The blade is about 40 inches (1 m) in total length and the hilt is a simple wooden or rhinoceros horn piece with no guard similar to the jile or jambiya.

[citation needed] After the Solomonic Dynasty restoration of Atse Yekuno Amlak, the resurgent emperors began to organize their armies in a similar manners to the Aksumites, culminating in the reign of Atse Amda Seyon I. Shotel wielders, known as shotelai or hanetay and organized in the Axurarat Shotelai, comprised one of the elite forces of Amda Seyon's Imperial host.

Along with the Hareb Gonda and Korem cavalry, Keste Nihb archers and Axuarat Axuarai lancers were said to be the forces that "flew through the air like the eagle and spun on the ground like the avalanche", by a contemporaneous historian.

[1] Due to increased trade with the west, over time the shotel began to be replaced in the southern Kingdom of Shewa and Shewan dominated Ethiopian Empire by swords fitted with European sabre blades known as Gurade or Gorade.

Its shape, similar to a large sickle, was effectively used to reach around an opponent's shield and stab them in vital areas such as the kidneys or lungs.