Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas, and
Speaker 1: moments in time. As any Dungeons and Dragons player can
Speaker 1: tell you, there are magical weapons, and then there are
Speaker 1: weapons that can talk, and these are often among the
Speaker 1: most powerful and dangerous artifacts your character can possibly attune.
Speaker 1: To the well of human mythology, which Dungeons and Dragons
Speaker 1: certainly draws on, contains many such speaking and singing weapons.
Speaker 1: Fictional black Razor is equalled or exceeded by the magical
Speaker 1: broadsword of Collervo in Finnish traditions or various speaking swords
Speaker 1: in Irish legend, but one of the oldest and most
Speaker 1: fantastic examples of the speaking weapon can be found in
Speaker 1: the mythology of ancient Sumer. The wielder is none other
Speaker 1: than Ninurta, god of spring, thunder, showers, and protector of agriculture.
Speaker 1: Ninurta's weapon is the mace Shahur, the smasher of thousands.
Speaker 1: Why a mace, you might ask, well as Gabriel at
Speaker 1: all point out in from sumer to Rome. The mace
Speaker 1: was one of the most important weapon technologies of the
Speaker 1: ancient world. While certainly an evolution of the simple club,
Speaker 1: the mace was absolutely devastating against the unarmored skulls of
Speaker 1: your enemies. The authors point out that the ancient Egyptians
Speaker 1: kept the mace is a symbol of authority and power
Speaker 1: until seventeen hundred BC, as their armies only fought enemies
Speaker 1: that boasted neither armor nor helmets, the mace dom anated
Speaker 1: the battlefield. In fact, the helmet emerged as a technological
Speaker 1: response to the crushing power of the mace. According to
Speaker 1: Gabriel at All, the third millennium b CE Steel of
Speaker 1: Vultures presents us with the earliest evidence of spearmen wearing helmets,
Speaker 1: and this is backed up by the bodies of soldiers
Speaker 1: found in the death pits of er from around d
Speaker 1: b c E. But the son mace reigned supreme as
Speaker 1: the most commonly used melee weapon from roughly four thousand
Speaker 1: to twenty hundred b C. So it is the ideal
Speaker 1: weapon for an ancient Sumerian god to wield. There was
Speaker 1: simply no compelling reason to abandon it if one's enemies
Speaker 1: lacked metal helmets, but Sharhu was no typical mace. The
Speaker 1: weapons spoke, It could fly across vast distances and even
Speaker 1: take on the form of a winged lion. Is Ibrahim
Speaker 1: End points out in the Monster Hunter's Handbook, the weapon
Speaker 1: was capable of smashing enemies, either on its own or
Speaker 1: in the hands of Ninurta. It also rained fire and
Speaker 1: venom down on its enemies, and allowed the hero god
Speaker 1: to slay the terrifying demon Azag and its army of
Speaker 1: rock demons. In the Sumerian poem Ninurta's Exploits, the hero
Speaker 1: is said to pound a Zag's body with the mace
Speaker 1: as if a Zog were mirror barley, and such is
Speaker 1: the power of Shure that the condition of the slain
Speaker 1: demon's body is compared to that of a ship wrecked
Speaker 1: by a tidal wave. Tune into additional editions of the
Speaker 1: artifact each week. As always, you can email us at
Speaker 1: contact It's Stuff to Blow Your Mind dot com. Stuff
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