Jean-Léon Gérôme, Napoleon in Egypt, c. 1863, with a Mameluke sword, Princeton University Art Museum
A Mameluke sword/ˈmæməluːk/ is a cross-hilted, curved, scimitar-like sword historically derived from sabres used by Mamluk warriors of Mamluk Egypt after whom the sword is named. Egypt was, at least nominally, part of the Ottoman Empire and the sword most commonly used in Egypt was the same as used elsewhere in the empire, the kilij.
The curved sabre was originally of Central Asian Turkic in origin[1][2] from where the style migrated to the Middle East, Europe, India and North Africa.[3] In Anatolia and the Balkans the sabre developed characteristics that eventually produced the Ottoman kilij. It was adopted in the 19th century by several Western militaries, including the French Army, British Army, Royal Sardinian Army, Royal Italian Army and the United States Marine Corps. Although some genuine Ottoman sabres were used by Westerners, most "mameluke sabres" were manufactured in Europe or America; their hilts were very similar in form to the Ottoman prototype, but their blades tended to be longer, narrower and less curved than those of the true kilij, while being wider and also less curved than the Persian shamshir.
In short, the hilt retained its original shape. but the blade tended to resemble the blade-form typical of contemporary Western military sabres. The Mameluke sword remains the ceremonial sidearm for some units to this day.
^James E. Lindsay (2005), Daily life in the medieval Islamic world, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 64, ISBN 0-313-32270-8
^Kirill Rivkin (2017), A Study of the Eastern Sword, Yamna Publishing, ISBN 978-1532340017
^Castagno, Joseph P. Encyclopedia Americana. Scholastic Library Publishing, 2006, Volume 30
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