Battle-ax

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The traditional Egyptian ax had a round or semicircular blade of stone or copper lashed to a wood stick. By the First Intermediate Period, when territorial conflicts arose within Egypt, a new crescent-shaped ax blade made of bronze was invented specifically for battle. The design increased the length of the cutting edge, making the weapon more lethal.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art