Khopesh

The khopesh is an ancient Egyptian sickle-sword with a curved, single-edged blade sharpened along its outer or sometimes inner edge, evolved from earlier Canaanite and Egyptian battle-axes and in use from roughly the Middle Kingdom through the New Kingdom period. Its distinctive hook-shaped blade allowed a wielder to hook an opponent's shield or weapon aside as well as deliver slashing and hacking blows, and bronze examples became a symbol of royal and military authority, frequently depicted in pharaonic art being presented by gods to kings or wielded by pharaohs in battle scenes such as those of Ramesses II. Khopeshes have been recovered from royal tombs including that of Tutankhamun, and the weapon gradually fell out of military use by the late New Kingdom as iron weapons and different sword forms became more common in the region.