Fast fact fencing

Fencing is a western kind of sword defense but actually the game of fencing has its origins traced back to the times of ancient Egyptian period. It was the Pharaohs who invented the mask and the competition. Four centuries before the Olympic Games of Antique Greece, a bas-relief in the temple of Medinet-About in High Egypt and built by Ramsès III in 1190 BC, depicts a sporting competition organised by the Pharaoh to celebrate his victory over the Libyans. The weapons - certainly sticks with bronze plates in the end - are buttoned. Hands are protected by a guard similar to that of sabre, and some of the fencers have the face protected by a mask, whose chin rolling pad, covering both ears, is attached to the wig.