Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

  • Massai Seme (Ol Alem)

Massai Seme (Ol Alem)
Maasai or surrounding neighbors
Tanganyika, German East Africa - Kenya Colony, British East Africa (Kenya - Tanzania)
Late 19th - Early 20th century (ca.1885 - 1925)
Steel, wood, leather
Blade: 57,8cm
Hilt & Blade: 67,3cm
Hilt, Bade, Sheath: 69,9cm
Collection Date: 2024
Collection Number: 407

The seme, or ol alem (Swahili), is the traditional sword of the Massai and surrounding tribes of Kenya and Tanzania, East Africa. Usually a weapon of last resort, as the spear and shield make up the prime armaments. Nevertheless, every Maasai male would carry a seme after completing the rites of passage into adulthood and warrior status.

This one is an earlier example, probably around the turn of the century. The double- edged steel blade is heavy, long, and slender, ending in a broad leaf shaped point. There is a medial ridge up to about halfway of the blade's length where it slowly separates the blade into two planes of different depths. One side is forged higher, convexed, while the opposite side is forged at a lower depth, concaved. The blade is forged the same on the back side but reversed. It has a heavy and solid steel construction.

The hilt is wood with a leather wrapped grip. Wooden sheath covered in dyed red leather. Missing the iron chape ring and leather belt. A quality early example of the Massai sword.

Photograph 8: Maasai Warriors. Niarobi, Kenya, 1969.