Weapons in the Greek War of Independence

The first weapons taken up by the freedom-fighters in 1821 were improvised- mundane objects such as pitchforks and tools. But as the start of the Revolution followed the end of the Napoleonic wars, through the help of the Philhellenes and Greeks in Europe, many European weapons of French, Italian and English make, were sent to Greece. Along with Turkish, Albanian, Slavic, Arabic and Oriental weapons, mainly of Persian origin, the arsenal of the freedom-fighters in 1821 was heterogeneous and included both range and melee weapons.

Range weapons included rifles, such as the European musket, or smaller type pistols and the so-called trombones. However the most popular weapon of the Revolution was the legendary karyophili which was so popular, that freedom fighters were known to give it a name. The karyophili was a slender, long-barreled front-loading rifle with a flintlock firing mechanism. Its characteristic feature was the fish-tail like finish on the stock and the cast brass decorations. It was ideal for guerilla warfare, for while it proved unwieldy in the tactical battles and armies of the West, in the hands of a good marksman and in ambush scenarios it was valuable, while its hilt played the role of a club in hand-to-hand combat.

For shorter distances the pistola was the firearm of choice. A short-barreled weapon with a flint mechanism, the pistola was ideal for when the enemy was close enough that no special aim was required for a kill shot.

The most famous of the melee weapons was the yatagan, yataghan or ataghan (from Turkish yatağan) or varsak, the "beloved weapon of the brave for close combat". The yatagan was ideal for quick ambush attacks, due to its light weight and compact size. The swords used in the 1821 Independence War were the Ottoman style kilidjswords which the fighters hung on their sides. These were a variant of the Persian and Central Asian shamshir swords, with minor differences in the width of the blade and the construction of the sheath.

Several fighters also used the labrys or double axe as an offensive weapon. Georgios Karaiskakis was said to own one, while many warlords also had skullcaps, such as Petrobey Mavromichalis.

In the following Exhibition you will find the most well-known types of weapons and accessories, such as palaskas and medularia. Impressive examples of the art of silversmithing of the period, these featured a variety of motifs such as representations of the Goddess Athena and other mythological iconographic elements such as double-headed eagles. The medularia were small metal cases in which the fat that warriors used to lubricate their weapons was kept. The accessories were worn by the warrior in his selahi, in shaped pouches. The selahi or silahlik or silefi (from the Turkish word silah) was worn around the waist over the foustanella, the traditional Balkan pleated kilt-like garment, held in place by a wide leather belt tied behind.