Seme (dagger)

A seme,¹² simi³ or ol alem⁴ or Njora is a type of dagger or short sword used by the Maasai and Kikuyu peoples of Kenya in East Africa.³⁵

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

Notes

"Kenyan Maasai "Ol Alem" " Archived 2021-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, connectingcultures.us
"African Masai Seme (Ol Alem)", Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour
"Kikuyu simi with scabbard", IWM
"Ol alem (sword)", John Woodman Higgins Armory collection
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

[1] "Kenyan Maasai "Ol Alem" " Archived 2021-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, connectingcultures.us

[2] "African Masai Seme (Ol Alem)", Lew Waldman's Ethnographic Arms & Armour

[simi-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.

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See also

Notes

Further reading