The “seme”, “simi”, “ol alem”, or “lion’s sword”, is traditionally associated with the Maasai and Kikuyu, but is also used by a number of regional peoples such as the Samburu, Kipsigis, Mbeere and Arusha. Weapons of a broadly similar type are found in a wide belt of Eastern Africa from Lake Victoria in the west to the Swahili coast in the east
The seme can vary in length, from the size of a knife, to the size of medium length sword, with an elegant leaf shaped blade flaring towards the tip and featuring a median ridge running the length of the blade. Typically, this one handed slashing weapon has a short wooden hilt covered in leather, often tapering towards the tip, and is kept in a sheath of wood covered in leather, often dyed red.
The seme was used for mundane everyday purposes like clearing brush and butchering meat, and was also used for war, and during lion hunts, which were once important rites of passage. It is important however to note, that the seme is a secondary weapon, second only to the spear.
Among the Maasai, men belong to age groups that determine their status, with each age group being assigned a distinctive set of weapons. At about 15 to 21 years of age, Maasai youths, called “layok”, are initiated into the status of young manhood, called “moran”, at which point they are given their first seme, which they will carry for the rest of their lives.
The Maasai and Samburu have their own subgroup of specialized blacksmiths, known as “Ilkunono”, who produce seme’s, and who were traditionally surrounded by taboos and even scorned for being ritually unclean. These Nilotic speaking peoples have also depended heavily on the traditional blacksmiths of the Kikuyu and other regional Bantu speaking peoples for the production of their seme’s and other iron weapons and tools.
The seme featured in this post is a very rare, silver hilted seme in the collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art, listed as a gift by J. H. Wade, acquisitioned in 1916. Probably referring to Jeptha Homer Wade II, an incorporator of the museum in 1913, serving as president of the board of trustees until his death in 1926. He was the grandson of Jeptha Homer Wade (1811 – 1890), a wealthy industrialist, philanthropist and avid art collector himself. It is not clear whether the seme came from his own collection, or if it was inherited with his grandfathers' collection, but there are a number of other fine precolonial 19th century Central- and northeast African swords and daggers in the same collection.
Other than being East African, no further details were provided, which leaves us guessing at its precise provenance and date of manufacture. The blade is very finely forged, and its distinctive median ridge which runs the length of the blade also confirms that it’s an older, traditionally forged seme, different from the modern flat ones still produced today, which are often produced from ground down machetes or repurposed leaf springs from cars.
The silver hilt is very unusual, both in form and ornamentation. The repoussé floral motifs and other patterns are quite reminiscent of 18th to 19th century silver work of the Swahili Coast, from places like Zanzibar and Lamu, while the form of the hilt with its modest pommel (unusual for a seme), is reminiscent of the form of a wood, rope and leather hilt of a seme in the collections of the British Museum, acquisitioned in 1915, attributed to the Giryama or Giriama people of Kenya. The Giriama are a subgroup of the Mijikenda, closely related to the Swahili, inhabiting the Swahili Coast and hinterlands around Kilifi and Malindi. Curiously, at 64.5 cm and 64.4 cm respectively, both swords have an almost identical length.
Whatever the true provenance of this seme may be, or what date it was manufactured, it is certainly one of the prettiest seme’s the author has ever seen. Perhaps a prestige weapon for a chief or a wealthy trader.
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