Seme (dagger)

A seme,[1][2] simi[3] or ol alem[4] is a type of dagger or short sword used by the Maasai and Kikuyu peoples of Kenya in East Africa.[3][5]

Sketch of a seme

They have a distinctive leaf-shaped blade, with a relatively rounded point. Scabbards are generally made of wood covered with rawhide, and dyed red.

See also

Notes

  1. "Kenyan Maasai "Ol Alem" ", connectingcultures.us
  2. "African Masai Seme (Ol Alem)", Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour
  3. "Kikuyu simi with scabbard", IWM
  4. "Ol alem (sword)", John Woodman Higgins Armory collection
  5. Stone, George Cameron; LaRocca, Donald J. (1999). A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration, and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times: In All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications. p. 547. ISBN 978-0-486-40726-5. Retrieved 2008-12-29.

Further reading

  • George Cameron Stone, Donald J. LaRocca, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times, Verlag Courier Dover Publications, 1999, ISBN 978-0-486-40726-5
  • Nick Evangelista: The encyclopedia of the sword, Verlag Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995, ISBN 978-0-313-27896-9


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