Axe Blade

ca. 1000 BCE-700 BCE

Some semi-nomadic peoples attained an exceptional mastery of bronze in the mountains of Luristan, Iran, between 1300 and 650 BCE, as shown by this halberd, where the blade emerges from the mouth of a stylised lion while the tail of another lion, reclining on the socket, curves to form a loop. Although such weapons were divine attributes or emblems of power in the Elamite world at the beginning of the 2nd millennium, over a thousand years later this halberd had become no more than a ceremonial item.

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