Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

276 III. Судан и его соседи this type of blade (but not the hilt) to the large trophies caught by the Omanis in the arsenals of the defeated Portuguese in the mid-17th C. 1 In themost part of Arabia , however, the straight sword was gradually replaced by sabre, which indicates both a strong foreign (Persian) influence and high demand in a weapon suited for mounted combat: pre-modern Arabia had more horses than in the times of the Prophet and they were employed in the numerous local wars in the period of the Wahhabi — counter-Wahhabi contest in Arabia. The highly esteemed Persian shamshir s remained relatively rare, though, being rather a symbol of rank than an ordonary field weapon. However, quite common were Syrian and European (especially Hungarian) slightly curved sabres 2 ; later in the 19th C., the Caucasian slightly curved shashka s became popular: though designed for the cavalry fighting they could also be used on foot, thus making more cumbrous straight sword unnecessary for the Arabian Bedouin warfare. All of the above can help to explain the preserving of a traditional earlymedieval sword in Sudan . The first reasonwas the absence of all the factors which led to the introducing of the curved blade in the Middle East. The Sudanesewarfare did not experience strong external influences or invasions, thus remained based on a traditional Arabic military system 1 See discussion in Elgood R. Op. cit. P. 17–18. 2 Elgood R. Op. cit. P. 22. Fig. 21. A relief of Goliath from the 10th C. Armenian church in Aght’amar island on lake Van, 915–921 AD