Knife combat in Cyprus / Ножевой бой на Кипре

25/02/2026

24/02/2026

Οι ιταλοί στρατιώτες, ειδικά αυτοί που στρατεύονταν από τη νότια Ιταλία και τη Σικελία, προκαλούσαν τρόμο στον αυστρο-ουγγρικό στρατό κατά τη διάρκεια των χειρομαχικών συγκρούσεων.
Ακόμη και οι ίδιοι οι Ιταλοί αξιωματικοί δεν μπορούσαν να αναγκάσουν τους στρατιώτες τους να χρησιμοποιήσουν το τουφέκι με τη λαβή του ξιφολόγχου — οι πεισματάρηδες μαχητές συνέχιζαν να αρπάζουν το γνώριμο από τα παιδικά τους χρόνια μαχαίρι και να πηδούν στον εχθρό στο χαρακωμένο έδαφος.
Ιδιαίτερα επιτυχημένοι στην εξόντωση του εχθρού ήταν οι λεγόμενοι «arditi», ή «γενναίοι», — ειδικές επιθετικές μονάδες που χρησιμοποιούνταν για την κατάληψη των χαρακωμάτων, των οχυρωμάτων ή των καταφυγίων του εχθρού. Επιλέγονταν από τους πιο γενναίους και ικανούς στρατιώτες και χρησιμοποιούνταν στα πιο δύσκολα σημεία του μετώπου.
Ο δημοσιογράφος Paolo Giudici, που ήταν μάρτυρας των ασκήσεων των arditi, αφηγείται:
«Εδώ υπάρχουν ομοιώματα γεμάτα άχυρο, πάνω στα οποία εξασκούνται οι arditi, βυθίζοντας τα ξίφη τους: τα μαλλιά σηκώνονται όρθια, τα μάτια πετάγονται έξω, φωνάζουν με όλη τους τη δύναμη, τα πρόσωπα τους είναι παραμορφωμένα. Οι arditi επιτίθενται με μανία στον υποθετικό εχθρό και χτυπούν ακριβώς στην καρδιά».
Η δεξιοτεχνία των μαχητών των επιθετικών μονάδων ήταν τόσο μεγάλη που μπορούσαν να πετούν μαχαίρια στον εχθρό, και ένα από τα παιχνίδια τους, σύμφωνα με έναν άλλο μάρτυρα, τον Mario Palieri, ήταν το εξής: ένας από τους arditi στεκόταν με την πλάτη στην πόρτα, ενώ οι φίλοι του εκσφενδόνιζαν μαχαίρια δίπλα στο κεφάλι του. Αυτός που κρατούσε το κεφάλι ακίνητο θεωρούνταν ο πιο γενναίος.

18/02/2026

This morning we had a school экскурсия visiting us — we told the children about chivalry. In the evening, as usual, there will be a fencing practice.
Join us!
Museum of Templar Ages

20/01/2026

Hello friends. I'm back in Arodes, and tomorrow I'll be glad to see you again at the training sessions at the Templar Museum.

14/12/2025

Their eyes met—calmly and with confidence. In that moment, courage and bravery gave birth to inner strength. The knives in their hands did not divide them, but set the boundary of personal space. Their movements became smooth and fast. Step by step, tension turned into rhythm, and between them arose a dance where every action had a price, and the outcome was decided by fearlessness and will.

We are waiting for you at the training sessions at the Templars Museum in Pano Arodes.

13/12/2025

Verbal and fencing duels were often connected within a shared cultural code of honor and masculinity:

The Tradition of Tsiattista: Poetic Duels as a Code of Masculinity in Cyprus

In Cyprus, as in many traditional societies, ideals of masculinity are expressed not only through physical feats but also through mastery of language. One such manifestation is the tradition of tsiattista — poetic duels between men, in which the primary weapons are wit, rhyme, and eloquence. The duels take place publicly, often during village festivals, where spectators serve as witnesses and arbiters. Breaking the formal rules or failing to respond cleverly to a taunt is considered a loss of honor.

Interestingly, tsiattista finds parallels in other cultural traditions:

In 19th–20th century Naples, verbal contests were held in squares and streets, where men competed with wit and satire, demonstrating social status and the ability to maintain composure in front of an audience.

In ancient Scandinavian culture, skalds engaged in verbal duels, each attempting to surpass the other with sharp epithets, rhyme, and allusion, showcasing both virtuosity and family honor.

Modern rap battles serve a similar function: a public test of courage, ingenuity, and skill, where social reputation depends on verbal superiority.

In all these cases, as with tsiattista, there is no physical threat: the risk lies in the public loss of prestige, respect, and masculine reputation. The ability to defend one’s honor with words becomes an important criterion of maturity and social standing.

Thus, tsiattista can be seen as a cultural mechanism for institutionalizing male honor. The verbal duel functions as a means of social control and a way to express competition, allowing men to demonstrate courage, wit, and artistic skill in a safe form. In this context, the Cypriot tradition is a modern relic of ancient rituals, where the test of valor is transferred from the battlefield to the realm of language.

By the way, if you plan to visit our Templar museum on Tuesday, Saturday, or Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00, we also recommend stopping by Druscha to see the Ethnography Museum, where you can learn even more fascinating details about Cypriot culture.

12/12/2025

In old Europe, where fate was often decided on the edge of a blade, there existed a special type of duel that is now sometimes mistakenly called a “carousel.” The term is inaccurate — historical carousels were mounted games of the late chivalric era — yet the form of combat in which one fighter meets not a crowd at once but a successive chain of opponents did in fact exist.

In medieval trials by combat, the accused sometimes had to fight several witnesses of the prosecution. They entered the field one by one, posing their questions not with words but with steel. The duel continued until the accused fell, or until the queue of opponents was exhausted.

And in the German and French lands of the 14th–15th centuries, several relatives could stand for the honor of their family, but only one was allowed to be in combat at a time; the others waited for their turn, preserving the right to enter the fight if the previous fighter was defeated. Thus the ritual duel became a sequence of single encounters, bound together by a common thread of honor.

These duels were not called a carousel, but their essence — the rotation of fighters and the trial of a single man by a succession of opponents — creates the same inner drama shown in the film Satisfaction, where this type of duel is given the poetic name “carousel.”

The video shows an excerpt from the 2005 film Satisfaction.

Дуэль на пятерых.- Это забавно, господа! Стоит ввести это в традицию © Анненский