BYZANTINE IRON MACE

Comments: This mace head is similar to a specimen found on the site of Vielki Preslav dated to the turn of the 12th - 13th century A.D.. The pyramidal shape of this weapon represents a further evolution of previous specimens.

The use of such kind of weapon was mainly reserved to the armored cavalryman, even though spiked maces like this were depicted being also worn by infantrymen. A specific illustration which shows the use of this weapon by light infantrymen is in the miniature of Cod. Par. Suppl. gr. 27, fol. 118v, preserved in the Bibliotheque National, Paris, and dated to the 12th century A.D.. In the biblical scene representing the arrest of Jesus, a mob of armed men is shown holding axes, war-hammers and torches, mounted on poles. Among the other weapons, a spiked mace with 6 points is emerging of the same shape of our specimen here. A slightly different example is shown on the same episode represented this time, on the mosaic of Saint Marco Cathedral in Venezia, and dated to the 13th century. From early on, the equipment of the Venetian army was very similar with the East Roman army so it is no wonder to see soldiers with similar equipment in the Venetian mosaic.

The fighting maces of polygonal type are recorded also by the Arab writer Al-Tartusi (12th cent.). In his work, which is a document of weaponry composed for the famous Sultan Sala-hid-din), he writes about different kinds of maces as follows, " ...in some of them, the head has got a round shape covered by big or small iron forged spikes, in others the metal is polished and an elongated form shaped like a cucumber with raised processes shaped like sabers and stars...(Al-Tartusi 139).