Shotel

A shotel (Amharic: ሽተል) is a curved sword originating from northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. The curve on the blade varies from the Persian shamshir, adopting an almost semicircular shape. The blade is often double-edged with a diamond cross-section and about 40 inches (1 m) in total length. Nearly universal is a three-piece rhinoceros horn hilt with no guard, identical to that of the jile or jambiya, though wood and later bakelite examples have been observed. The shotel was typically carried in a close fitting leather scabbard which was sometimes decorated with precious metals.

After the restoration of Emperor Yekuno Amlak, the resurgent emperors began to organize their armies in a similar manners to the Aksumites, culminating in the reign of Emperor Amda Seyon I. Shotel wielders, known as shotelai or hanetay and organized in the Axurarat Shotelai, comprised one of the elite forces of Amda Seyon's Imperial host. Along with the Hareb Gonda and Korem cavalry, Keste Nihb archers, and Axuarat Axuarai lancers, they were said to be the forces that "flew through the air like the eagle and spun on the ground like the avalanche." Notable shotel techniques included slashing attacks that had devastating effects especially against mounted opponents. The shotel could be used to loop and rip a warrior off their horse. Classically, the shotel was employed in a dismounted state to hook the opponent by reaching around a shield or any other defensive implement or weapon. The shotel and other Eritrean and northern Ethiopian swords are occasionally referred to collectively in Geez as han'e.

Due to increased trade with the west, over time the shotel began to be replaced in the southern Kingdom of Shewa and Shewan dominated Ethiopian Empire by swords fitted with European sabre blades known as Gurade or Gorade. In Amhara culture the generic word for sword, Seif (Amharic: ሰይፍ), is also applicable but mainly used to refer to a straight bladed, double edged sword. Traditional Shotel fencing incorporated much jumping and lunging. Typically, warriors in Northeast Africa wore circular shields strapped to their forearms with weapons carried on the same side as their dominant hand in order to be drawn while horseback. This left the shield hand free to steer Ethiopian horses. The Ethiopian riding style thus involved a unique approach characterized by single rein control, often without a bit, and mounting from the right side (unlike most others). Ethiopian curved swords were thus awkward to draw and ceremonial in nature. Like most other swords they were mainly used in place of spears or projectiles and historically served as a status symbol, being highly attractive to women.

“A great long Shotel with its silver ball,

Goes down with the women, and that’s all –

A first-rate sword with its silver knob,

Goes down with the women, that’s its job”

According to William Cornwallis Harris, the sword protruded from behind the wearer like a tail and was difficult to draw: "girded to the loins of every male subject in the kingdom (of Shewa) be his profession what it may." "Highly crescent shaped, it rather resembles a sickle than an implement of war - It serves equally at the banquet and in the field." He continues, "the serf still appears in the raw fleece of the sheep. During the journey or the foray a cloak, composed of the prepared skin of the lion, the leopard, or the ocelot, is thrown over the shoulders of the better classes." Negus Sahle Selassie would pass on to his descendants (among them Menelik II and Haile Selassie) a sword made of gold.