit of the blade at all.
Ryan Newsome Lindybeige FYI you can get seaxes from a guy called paul bins? I don't know if thats helpful? I stumbled onto his site when I typed seaxe in online..
OhanCockett actually there are loads of places to get a sæx and they are pretty cheap sometimes, i have sen battle ready ones for 40-60 euro and completely functional ones from 19 euro (scramsæx) to 100 euro for a machete sized sæx. and everything in between, they are not hard to make(i should know i make them xD)
You make them? Do you have a business or is it just a hobby? Thats really interesting! If you are in a business can u send me a link to your site? I would like to get one sometime
Just a little point about the Kukri. The edge at the tip is kept very sharp and generally is considered the fine edge to be used in skinning or some such precision work, while the edge between curve at the tip and curve at the mid section is the hacking, chopping work edge. The edge nearest to hand is traditionally the sharpest and used for whittling etc.
Perhaps Greeks so pictures of the Kopesh on pieces of Egyptian art and that inspired the Greek invention of the Kopis. A mixture of good sensibilities of what a decent weapon and misinterpreting what the picture actually depicted might explain the differences.
+Mog of War Or they were traded some Kopesh, realized that they were superior in design to whatever they themselves were using and simply copied the design.
Squiglypig ...Superior design to what exactly? Every weapon had its strengths and weaknesses, and the Kopis had only limited implementation. The implementation of a weapon is not just a matter of what it's good at and how good it is, but where it fits within an arsenal. Warriors gambled not just their money but their lives to change their arsenals. If they had just copied the design how would they know its use. Remember the kopesh had fallen out of use in Egypt several centuries before the Greeks started forging the kopis. What Greeks would have had were drawing on walls and occasional writings of it. If they had seen the blade itself, they might have seen it as a potentially useful weapon but they would have just as likely mistaken it for a mezzaluna and used it to cut bread, veggies, and cheese. Or they may well have seen the weapon, seen why it fell out of use, and adapted a design that served the same basic purpose but was not hindered by all of the same flaws. Or the name similarity is entirely the result of the shape being similar and the blade's invention as a completely independent effort, but the observed similarities informed the nomenclature, nonetheless.
Falcata is an Iberian weapon. Kopis is a Macedonian weapon. Also, the Khopesh is absolutely NOTHING like the Kopis, it's not even utilized in the same way.
It seems to me that Macedon spoke greek, had the greek Alphabet, had greek names honored the same Gods, so I guess that make them Greeks? or not? And also there ist in the oracle of Delphi a nice Scripture from Alexander the great in Greek. This scripture is about a present to the gods from Alexander of Philipp and from Greeks except the Spartans. You can still read it today. Check your facts!
***** The Sarissa was created by Philip II of Macedon. The Kopis was used by Northern Greco-Celtic tribes, and was popularized by Macedon during the reign of Alexander. No one knows who invented it, but it was primarily favored by Macedonian Pikemen. The Xiphos was the standard sword for all Greek hoplites, except for Spartans, whom also preferred the Kopis.
Within 40 seconds of the video, an argument comes that a Kopesh/Kopis is the same as a Falcata which is the same as a kukri...and so I am grateful. It shows with all possible and desirable clarity that this video is not to be watched because IT IS COMPLETE AND UTTER HORSESHIT WITH NO ACTUAL CONTACT WITH ANYTHING RESEMBLING REALITY!!! Good Lord!
@MoonEyes2k care to set it right, or you wan'a leave it at that? i don't want to say that what you say is wrong, i don't know the first thing about kukri. but first of all i would like to know more and second, just because he get's something wrong - even at the start of his video - that doesn't mean that his entire video is thus rubbish as well. most of his points are actually not just right but with quite some thought which is something you rarely see these days any more. and if you're gonna tell me that the difference between a kukri and a kopis is in the exact angle of the blade or the size or in an ounce of the carbon component of the steel, then quite frankly: stop wimpling about it and shut up!
Pie S Ok...I didn't quite get all that, but I'll at least make an expansion on what I said. The Kopis is a Greek sword, coming from ancient greece. That's a bit uncertain a term, but about 8th through to 6th century BC. The Falcata, on the other hand, is a pre-Roman sword from the Iberian peninsula, basically what is, today, Spain and Portugal. As with ancient Greece, pre-Roman is somewhat uncertain, but generally means "before the republic", which then means 5th century BC. So, the swords come from two notably, if not wildly, separate places in Europe, and is separated by at least 100 or so years. Are they very similar? Yes. Is the Falcata probably influenced by the Kopis? Yes. Are they the same weapon? Not even nearly. And as for the kukri...the earliest kukri KNOWN is from 1559, and yes, we can pinpoint it that accurately. It's now in the National Museum in Kathmandu. That's AT LEAST 2100 years of separation from the Kopis, as seen above. That is just in time. From that, we move on to things like, indeed, shape, weight, and so on, and we see that while the Kukri and the Kopis have the edge on the inside of the curve, and have at least a bit more mass higher up on the blade, that is the only similarity between the blades. This is the same thing as saying that a katana and a French Imperial saber are the same because they're curved single-edge blades. There is no other similarity between the Kopis and the Kukri, beyond those points. The Kukri most likely derived from the sickle, which is a fairly universal tool.
***** What he means is that these swords are in the same CLASSIFICATION of weapons - you may be familiar with the typology of swords. If you are, you may recall that they are grouped by blade shape and application, not by origin. The Kopesh, Kopis, Falcata, Kukri, and a small handful of others fall into the same category of ''forward-curving'' blades with said similar shapes and applications. Furthermore, it isn't unreasonable to say that these swords, in the European theater, at least, came from a similar source - North Africa. As a student of history, I invite you to recall the extensive trade that Egypt had with ancient Grecian and Minoan peoples, who, while they did in fact use straight swords, may very well have been influenced by Egyptian art traded at later dates. As for the sword's appearance in Iberia, one can quickly find that a sword of this shape was also used widely by the Carthaginians, whom are confirmed to have had an intimate relationship with Iberian tribal societies well before the invasion of Hannibal. Since few, if any, records exist from the side of the Iberian Tribesmen, a largely illiterate people before the widespread arrival of Latin as a Lingua Franka in the region, this connection can only be assumed (though with plenty of evidence - see theories on cultural transmission and distance decay), as anything quantifiable has been shrouded in prehistory.
Ryan Deschenes That might be what he MEANS...but, it isn't what he SAYS. Not only doesn't he say THAT, what he DOES say is ALSO that a kopis and a khopesh are the same things...and that is about as hideous a thing to say as I've ever heard, as the khopesh is NOTHING like the aforementioned blades.
it doesn't make his entire video "horseshit". and you can see how-while they are not the same thus he was wrong to call them the same-they do look very similar and anyone who's never seen any will not be able to distinguish them and thus he is not detached from reality. yes he did make a mistake but to call him out as a someone with "no actual contact with anything resembling reality" is not only a rush to judgement but in this case itself not in contact with reality. not that i know all his videos but everything i've seen so far is as close to reality as you can get in a living room and usually he points out ACTUAL mistakes others made-especially on tv-that have no excuse what soever. long message short: it was one mistake that was unusual for Lindybeige and i myself am dissapointed in him but it doesn't make him detached from reality
I lost my shit when he pulled the actual Kopis out and went "like this" as casually as he did
so did i
Nah that was a falcata
ruclips.net/video/WWl8EbNN8NM/видео.html
@@danb4900 Pretty much the same thing mate
I own a falcata, but despite many hours of research, I have yet to find consistent structural definition for these weapons. There are some minor stylization and construction differences between the two but structurally kopises and falcatas overlap almost completely in how they look and, I assume, feel.
Basically, same weapon, different regions. If you brought a falcata to Greece, everyone would just call it a kopis.
Lloyd explaining the kopis with a khukri as an example and then casually pulling out an actual kopis is the funniest thing ever
*talking about the Kopis, looking for an example of the size of a Kopis, pulls out a Kopis*
Made me crack up just a bit :')
Kopis is greek his version is spanish.
Nordic Spear You mean the Falcata? If it was, it's really similar. I for one can't tell the difference :P
EmmaCross94 maybe the blade profile, I for find that falcatas have broader blades all around than the kopis. The kukri is more easier to spot as it doesn't have a guard, generally.
Lol noticed that to
I would recommend lindy's video on pole-arms for how silly the semantics of these are. I mean, really being a litter fatter but being nearly identical in most other ways is a very goofy distinction. Different names for the same thing. "That's not a sword, those are english, that's a svard, you can tell because it's got a smaller guard"
Tries explaining kopis looks with Kukri
Gets upset
Pulls out real Kopis and proves point
Puts kopis back and resumes with kukri
Because Kopis heavy as hell, plus the kukri looks much sexier.
What you talking about Kopis is wife material for sure
@@lemursteaks would you marry your kopis?
it's a falcata
1:11 Thats true, I will never, ever forget the day when my Greek grandmother tried to convince me that Greeks actually invented the potato chip
Next you're gonna say that your grandpa bragged about them pre-slicing bread. I'm sure it helped with your grandma making him sammiches.
Lol
The first ones were cooked in grease...
The Greeks will insist that they ivented *EVERYTHING*
Except there’s evidence that Pythagoras theorem came from Sumeria originally
@Rishabh Deb China, India, and Greece seem to be the worst for this, from what I've seen.
...Lindybeige! 😂👍
Germans did not invent everything but their version is always the best. :-D
@Tyreek Johnson what about patton?
*takes small knife to arm*
Oh No thats not safe.
*pulls out massive knife*
@Bhum Brahmavira wym East India company used these in their armies, standard issue.
Anglo Nepalese war taught some important lessons to British.
@@thisisthetruth4525 now your our bitch XD
@@Djzommer1 Nope. The war ended in a treaty. Nepal remained a sovereign state with its own full ability to rule and governing unlike British India. The first British Gorkhali soldiers were mercenaries. They were nepalese army soldiers and inhabitants of the former nepalese land given to the then British East India Company as terms of the treaty in exchange for cooperation, peace and sovereignty. Obviously when that land was given away, u couldn't have national soldiers living in foreign land so those nepalese soldiers lost their jobs and were hired by the British because they saw damn well how good they were at fighting.
Later during World War I they wanted more Gorkhali soldiers so they so they paid requested the Nepalese government for more soldiers in exchange for money and infrastructure development aid.
If Nepal was a bitch u wouldn't even have needed to ask.
Falcatas vary quite a lot in size, both length and depth of blade. Yes, horses are more common in Spain, and birds more common in Greece.
A cross between a sword and an axe would be called a sax.
Conveniently . . .
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seax
+th3r3ck1355 Sax/Seax means knive/longknife and is exactly this, a knife. Do you mean "Falchion"? Because that thing is a very topheavy one edged sword and could be interpreted as a breed of an axe and a sword much like a big machete. But to be honest a Kopis/Falcata is just like a Falchion with a bend or a machete with a bend...there are to many names for stuff that is very similar.
+PalmFrond Front Someone didn't get the joke..
+th3r3ck1355 Visionary :D
i say swax
Your presentation of the hammer and sword in an overlay fashion is excellent and clarifies very well.
The ancient world had plenty of ships sailing around the Mediterranean. Weapons of war travel more than most objects. There is no good reason to suppose that these two near-identical weapons developed ion perfect isolation. The variation within falcatas and kopises is enough for me to regard them as the same weapon, with local styling. I've seen some very thin falcatas.
So basicall they were making their own version of the Machaira and someone in 1872 or something called them Falcata.
"That they created EVERYTHING!"
Reminds me a bit of the English...
+Plight_of_Icarus Well, in general terms for the Modern Age, most things of consequence actually were indeed invented here. Even now a goodly proportion of new or innovative advances and technologies start their lives in British brains. It's a bit of a mystery given the parlous state of our economy and the poor fashion in which science and engineering is funded ... maybe it's down to the terrible weather :D :shrugs:.
+Dallas Sukerkin What would you rather? Think of new technology, or stare at the bloody rain all day?
+Dallas Sukerkin Do you have a comprehensive list of major inventions that pertain to the modern age? If so, I'd love to see the breakdown that shows Britain invented "most" of them.
I'd maybe believe a plurality, but certainly not a majority.
+KingdomOfDimensions You are quite right, KoD. I was guilty of thinking only in terms of major developments which lead to very commonplace technologies e.g. RADAR, Sonar, Computers, jet engines, the WWW, the underpinning theories that lead to nuclear power etc. That sort of thing. Essentially, if it's a technology that people think the American's developed the science or concept usually came from here. These days, sad to say, in terms of numbers of specific patents, we are faltering badly due to lack of investment. Whether we shall recover or just fade is in the balance :(.
+Dallas Sukerkin For reading fun ... www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Great-British-Inventions/
It's a cross between a sword and an axe - it's a swaxe.
I love it how he just looks around and there's a weapon under the camera and he takes it out as if it was just there by chance XD
I bet he has weapons all over the floor or next to each wall and piece of furniture in that room :))
I laughed so hard when he did that I had to back up the video. Looks around, holds up the kopis "imagine its kind of like that" then goes back to the kukri. ROTF
Yeah I also was confused because I thought he just held up a kopis.
I know I do! I have swords and knives and guns all over my room. I even sleep with 2 Kukri's, an Uzbeki Pichok and a small Indian saber on my pillow.
Sounds a bit crazy right? Well, good luck to anybody stupid enough to try to break into my room while I'm sleeping!
@@shootinnscootin5545 www.reddit.com/r/iamverybadass
Do you just have, like, hammers and big honking swords just lying around in your house?
if so, I wouldn't like to be a robber entering his house, anyone like that would risk to trip on a hammer and chop his head off falling on a sword :p
Ancient world history scholars hang out with Lindy. They have house parties. Those parties get wild. :)
@@hihu7200 there is dancing
Stubbing his toe would be dangerous.
You should see my house
Kopis does indeed mean "cutter" or "chopper" in Greek.
Kopuş means in Turkish is tear or rupture since Xiongnu Era
Kopis =Greek version of falcata; falcata=Spanish version of kukri; kukri=Nepalese version of kopis.
HAHAHA!! I am Greek and some of my fellow countrymen do insist that we invented everything.
Well... Greeks did invent cultural chauvinism, as evidenced by the word "barbarian"/"barbarism" (looking down on everyone who does not speak one's own language - a "barbarian", literally, "someone who speaks unclearly") which has come a long way since then (even the Berbers got their name from that, along with the barbary-coast ...) - so I guess that's just consistent, ain't it?
PyrrhoVonHyperborea Back then it was understandable to feel superior than the rest in Greece. The cultural and scientific achievements they'd accomplished are not comparable to any single nation in history if you take in account how small Greece is. But now it is just stupid to brag about this stuff. Yet to know that your ancestors were these amazing people makes you feel special.
I bet that's hard to take in, going back and forth between opposite ideas, depictions and judgments; mea culpa!
you guys invented debt xD
And that wasn't enough, they had to study it further and after a lot of hard work they even invented state bankruptcy.
Relatively recently, there was a Gurkha Soldier (the Nepalese Unit known for wielding these) who used this weapon to successfully fight off a horde of train robbers when they decided to escalate from robbing to attempting to rape a young woman on the train.
Attempting being the key word, because he stepped in and within twenty minutes, 3 were dead, 8 were injured and the other 30 or so men fled.
Bishnu Shrestha. My candidate for Badass of the Decade.
tenjenk There was a British officer who served in the Gurkha regiments. He had a saying. "If a man says that he is not afraid of dying, then he is either lying, or a Gurkha."
anyone who says short Asians can't fight should go a couple rounds with a 5'2" Gurkha. it's like fighting a ninja spider monkey on crack...😨
@P B
given that the Yanomami live in jungle and the gurkha's come from a mountainous jungle area....not really
The accounts vary between 15 and 40 robbers. The ones which give the highest number of robbers are also the ones which speak of the grandest accomplishments by Bishnu Shrestha. But by his own account, he only injured three before they overpowered him. He did not succeed in killing anyone, but succeeded in injuring three - before losing his kukri and the robbers used it against him. When he slumped to the floor, bleeding profusely, he says the fight left the remaining passengers and they did the robbers' bidding. The robbery was not thwarted by Bishnu Shrestha, though he made a valiant effort.
Greek son be like -Mother, where did mountains came from?
Greek mother -We made them
Misconception dear sir! :) we all know they are demigods from mythology or Titans been dropped from high by Zeus hand or some other eloquent vivid and colorful stories, we made the science to transverse them ^^
Gripping hard with the little finger, though, with this sort of grip stops the weapon from swinging further forwards. The big problem is hanging on to the thing. It has such mass that if you don't grip somewhere you'll end up throwing it. Yes, to start the chop, you use the little finger more than any other (I have a video about this).
The Filipino itak, bolo, or tabak (many names here too) works the same way. It's generally used for cutting firewood, opening coconuts, clearing a path through the jungle, or even mowing your lawn (if you use it for that you will have amazingly sore thighs and biceps after you do). On top of that, it is the go-to slashy thing for revolts. I have one, and I can tell you it is VERY satisfying to chop things with.
"Horses and birds were very common."
Hmm indeed
I am Greek and I can verify that we have indeed invented EVERYTHING.
Jokes aside, great video. And the name "kopis" might as well mean something like "chopper" as you mentioned, because it derives from the verb "kόpto" (the thingy above the first o is the stressing point) which means "to cut"
And yet the kopis was also used by cavalry, and preferred by many over the xiphos in that role.
More of "picks up kopis" that sorta thing... try to imagine that
I should point out, the reason a hammer head is forward of its haft is entirely different than the reason the edge of a kopis is curved forward. A hammer's head is balanced above the haft, generally, which means some weight will be behind and some will be ahead. This isn't ALWAYS the case, but it almost always will be. It's because a hammer is quite heavy, comparatively, and it would take more force to balance the thing correctly while you swing it. As it's not thin the way an axe is, it's extremely important for a hammer to balance across the haft, or it would feel incredibly awkward when you swing it.
As anyone who's played with a kopis or falcata can attest, they're already wildly out of balance. Why did they design them this way? Well, a falcata or kopis operates somewhat like an axe, in that it does benefit somewhat by tilting the balance forward. By changing the direction of the blade, they change the direction of the force being applied. You swing the handle in a certain direction, but the blade arrives at a different angle. Three things primarily are happening here:
-More blade technically arriving to back it. When a sword strikes something, only that area of mass behind the part of the blade arriving (generally within 45 degrees) contributes directly to the kinetic energy delivered. This is the major disadvantage of a sword compared to something like a hammer. Since the blade is angled at the tip, it arrives with a bit more blade behind it (which is why those swords, as they angle forward, also bulge out)
-The direction of the force shifts. Instead of striking with a relatively straight blade, which largely delivers force in the direction it was traveling, the kukri pictured would "draw" across, a bit like a katana. As it arrives, even though it is being swung directly, it somewhat arrives glancing. This means that it naturally forces the blade to draw-cut across whatever it hits. This is incredibly effective for cutting through dense clusters of tissue (like people) but suffers somewhat against well-made armor.
-The off-balance nature of the blade makes it less prone to slipping forward. It's not technically a concave blade (as you can see the blade is actually convex), but with the direction of the force now essentially pushing towards the wielder if it hits something, the blade wants to rip out of the hand rather than skitter off towards the wielder. Essentially, you can continue applying force until the blade has no more momentum to move forward or it rips itself out of your grip, it's much harder to deflect towards you. This helps somewhat in applying more force.
Ancient peoples sometimes didn't know what they know. They knew that this design seemed to work to deliver far more cutting force almost by trial and error, but they didn't know exactly why. Still, there's a reason these things are still in use, particularly in places where heavy cutting isn't just a combat necessity, it's a part of everyday maintenance life. They do work a lot like axes (though not entirely), but not particularly like hammers. You almost never see a hammer head turned inward that way; they aren't built to apply force at an angle. Hammers are almost unilaterally meant to drive laterally directly behind the head, using the mass to generate the kinetic energy on arrival.
Love how amongst all the comments asserting that, "no, no, Kopis(?) and Kopeshes(?) are nothing alike, promise!" and "Kopis don't exist, you have a falcata, there, and I should know, I have the internet!" no one paused to realise...and laugh at the fact that he opened by showcasing a Kukri, talked a bit, asked us to imagine a Kopis based on it, sighed, /grabbed a nearby Kopis/ said "Like that, imagine it looks like that", set the Kopis down, and carried on, using the Kukri. Because I can't stop laughing.
+The Learned Soldier
The plural of "kopis" is "kopides", IIRC.
hahaha omg that is exactly what I did!
+The Learned Soldier has got it!
I literally pointing at the screen and saying " then dafuq is dat thing you show me?!" XD
+The Learned Soldier Honestly, I suspect that is because his sample of a Kopis is an unusually large one. The ones I've seen in museum collections (cast bronze, every one) were considerably less massive. In fact, they much more closely resemble the Kopesh he had in that other vid than this modern wall-hanger he's got here, save that they are straighter with a much longer point. I expect he's aware of this.
"Everything" including national bankruptcy.
Better to invent everything, then to invent nothing.
XD
Inventing debt really went well for them didn't it
"every mater-copulator in the room"
Inventive swearword for you there.
LOL, thanks for this comment. It gave me a chance to realise what he meant.
I think Falcata refers to the iberian weapon whilst Kopis refers to the greek one.
+IoKnight No, the Falcata is just a newer term. If I were to bet, I'd estimate that the Iberians took the idea through the Mediterranean culture spread from the Greeks(possibly through Roman culture later on). Not for certain yet though.
+IoKnight I know the wikipedia page for kopis refers to falcata as being Iberian, but just take a look at the falcata page to see what's up with that if you don't believe me.
Rick B Can you send a link please? So far it looks like the falcata dates around 3-4BC and the Kopis was used around 6-8BC is what I'm finding. I figured the Greeks had colonies early on, but not early enough to originate it-so you nailed them being separate.
Also, please don't glorify weapons as if any style could slice through any armor. Skallagrim rants about this often and he's right- we see this way too often.
And I hate to be that guy...but shotguns have no penetration(being pellets that hit you, gauge determines number of pellets but lower mass means less force), and sawing off the barrel reduces gas pressure propelling the shell's pellets(reducing velocity also)-not such a good comparison.
+Kotos Autumn Falcata spawmed much before Rome became even a powerful city state. There were many Greek colonies across the coast of the Iberian peninsula so maybe the origin was Iberian and Greeks took it, maybe the origin is Greek and Iberians took it. Nonetheless, even though the shapes are very similar each other, the falcata fabrication is different and the resultant iron was stiffer and harder than the one used in Kopis.
+Ciruelo No We know there were some contact between these two cultures(Greek colonies in Iberian peninsula plus Greek cities of Italy using Iberian mercenaries) but as he said it is a bet therefore more or less an opinion. There are not enough evidence to support one theory over another. There even scholars that support the etrouscan origin of the sword so maybe they both borrowed it from somewhere else. I don't find the paralel evolution of the swords completely imposible either though I do not think it is as likely.
I'm glad you mentioned how sharp a Kukri is. I did read, many years ago, that it was one of the few things that really bothered the Japanese troops in the last war. Apparently, they had a piece of advice for anyone who fought Gurkhas: "If he waves his curved knife at you in battle, don't nod your head later - it might fall off."
Couple notes.
While the Kopis was likely originally taken from the Kopesh, as the ancient Greeks were massively obsessed with Egypt, they were used differently. If you look at the Kopesh, it doesn't have much weight behind it. It's about as thick as a curved cavalry saber. Given the lack of powerful armor in Egypt, Nubia, and the Levant (that is, the border of Egyptian combat), a slicing weapon would be more dangerous than a chopping weapon, which (as the Romans figured out when they fought the Parthians) was a very effective anti-armor weapon of the time. With the Greek focus on armour, their adjustment of the weapon weight isn't particularly surprising.
It was also primarily (not exclusively, but primarily) a cavalry weapon, which ought to give it some context. The Xiphos was preferred for infantry usage, because stabbing is better than cutting/chopping if you can hit the fleshy parts, but it was much harder on a horse. Given that this was before anyone figured out stirrups, cavalry had less of a charge and more of a skirmish role, especially in Greece (not so much in Macedonia, but that had much better land for horses and Illyrian and Thracian influence which made more aggressive cavalry feasible), so it was to be expected that there would be a decent bit of sword fighting on a horse, rather than just spearing which would have had a better chance of knocking you off balance in some situations.
Unus Domus Mostly checked comment section in hopes that someone would've made these notes. Admittedly you were way more knowledgeable with these than I would've been, so kudos to you
Unus Domus I have the same thing Lindy is waving around. It is a heavy beast. Heavier than my bastard swod and half as long. The Geeks/Macedonians used it for cavalry but reportedly the Iberians used it as an infantry weapon. I wonder how the weight of mine compares with the origional because you would sure need a shield as the kopis would be pretty slow on the parry and the shield would be needed to hide the sword hand and give you some sneak attack time. Apparently the Romans hated them and had to put extra iron in their helmets because the iberians were splitting them with the Kopis.
Grahame Nicholson Do you mean the Falcata? While they were very similar and almost certainly had a similar origin, the Kopis is Greek/Macedonian and the Falcata refers to the Iberian design, which (apparently) was shorter (side note; while Lindy is right in that it is an ahistorical term, this is largely because through most of history swords of every type and variety were just called swords. If we were to restrict ourselves to historical terminology, we'd never get any decent communication about weaponry done). Which is probably the adjustment that made it more practical for infantry. More like using a hatchet than a two and a half foot long axe.
On the helmet thing... in varying sources, I've heard it was reinforced because of the Iberians, the Dacians, and the Parthians. Given that they all used forward curving blades (even though the Falx was more anti-shield focused than anti-helmet), its quite probable that bringing it as a permanent change wasn't a result of any one of them but rather a series of incidents where they just gave up and kept the reinforced design.
Unus Domus Yup. Heard the same stuff. There is the one about Julius magistrating a claim and the defendant had a messed up face and he tells Julius it was a falcatta/kopis wound he got on Caesar's Iberian campagin.(or an Iberian Gladius or whatever he would have called it). He got the verdict. Apparently the ones dug up in spain tend to have an open hilt while the Greek ones had the chain across and a horse head. The horse is probably like a modern instructional sticker of 300 BC saying "Cavalry Use Only". I wouldnt doubt mine would split a helmet and the head inside but I think mine is too heavy and the smith has overdone it. I think it needs less weight so you could get a bit of wrist into it and pick up some speed. My gladius would stab you before my Kopis could brain you. However my wife has chosen the Kopis as her go to home defence weapon. She says it looks like a crazy persons hatchet and she is going big on terror factor to protect her virtue. (needs it she is a little Swiss fox) Lucky me
Gustavo Larancia I've always found the axe origin for the Kopesh unlikely. The Kopesh was used almost entirely as a slicing weapon, whereas the Axe is focused around chopping (the kopesh just wasn't concentrated enough in terms of weight; if you used it like an axe, it would end up completely bent out of shape). If we're relating to other implements, the Kopis would more likely come from a butchers knife (unlike other weapons that developed like that, Greece did not have the type of jungles necessitating a machete like tool) and the Kopesh would be more likely to be derived from a form of sickle.
Still, the close names and visual similarity combined with the absolute hardon the Greeks had for all things Egyptian makes me think that there was probably at least some cross cultural contamination in terms of at least that weapon design.
*tries to find kopis analogue* and... *pulls out kopis*
I obtained a Kukri in Nepal many years by swapping a pair of Dr Martin's boots and a shirt. We were told the best ones were made from old landrover springs.
Watching in 2019 and these videos are still just as enjoyable as the 1st time I watched them
I can see know! dual wielding kopis in reverse grip!
"If you go to modern Greece today, the Greeks will insist they invented [i][b][size=too big]EVERYTHING[/size][/b][/i]."
By God, that was loud, you might as well have clapped my ears!
The sound of truth is often startling.
G96Saber
And the sound of butthurt too.
Your knowledge about EVERYTHING is impressive! Thank you for sharing with us...
5:45 "Mater Copulator"
Lloyd, you are an absolute genius!
"Maitre Copulator" is one if the most elegant mofo synonyms in Language.
the word kopis comes from the ancient greek word kopto( κοπτω) and yes it means chopper or cutter. We don't know if the word kopesh was used by the Egyptians(because we won't never listen at their accent and how they pronounced words) . We don't even know if they were actually using this kind of sword because we have only found small triangular swords and axes from the Egyptian era. Egyptians were concuered by the Greeks so the influence was enormous( Even today the signes in the city of Alexandreia are written in arabic, greek and english, not to mention the some thousands of greeks living there). Maby the Macedonian Greeks of Ptolemaios found a similar sword there and paralelied it with the Greek kopis.
Πασχάλης Ιωαννίδης you know the kopesh is an early Bronze Age weapon right? And we can actually trace back pronaunciation of ancient Egyptian words from most time periods
"We don't even know if they were actually using this kind of sword because we have only found small triangular swords and axes from the Egyptian era." -- Rubbish. egypt-museum.com/post/180529958356/khopesh-sword-of-ramesses-ii
Love the enthousiasm, every history teacher should be that exited about history! Very contagious!
Just the weapon description I was looking for to explain something in Runequest. Love the channel.
I worry that this guy might secretly be a kopis-wielding serial killer. Otherwise a great video.
+Dan King He was an axe wielding one until he realized there was a sword that was basically an axe
The coroner would be like, "Murdered by an ancient weapon? LiinnNDDYYYY!!!"
I think the handle is designed that way so when the weapon is at rest, the blades centre of gravity is directly above the wrist, avoiding uneccesary strain..
I also think it may stem from the fact your strongest grip comes from the last two fingers, while fine control comes from the first two and the thumb... so you get a good strong grip with the slightly narrower cross section at the bottom of the hilt, but then the extra bit further up lets you control the angle better, both of which are important for a good slice
Your sense of humor is fantastic. So many of your videos have made me laugh at loud, like the joke you did with chainmail. You're great at toying with expectations, as shown at 1:46 . Love these videos, ancient arms and armor have always been an interest of mine.
I appreciate that you understand how similar the Kukri and Kopis are.
Thank you and keep up the good work.
It seems a little too coincidental to me that there was the original Kopesh, and this Kopis, and that cutting trees is to "coppice"
I am sure all them simply mean "to cut-down" which would explain how the Kopesh fell out of use before the Kopis came in: they are not related, they just share the same practical description of what they do.
One suggested root of the word "khopesh" is the Egyptian word ḫpš (this is the transliteration of the hieroglyphs) which means "leg," referring most likely to the similarity in shape.
"if you have to decapitate every mater copulater in the room"
damn, i laughed my head off
I've always put it this way; a khukuri was a kopis, made into a sidearm. Before the days of rifle infantry, it was secondary to either swords, spears (relatively rarer than in Europe given close-in terrain), or bows. Those are about 13-16 inches in blade length, for you'd likely battle with it.
The new generations came with breechloading and repeating rifles, 10-13 inches in length, and actually a tertiary weapon, a close-in backup for the rifle and bayonet.
The current ones rarely exceed 11 inches in blade length, but is now back to a secondary. Riflemen don't typically pocket around a pistol, but then again, modern rifles are dead nuts reliable and have plenty of bullets to spit out. they're used mostly for field craft and kitchen work, the only time it'd be drawn in anger is room-clearing distance if your gun shits itself.
I've been watching a lot of your videos and although they are all informative, I like this one because it emphasizes on the positives.
"try to imagine that"
*holds up Kopis then puts it away*
"ya imagine that"
holy fuck i laughed
"This is extremely effective at lopping off limbs" he says, after attempting to lop off his own limb.
The Kukri, Falcata and Kopis are all very similar but the Falcata and Kopis usually have more ornate handles that tend to wrap around the hand. They are all amazing weapons and happen to be some of my favorite edged weapons. The Falcata and Kopis were more designed for combat whereas the Kukri has many uses from combat to gardening and digging to clearing brush to ceremonial use. I own 4 Kukri's and I love them all but my favorite is my EGKH AEOF Khukuri from Ex Gurkha Kukri house in Nepal. It's made of 5160 high carbon leaf spring steel with rosewood handles and weighs almost 2 pounds! The blade is almost an inch thick on the spine and it chops like an axe!
No doubt one of the best knives for the outdoorsman because it serves so many purposes.
That "Kopis" in his hand is in fact an Iberian Falcata. It was used all over Iberia among Iberians as well as among Celts and Celtiberian to fight the Cartaginian and later the Romans. I can tell that by "horse shape" hilt. Maybe it was invented by the Egiptian or Greek but it became the most efective weapon in Iberia and the reason for that was the high edge blade technology the Iberians had and also the high quality metal ore. We were the best weaponry makers of the ancient world and some of the best soldiers that is why Rome took 200 years to conquer this piece of land.
When the thumbnail for a video about a kopis is a kukri
"The blade itself incites too violence"
Big fan. The reason for the blade angled forward and the grip pushing the blade slightly back is to increase angular momentum for a downward strike. That combined with the extra weight from the "meatier" part of the blade increases the amount of force upon impact--increased force on impact increases efficiency for severing limbs, necks, and possibly chopping into linothorax or bronze armor.
This man hasnt changed at all over the clurse of a decade
makes sense to have a horse head shape, Kopis was a favorite weapon of Greek and Macedonian Cavalry, also that shape makes it hard for it to slip out of you grip
*cough* macedonia *cough* greece
Great video. I just discovered your channel and I must say I'm impressed.
Interestingly you mentioned that the kopis was a compromised sword, which on its own I completely agree with your logic.
However after giving it some thought (I'm no expert) I think it would be fairer to say that perhaps the purpose and ergonomics of the kopis was intended as a secondary weapon? Whereby first a spear and shield/buckler would have been the primary?
indeed when looking at the weapon design of the kopis as part of a system instead of just individually, the whole design and ergonomics appear to be both far less compromised even to the point of being complementary and rather deliberate?
To me at least it seems far more lethal and also effective to have the long reach of the spear followed by the quick transition of the kopis, than say a longer sword on its own.
ultimately i'm a complete novice on this type of topics and as such i would really welcome your opinion.
Many thanks again for your video..
+CiviPrepper
Greek soldiers (hoplites, phalangites, etc.) primarily fought in big shield walls with spears. However, they occasionally used swords, for two reasons:
1) In the close quarters of a chaotic melee, a smaller sword will serve you better than a honking big spear. The Kopis was used in this capacity to some extent, though generally the more nimble Xiphos was preferred since it could be used for both chopping and thrusting, and it was fairly lightweight and cheaper than a kopis.
2) Mounted use. The relatively short, thrusting-oriented Xiphos wouldn't be much use on horseback, but the Kopis really comes into its own since you have gravity and inertia on your side, and once you've thwacked your enemy you can ride away before they have time to react (making up for the lack of parrying ability).
Thank you for your great videos mate, always entertaining and informative!
I have 2 of these in my collection and never really thought much of them. When he held up the longer version, I immediately thought to myself that I need that
I call it Machaira. Kopis means cowpiss in danish.
ahahahhahahaa
Ole Larsen Same in Swedish, just one more s
*wants to watch video on Falcata*
*Sees video about Kopis - eh it's close enough*
*LINDY CASUALLY PULLS OUT A FALCATA :D*
Falcata has a more of an ornament on the handle though, right?
Dear Llyod,
this was a very good explanatorial video about those two weapons.
What i kind of missed was a reference to those Dacian/Skythian scythe-swords/knifes, which hurted Trajans legions so badly. I'm quite sure, that the greek kopis might most likely originate from this 'barbarian' weapon.
Best regards!
Thank you for making this video. The kopis is one of my favorite swords.
Gurkhas DO NOT mess with one EVER>
Do not mess with South Indian flamboyant
Have you met Skallagrim before? I have a feeling you two would get along really well.
Haha i though the same, i love both channels, but lately i've come to think that they might have some disagreements on sword usage and technics, since Lindy has a more historian aproach to the subject, more deduction based less pratical aproach and Skalls simply learned from translated manuals. For instance, Lindy believes some bronze age weapons were used in a punch like fashion, to open wider wounds, while skall, knowing how impratical it would be in a actual fight, would find this laughable.
This two types tend to disagree, Weapons experts and enthusiasts claim that historians never picked up a weapon in their hands before and don't study their uses enough and historians claim weapons enthusiasts have little to none history knowledge to be a authority on the subject, and it goes on and on...
Ganga Din And that would be awesome!
Well, now I know how to find the description on a yt short when I didn't even know they had one before. Thanks Lloyd! Always had a particular liking of blades with this kind of shape, it's just so different compared to what you see day to day in the hobby. I''d also like to throw Falcata pronounced with a "ch" out there, for no reason other than to infuriate people.
Well, wrists don't bend enough for that to happen much. The mass of the thing, and the angle of the swing makes it much harder to hang onto than a straight sword after a swing.
hmm well, we need a hammer. *pulls out a hammer* uuummm how can I demonstrate... *PULLS OUT A FUCKING SWORD* Do a room tour please 😂😂
"Mater copulator" xD I'll start using that, and people will still see me as a gentleman.
lol, I get the impression you're wading through weapons and tools just below camera shot! :D Love the videos by the way, I came across this during one of my epic "getting sidetracked while doing something utterly unrelated" sessions, but now I'm gonna subscribe!
The kopis is basically the fundamental blueprint for a 'multipurpose tool sword'. It's influence can even be seen today in the machete, which also has a similar fat end to increase it's chopping power.
its a kukuri a 1900's tool from the gurkas
He said that
Kopis means to cut.
He always reaches off camera to grab random weapons like he has as an armory spilled on his carpet
One of my favorite weapon designs
Well kopis is a greek word and means something that cuts (the verb is "kopto"=cut), so the similar words argument is not valid...
It might be valid, but without a detailed linguistic analysis, it can't be determined either way.
Hahaha "mater copulater"
If you consider a line from the pommel to the tip, the shape of the grip forces the user told hold the weapon in a position that not only works fine for cuts, but aligns the grip and tip better for thrusting.
the kopis is one of my favorite swords. i also like the gladius, rondel dagger, pugio, and xiphos.
wasn't the khopesh a dramatically different shape than the kopis? like the khopesh was like a question mark shape and only sharpened on the outside edge, not the inside. Every picture of a khopesh I have ever seen even the archaeological finds are that shape, and the kopis is always kukri shaped. and the words derive from completely different sources, khopesh- leg of beef (because of the shape apperently), and the kopis- I cut (because it cuts)
Barghest Blue the similarity comes with the curved shape. While the khopesh does create a more question mark shape, possibly from its original form being a sickle, it still has that curve, like the kopis.
The khopesh has a curve but the curve is actually opposite the kopis, the kopis curve forward with the center point of the circle being in front of the blade. A khopesh curves backward with it's center point being behind the blade, the curved bit is actually just set out a little forward of the handle, it doesn't actually curve forward at that bit of the blade at all.
Barghest Blue yes until you realize that leaving of the top half of the circle, they are pretty much identical
Nobody said they were identical. It's just that they're both somewhat forward curved.
Could you do a vid on the seax
Seconded
thirded.
Ryan Newsome Lindybeige FYI you can get seaxes from a guy called paul bins? I don't know if thats helpful? I stumbled onto his site when I typed seaxe in online..
OhanCockett actually there are loads of places to get a sæx and they are pretty cheap sometimes, i have sen battle ready ones for 40-60 euro and completely functional ones from 19 euro (scramsæx) to 100 euro for a machete sized sæx. and everything in between, they are not hard to make(i should know i make them xD)
You make them? Do you have a business or is it just a hobby? Thats really interesting!
If you are in a business can u send me a link to your site? I would like to get one sometime
"Bit of the old chop chop" --from "Team Fortress 2"
Falx, one day, yes, but don't hold your breath.
5:45 meta copilata in the room??? Wut?
+Dave H And this was the funniest and best thing I have heard in a long time.
I'd love to see you try to pick up girls in a bar using material from your videos. It would be epic.
The most impressive part of these videos is that you do it all in one shot
Just a little point about the Kukri. The edge at the tip is kept very sharp and generally is considered the fine edge to be used in skinning or some such precision work, while the edge between curve at the tip and curve at the mid section is the hacking, chopping work edge. The edge nearest to hand is traditionally the sharpest and used for whittling etc.
Perhaps Greeks so pictures of the Kopesh on pieces of Egyptian art and that inspired the Greek invention of the Kopis. A mixture of good sensibilities of what a decent weapon and misinterpreting what the picture actually depicted might explain the differences.
Incidentally, the Gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII seems to be a type of Kopis.
+Mog of War Or they were traded some Kopesh, realized that they were superior in design to whatever they themselves were using and simply copied the design.
Squiglypig ...Superior design to what exactly? Every weapon had its strengths and weaknesses, and the Kopis had only limited implementation. The implementation of a weapon is not just a matter of what it's good at and how good it is, but where it fits within an arsenal. Warriors gambled not just their money but their lives to change their arsenals.
If they had just copied the design how would they know its use. Remember the kopesh had fallen out of use in Egypt several centuries before the Greeks started forging the kopis. What Greeks would have had were drawing on walls and occasional writings of it. If they had seen the blade itself, they might have seen it as a potentially useful weapon but they would have just as likely mistaken it for a mezzaluna and used it to cut bread, veggies, and cheese.
Or they may well have seen the weapon, seen why it fell out of use, and adapted a design that served the same basic purpose but was not hindered by all of the same flaws. Or the name similarity is entirely the result of the shape being similar and the blade's invention as a completely independent effort, but the observed similarities informed the nomenclature, nonetheless.
+Mog of War idk the year of the adoption of the kopis but the greeks did have contact through trade with the falcatta wielding iberians
+Mog of War No, the Greeks invented EVERYTHING!
don't be jealous, we Greeks invented (almost) everything!
Heard yall saved women everywhere time with pre-sliced bread. Sammichs must be made efficiently as they are well made.
Yes, either you use a shield, or, if on horseback, you use speed and ride away.
5:24 "The blade itself incites to deeds of violence"- Homer
Falcata is an Iberian weapon. Kopis is a Macedonian weapon. Also, the Khopesh is absolutely NOTHING like the Kopis, it's not even utilized in the same way.
Why Macedonian? It seems that it was used by all Greek hoplites along with the xifos the other common type of Greek sword
mfdimart So was the Sarissa. Why? Because Macedon conquered Greece.
It seems to me that Macedon spoke greek, had the greek Alphabet, had greek names honored the same Gods, so I guess that make them Greeks? or not?
And also there ist in the oracle of Delphi a nice Scripture from Alexander the great in Greek. This scripture is about a present to the gods from Alexander of Philipp and from Greeks except the Spartans. You can still read it today. Check your facts!
mfdimart they probably would have hurt you for calling them Greek, but yes.
***** The Sarissa was created by Philip II of Macedon. The Kopis was used by Northern Greco-Celtic tribes, and was popularized by Macedon during the reign of Alexander. No one knows who invented it, but it was primarily favored by Macedonian Pikemen.
The Xiphos was the standard sword for all Greek hoplites, except for Spartans, whom also preferred the Kopis.
Within 40 seconds of the video, an argument comes that a Kopesh/Kopis is the same as a Falcata which is the same as a kukri...and so I am grateful. It shows with all possible and desirable clarity that this video is not to be watched because IT IS COMPLETE AND UTTER HORSESHIT WITH NO ACTUAL CONTACT WITH ANYTHING RESEMBLING REALITY!!!
Good Lord!
@MoonEyes2k
care to set it right, or you wan'a leave it at that?
i don't want to say that what you say is wrong, i don't know the first thing about kukri. but first of all i would like to know more and second, just because he get's something wrong - even at the start of his video - that doesn't mean that his entire video is thus rubbish as well.
most of his points are actually not just right but with quite some thought which is something you rarely see these days any more.
and if you're gonna tell me that the difference between a kukri and a kopis is in the exact angle of the blade or the size or in an ounce of the carbon component of the steel, then quite frankly:
stop wimpling about it and shut up!
Pie S Ok...I didn't quite get all that, but I'll at least make an expansion on what I said. The Kopis is a Greek sword, coming from ancient greece. That's a bit uncertain a term, but about 8th through to 6th century BC. The Falcata, on the other hand, is a pre-Roman sword from the Iberian peninsula, basically what is, today, Spain and Portugal. As with ancient Greece, pre-Roman is somewhat uncertain, but generally means "before the republic", which then means 5th century BC. So, the swords come from two notably, if not wildly, separate places in Europe, and is separated by at least 100 or so years.
Are they very similar? Yes. Is the Falcata probably influenced by the Kopis? Yes.
Are they the same weapon? Not even nearly.
And as for the kukri...the earliest kukri KNOWN is from 1559, and yes, we can pinpoint it that accurately. It's now in the National Museum in Kathmandu. That's AT LEAST 2100 years of separation from the Kopis, as seen above. That is just in time. From that, we move on to things like, indeed, shape, weight, and so on, and we see that while the Kukri and the Kopis have the edge on the inside of the curve, and have at least a bit more mass higher up on the blade, that is the only similarity between the blades. This is the same thing as saying that a katana and a French Imperial saber are the same because they're curved single-edge blades. There is no other similarity between the Kopis and the Kukri, beyond those points. The Kukri most likely derived from the sickle, which is a fairly universal tool.
***** What he means is that these swords are in the same CLASSIFICATION of weapons - you may be familiar with the typology of swords. If you are, you may recall that they are grouped by blade shape and application, not by origin. The Kopesh, Kopis, Falcata, Kukri, and a small handful of others fall into the same category of ''forward-curving'' blades with said similar shapes and applications.
Furthermore, it isn't unreasonable to say that these swords, in the European theater, at least, came from a similar source - North Africa. As a student of history, I invite you to recall the extensive trade that Egypt had with ancient Grecian and Minoan peoples, who, while they did in fact use straight swords, may very well have been influenced by Egyptian art traded at later dates.
As for the sword's appearance in Iberia, one can quickly find that a sword of this shape was also used widely by the Carthaginians, whom are confirmed to have had an intimate relationship with Iberian tribal societies well before the invasion of Hannibal. Since few, if any, records exist from the side of the Iberian Tribesmen, a largely illiterate people before the widespread arrival of Latin as a Lingua Franka in the region, this connection can only be assumed (though with plenty of evidence - see theories on cultural transmission and distance decay), as anything quantifiable has been shrouded in prehistory.
Ryan Deschenes That might be what he MEANS...but, it isn't what he SAYS. Not only doesn't he say THAT, what he DOES say is ALSO that a kopis and a khopesh are the same things...and that is about as hideous a thing to say as I've ever heard, as the khopesh is NOTHING like the aforementioned blades.
it doesn't make his entire video "horseshit".
and you can see how-while they are not the same thus he was wrong to call them the same-they do look very similar and anyone who's never seen any will not be able to distinguish them and thus he is not detached from reality.
yes he did make a mistake but to call him out as a someone with "no actual contact with anything resembling reality" is not only a rush to judgement but in this case itself not in contact with reality.
not that i know all his videos but everything i've seen so far is as close to reality as you can get in a living room and usually he points out ACTUAL mistakes others made-especially on tv-that have no excuse what soever.
long message short: it was one mistake that was unusual for Lindybeige and i myself am dissapointed in him but it doesn't make him detached from reality
You are very worthy of a subscribe! I love your informative videos! Keep up the good work!!
Like an axe, but a sword, but chops like an axe - can't help but feel you're describing a machete