Moving forward with our articles on African Martial Arts. See head over the North Africa, specifically the country Egypt to get a look at their style Tahtib and how its looking to be revived in the modern day as a martial art of Egyptian heritage.
Martial Art: Tahtib
Style: Weaponry
Country: Egypt (North African)
Origin: Ancient Egypt (Oldest possible traces from Abusir, Pyramid of Sahure, V Dynasty c. 2500 BC)
History: The earliest traces of combat and warfare in both Ancient Egypt and the world can be found on archaeological sites in Abusir, Minya, Tell el Amarna, Luxor and Saqqara. These sites all have illustrations of military practice of stick fighting along with archery and wrestling. It can be fair to assume Ancient Egyptian weaponry ranging from sticks to blades were also used in these ancient times so traditional Tahtib likely incorporated bladed weapons such as the curved sickle sword Khopesh. The term tahbit was originally from the name Fan a'nazaha wa-tahtib (art of being straight and honest with a stick). Over the centuries it later regresses into a folk dance with mock combat rituals. A Nubian form exists and is perform for tourists in Aswan. Whilst modern practices by Adel Paul Boulad have been growing to revive the style as a legitimate combat sport.
Culture: As a dance performance the style was originally performed by men, but female versions were later developed. There is a female versions in which women imitate men and another that in which the female performances are less aggressive and more flirtatious. The more feminine flirtatious performances are referred to as Ra's El Assata (dance of stick) and is incorporated into Egyptian Belly Dance called Raqs Sharqi. For such performances, the stick is lightweight and hooked with metal coloured foil or sequins. A baladi dress is what is worn and balancing the stick on head, hips, or shoulders are part of the dance.
Warrior: Adel Boulad is considered to be the founder of modern revived Tahtib. While he is licensed martial artist in Judo, Aikido and Karate. He is working to revive Tahtib. As a combat sport, mixed gender groups are allowed so men and women can train together. The main target is to attack the opponent's head. This is due to that being the most fragile and vulnerable part of the body. So many Tahtib techniques revolve around protecting your own head whilst attacking the opponent. Victory can be obtained by a single clean strike to the head or three strikes to the body. A modern Tahtib tournament was in fact held in Paris 2017.
Media/Potential: It is no surprise as to how much attention Egypt or more so Ancient Egypt to get a lot of media portrayals. More than most African countries anyways. Strangely a large number of Egyptian characters in Video Games only one of them was intended to be a Tahtib fighter. Street Fighter V's Menat had an early design to be a Tahtib fighter. Whilst her telekinetic psychic power would not be an accurate representation of what the style was, her style as a keep away character could have utilized the extended length of the Naboot/Asaya (Stick) along with her belly dance and gymnastic like movements likely reference the Ra's El Assaya and Raqs Sharqi aspects of the style. It should be noted the Mummy films series does feature the Medjai (ancient Egyptian cult) and the Royal Family members being skilled in knives which may not be Tahtib in regards to the actors training, but in term of realism Tahtib would be the Medjai and Royal Families main style. This could also apply to the Medjai of Assassin's Creed Origin as well since it would take place when the Ancient Egyptians were still involved in heavy warfare. Here is a concept art of Menat as an Egyptian Tahtib fighter and a compilation of Assassin's Creed Origin characters and their brutal moveset.
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