Editing Mace (bludgeon) (section)

===Ancient history===
[[File:Assyrian soldier holding a mace and a bow. Detail of a basalt relief from the palace of Tiglath-pileser III at Hadatu, Syria. 744-727 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.jpg|thumb|right|Assyrian soldier holding a mace and a bow. Detail of a basalt relief from the palace of Tiglath-pileser III at Hadatu, Syria. 744–727 BCE. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul.]]

[[Persian people|Persians]] used a variety of maces and fielded large numbers of heavily armoured and armed cavalry (see [[Cataphract]]). For a heavily armed Persian [[knight]], a mace was as effective as a sword or [[battle axe]]. In fact, [[Shahnameh]] has many references to heavily armoured knights facing each other using maces, axes, and swords. The enchanted talking mace [[Sharur (mythological weapon)|Sharur]] made its first appearance in Sumerian/Akkadian mythology during the epic of [[Ninurta]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ninurta |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Ninurta/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Indian epic poetry|Indian epics]] ''[[Ramayana]]'' and ''[[Mahabharata]]'' describe the extensive use of the ''[[gada (mace)|gada]]'' in ancient [[Military history of India|Indian warfare]] as gada-yuddha or 'mace combat'.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}

The ancient [[Roman Empire|Romans]] did not make wide use of maces, probably because of the influence of armour, and due to the nature of the Roman infantry's fighting style which involved the ''[[Pilum]]'' (spear) and the ''[[Gladius]]'' (short sword used in a stabbing fashion), though auxiliaries from [[Syria Palestina]] were armed with clubs and maces at the battles of Immae and Emesa in 272 AD. They proved highly effective against the heavily armoured horsemen of Palmyra.{{Citation needed|date=February 2021}}