Assaya
Also known as: asa, asaya, nabboot
A staff about 1.2 m long used in Egyptian tahtib, spun in figure eights around the body; shown in combat on 5th-dynasty reliefs from Abusir.
Quick Facts
EgyptAbout the weapon
The assaya, also called asa, asaya or nabbut, is a staff used to practise and perform Egyptian tahtib. The earliest traces of this staff fighting appear on reliefs from Abusir, from the pyramid complex of Pharaoh Sahure (5th dynasty, around 2500 BC), depicting military training with staves. Similar scenes appear in three of the 35 tombs of the Beni Hasan necropolis (11th–12th dynasty, 1900–1700 BC) and at Tell el-Amarna (18th dynasty, around 1350 BC). Tahtib then ranked, along with archery and wrestling, among the three martial disciplines soldiers were taught. The staff measures roughly four feet, that is about 1.2 m. We have not been able to establish material or weight in the sources. For the dance form a lighter staff is used, curved at one end like a walking stick, often decorated with shiny metallic foil or sequins. The staff is often spun in large figure eights around the body so fast that the whistle of the air can be heard. In modern competitive tahtib, victory is decided by one clean hit to the head or three hits to the body. Unlike the traditional form, modern tahtib can be practised by women and men in mixed groups. From military training, tahtib gradually turned into entertainment and folk art, performed by men at weddings and festivals. Today it is widespread mainly in Upper Egypt and is regularly shown to tourists in Luxor and Aswan, accompanied by the tabl drum and the folk oboe mizmar.