art and article by Alex Kunce

Since the beginning of time, there has been conflict, and with conflict, comes weaponry. While seeking peace is a noble cause, sometimes a bit of violence is what one must resort to in an imperfect world. Throughout history, conflict has evolved and with it, weapons. And when things evolve, you sometimes end up with oddities…like proboscis monkeys…or banana Laffy Taffy. Weapons are no different. Most have heard of swords, axes, and maces. And then you have wooden tubes that erupt with poisoned arrows, ringed blades for throwing through battlefields, wooden swords with a blade of volcanic rock, and way too many things that used to be farm equipment. Here, I have researched 10 of the most unorthodox weapons that history has seen. Let’s begin!

1. Greek Fire

Name: Greek Fire
Origin: Greece, 600s
Use: Incendiary weapon

Greek Fire is a mystery lost to the ages. The incendiary, lit from a liquid chemical compound designed by the ancient Greeks, was as frighteningly destructive as it was enigmatic. Used in the 600s, the Byzantines are said to have used this dangerous weapon against Arab naval fleets invading Constantinople, securing victory by burning their approaching ships. When either fired from a catapult or sprayed from a pressured flamethrower-like weapon, the substance could strike the foe’s wooden ships and set them alight, proving a valuable asset in securing multiple seafaring battles. But most strange is Greek Fire’s reported interaction with water. Although most pyrotechnical weapons don’t mix with water, it is supposed that Greek Fire could actually stay lit even when burning on water, making it ideal for nautical warfare like Greece often saw on the Mediterranean. Some historians even claim it was ignited on contact with water, a concept that has baffled scholars and pyrotechnicians alike to this day. And yet, no one knows what Greek Fire actually consisted of. The compound used for the incendiary was closely guarded by the Greeks, and even now, it can only be theorized on what the formula contained: The front-running theories suggest ingredients like sulfur, pine resin, or quicklime (which was also used as a weapon similar to Greek Fire). Whether we ever know, the tales of Greek Fire are ones of formidable strength few would like to challenge to this day.

2. Swordbreaker

Name: Swordbreaker
Origin: Italy, 1600s
Use: Defensive weapon in dueling

Despite its sharp nature, the Swordbreaker is primarily a defensive weapon. Pertaining to the family of main-gouche, literally “left-hand” in French, this tool was employed alongside a more standard blade in combat. While it sports a sharpened edge like any other dagger, its backside is what secures the Swordbreaker a spot on this list: barbed prongs indented to the thick metal blade create crevasses ideal for locking-in a foe’s weapon. Considered to be a misnomer, it would be difficult for a Swordbreaker to actually break a sword. Its intended use was closer to catching and restraining the opponent’s blade, allowing your main hand to land a crippling blow. Used in Italy and countries in the surrounding Mediterranean, the Swordbreaker was rather unpopular. Some attribute this to its difficulty to forge and possibility of failure in combat, leaving the wielder open for attack. Still, the threatening blade elicits fear in all that face it.

3. Flail

Name: Flail
Origin: Europe, 1500s
Use: Mace-like alternative

A weapon is only as good as the armor it can intercept. With the smithing and honing of metal came many dangerous weapons, only matched by the protective wear employed to counter it. In the earlier Middle Ages, plate metal was widespread, used by knights and soldiers to deflect strikes and defend against attackers. Strong and able to move with the wearer, the fortitude of plate armor was near unmatched. But the Achille’s Heel of plate metal was the fact that a well-placed slice could penetrate a shoulder, hip, or arm between where the plates joined. As such, a counteractive new material exploded into popularity: chainmail. Chainmail, like the benefits of plate metal, could flex and adjust with the wearer almost as much as cloth could, allowing for even better mobility. But the most important part of its concept was its chain-like composition, allowing for few gaps for edges to infiltrate. Since blades could no longer find a way around chainmail, warriors decided they’d have to go through it.

Replacing the popularity of edged weapons, blunt force became the leading form of attack: clubs, hammers, and maces used sheer strength to batter enemies through their armor, sometimes even crushing the chainmail’s links. One of these weapons was the flail. Like other weapons, it began as a tool for threshing wheat and crops, but grew popular when adapted to warfare. And unlike many other weapons that were mounted to a straight shaft, the flail held a lethal difference. Composed of a short wooden handle, the main striking head of the flail was a steel or iron ball, often spiked or flanged, that could be swung toward an enemy. However, unlike a similar mace, the ball was connected to a chain, allowing it to swing and flail in battle. To increase its deadliness, some included two, three, or rarely more chained heads, all careening through the battlefield. Another version of the flail used a longer handle with a shorter chain, an oblong, club-like spiked head attached for a more precise blow. Unfortunately, the flail’s strong, wild attacks also held a downside: they were difficult to control, as are many chain weapons, and lacked the defensive capabilities of a blade or stave-type tool. Still, the swinging strikes of a flail are nothing to take lightly, no matter how much chainmail you’ve equipped yourself with.

4. Polish War Scythe

Name: War Scythe
Origin: Poland, 1800-1900s
Use: Bladed stave

Like many weapons, the scythe is a basic tool used in agriculture. However, a War Scythe is far more menacing and lethal. While shining armored knights on horseback leap to mind when considering medieval war, it is true that many soldiers were simple farmers or laborers who were drafted into battle. As such, when traditional weapon supplies ran low, the farm workers would often resort to improvising the tools that were handy to them. A hoe for tilling? Chop someone with it! A mallet for hammering? Smack someone with it! Incidentally, this also gave fruition to many other odd weaponry choices. When even basic tools became sparse, spare parts could be assembled into a club, a blade, or a staff. Battleaxes and War Hammers were preceded by their non-violent counterparts, used for chopping timber and forging metals. So too was the War Scythe. Its analogous form was used for trimming tall grasses and crops—this strength being modified into trimming down approaching foes. Known for its use in the Polish countryside, the War Scythe was equipped with a tall handle shaft and a sharp, curved blade. As a simple tool, the concept of a scythe for farming has been reported to be thousands of years old. And although using a scythe as a weapon came soon after, the 18^th and 19^th centuries observed significant usages by Polish and Lithuanian infantry during uprisings. This is why War Scythes are often associated with Poland and usage by Polish soldiers.

5. Okinawan Nunchaku

Name: Nunchaku (Sometimes simplified to Nunchucks)
Origin: Okinawa
Use: Training weapon

Nunchaku, or simplified to Nunchucks, are traditionally a pair of wooden shafts connected at one end with a chain or rope, although the handles have been modernized with metal, plastic, and other materials. Used in Okinawan martial arts, Nunchaku are not intended as true weaponry. They began as a training tool for martial arts students (primarily in karate and Okinawan kobudō) to enhance reflexes and posture, and they were possibly developed from yet another farm tool. Some suspect that it was once used to thresh rice and other crops like the flail, or was employed to a different purpose, before being adopted as a weapon at some part of Okinawa’s history (although just when this happened is unclear). Despite its peaceful origins, the Nunchuck can still provide a painful and jarring strike if used accurately. And while being less dangerous than many of the other, more fear-inducing weapons of history, its non-lethal nature can be used to a wielder’s advantage. After it rose to popularity following Bruce Lee’s use of it in his film Fists of Fury, a select number of U.S. police officers adopted them for instilling non-lethal force, although it proved somewhat unsuitable and was overtaken by the taser as a customary retrain tool. Its unorthodox nature restricted it from becoming popular, as it wasn’t very effective against popular weapons of the time. But adversely, its strange composition makes it very applicable to specific environments where its strengths can properly shine.

6. African Throwing Knife

Name: African Throwing Knife
Origin: Africa, 1900s
Use: Dangerous ranged blade

Just the sight of of this terrifying blade will strike fear into the heart of any enemy. The African Throwing Knife, unlike many other ranged bladed weapons like the Japanese shuriken or Indian chakram (which will be explained in the following entry), this knife presents a very large number of pointed edges forged into its twisted blade. The purpose, when thrown by a skilled warrior, is that whichever direction the spinning blade is in when it strikes the opponent, one of the deadly edges will catch them. For such an awkward and menacing design, the metal must be carefully honed to balance the weight at the center of the knife, making it ideal for careening through the air. The African Throwing Knife has been confirmed to be dated just before the 1900s, although some counts reference its origin up to near a century earlier. Like many other uncannily dangerous weapons featured here, this is one I would very much not like to meet in an opposition’s ready hand.

7. Indian Chakram

Name: Chakram
Origin: India
Use: Ranged throwing weapon

Of the weapons featured here, few could beat the Chakram in true uniqueness. And despite its unchallenged oddity, the construction and usage of this weapon is surprisingly straightforward and effective. While historical works mention their presence around 2,500 years ago, it is unclear whether the weapon was used widely until later in its time. Its construction is simple: a flat disk of metal, sharpened into a bladed edge along the outer rim, and a blunt interior hollow for a wielder to grasp the ring. Some variations include an S-shaped bar crossing the center gap as a throwing handle, others rendered empty for the user to grip the inner edge. And this weapon boasts a feature few others can admit to: it is highly effective in both close-combat melee and ranged battle. While throwing stars or aimed arrows are effective at a distance, they are rarely helpful in besting an enemy at close quarters. Similarly, a sword or mace may match an approaching weapon, but are scarcely effective when thrown. However, the Chakram is useful in both instances. The rounded blade, often employed as a pair divided between each hand, can deflect blows and cut easily at their small and maneuverable scale. However, when applied to a ranged environment, their disk composition proves ideal for throwing. The sharp blade slices the air and whatever it strikes with hefty force, earning victory to the wielder and defeat to anyone daring enough to stand in their path.

8. Aztec Macuahuitl

Name: Macuahuitl
Origin: South America, 1600s
Use: Scarily devastating obsidian-bladed sword

When Europeans landed on the coasts of the New World in the 1600s, they discovered innumerable wonders of civilizations that had long gone uninterrupted by the peoples to the east. So, too, did they find the most fearsome weapons. The most terrifying of them was the Macuahuitl, an Aztec wooden sword embedded with sharpened shards of obsidian. A broadsword-sized wooden paddle, the weapon replaced the edge of a European metal sword with rows of flat obsidian, a volcanic rock found in the Central American region the Aztecs resided in. Although not as sturdy as metal, the obsidian held a much finer and deadlier edge. Frightening writings report that it could decapitate a horse. Poor horse. However, later studies concluded that it was used less like a sword in a straight-on motion, but in a circular attack: the obsidian blade was shallow for slicing clear through something, and too much force could damage the fragile obsidian. Historians suspect that it was optimized for lacerating enemies in battle to be captured, rather than expecting a lethal strike. Although it was notably documented in the 1600s during the Spanish Conquest, the Macuahuitl was a traditional weapon of the Aztecs, supposedly dating back far before then. Between its foreign design and mightily dangerous power, I am quite glad the Macuahuitl has been left in the past, with few to no examples existing to this day.

9. Nest of Bees

Name: Nest of Bees
Origin: China, 1500s
Use: Powerful ranged incendiary

During the Ming Dynasty, a revolutionary and deadly weapon came into use: rightfully christened the Nest of Bees. Like bothering a bee’s nest, this weapon could erupt with stinging spikes, these a bit more lethal. Constructed as a hexagonal or octagonal wooden case with a tapered open end, the Nest of Bees would be packed with dozens of arrows, many tipped with poison or ignitable substances like resin or pitch. The bottom end, filled with gunpowder, would unleash an explosion, propelling a hail of arrows what is said to be over a thousand feet. Although difficult to be aimed precisely, the sheer mass and range of this weapon proved brutal to any foe daring to trouble with it. And while its composition was useful in combat, perhaps its strongest trait was the early use of incendiary explosives. Like other weapons invented in China around the 1500s, it heralded the application of explosive-propelled projectiles hundreds of years in the future with the advent of the wildly revolutionary firearm.

10. Caltrop

Name: Caltrop
Origin: Greece, 300s BCE
Use: Painful ground trap for enemies and horses

The Caltrop, for being a rather strange weapon, is undeniably the simplest listed here. The construction, four pointed metal spikes forged together, would be easy for even a new blacksmith to make and reproduce. However, this unassuming design is ingenious. The way the spikes are placed, three always support the Caltrop like a tripod, the fourth sticking into the air. No matter which three spikes land on the ground, the remaining one always faces upward. This is a great defensive tactic against approaching troops, able to stab the feet of victims and leave a nasty wound, delaying travel and often times developing infected tissue. This was also applied to horses on the battlefield, and in different parts of the world, unfortunate elephants and camels may poke their feet on a hiding Caltrop. But the most interesting element of the Caltrop is its timelessness. Almost everyone has used Caltrops in history; There are early records in the Greek Empire before the common era, followed by Romans, Japanese, and more. Even American soldiers employed them during the American Revolution, and later troops used them extensively during World War II. Dating back centuries ago, the Caltrop is still used to this day, although to a mildly augmented purpose: police officers sometimes employ them to disable pursued vehicles by incapacitating their tires. For something so small, something a fighter doesn’t even wield themselves, the Caltrop had certainly made its mark on history.

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These 10 examples represent a whole lot of weird weaponry invented and feared throughout the origins of history. Some have been left in the past, like the Macuahuitl, others inspiring or even living on to remain weapons of today, like the Caltrop. Some are brutally deadly, like the Nest of Bees or African Throwing Knife, others optimized for a more defensive attack, like Nunchaku or the Swordbreaker. Some provide a strong physical strike, like the Flail, or opt for a more creative format, like Greek Fire. Some can fly through the air, like the Chakram, or approach from a deadly hand, like the War Scythe. All of them hold their own unique strengths and weaknesses, contributing to their immortal place among the battlefields of the past.

These are the sources I used for reference in my writing of the article:

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