Hence "there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears.

But the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock." [7] At a later period, when Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians, one of their first acts was to carry the smiths and other craftsmen captives to Babylon.[8] Deprived of their armourers, the Jews were rendered comparatively powerless.
It was the knowledge of the art of iron-forging which laid the foundation of the once great empire of the Turks.

Gibbon relates that these people were originally the despised slaves of the powerful Khan of the Geougen.

They occupied certain districts of the mountain-ridge in the centre of Asia, called Imaus, Caf, and Altai, which yielded iron in large quantities.

This metal the Turks were employed by the Khan to forge for his use in war.