Kattara for comments

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=12242
The plot thickens.................. Refer to above link where Kattara were also discussed. ARCHER posted pics of a sword with "knobs" on the top of the hilt. This was (I think) eventually identified as Manding, but take a look at the sword held by Sultan Tipu! Looks remarkably similar.
So what do the Members think now..............? Is ARCHER'S sword in fact a Kattara?

Salaams, Archers is Mendingo and the other with the Sultan is kattara. Thats not "Tippu Sultan".. that may have been a misleading comment by me ... Tippu tip al swahili was a slave trader (there was a tipu sultan but he was off another generation altogether from India not related)

Tippu Tip or Tib (1837 - June 14, 1905), real name Hamad bin Muḥammad bin Jumah bin Rajab bin Muḥammad bin Sa‘īd al-Murghabī, (Arabic: حمد بن محمد بن جمعة بن رجب بن محمد بن سعيد المرجبي‎), was a Swahili-Zanzibari trader of mixed descent. He was famously known as Tippu Tib after an eye disease which made him blind. A notorious slave trader, plantation owner and governor, who worked for a succession of sultans of Zanzibar, he led many trading expeditions into east-central Africa, involving the slave trade and ivory trade. He constructed profitable trading posts that reached deep into Central Africa.

The photo may be one of the Zanzibari sultans like Barghash or whoever but anyway that is an Omani Kattara...with a hole in the pommel !!

I think what may be important here is that the link with African swords to the Omani Kattara is being dismantled and it may be that the Kattara is a thoroughbred Omani system coupled with the buckler Terss shield and possibly pre-dating previous estimates and dwarfing age estimates by possibly 500 years !! since it is engrained in the historical cultural Omani tradition by way of a sword and shield war dance.

My estimate is 9th century inspired from the Oman Coast, war, trade and slavery and by the fact of the traditional dance.

I think what is also slowly dawning is the suposition that the Omani Short Battle Sword may be well and truly ancient predating previous estimates by several centuries as a staggering 8th Century weapon copied from the Abbasid.

What clouds the issue on the Long Kattara is the abundance of european blades though presumeably the original blade was similar ?? Im not even sure that looking at the blade is all that relevant ~ it is the hilt and the shield which seem to be more an important flag on origin and the cultural aspect of a traditional war dance which takes ages before it becomes imprinted as a national iconic structure.

By the way do you notice the brass escutcheons on the front of the Buckler ?... They are for securing the handle and for disarming with a twist the opponents sword.

I think I should put on record the number of different swords on this long hilt is vast...both straight, double edged, single edged, zig zag blades, slight curved, and very curved and in my collection alone there are lots... so a picture should be seen displaying that conundrum~

That alone underpins how difficult it is to trace back the origin of species of the Omani Kattara and the oldest picture(photo) I have seen is about 1860. If anyone has any older photos or pictures I would appreciate that.

Regards Ibrahiim.

[Stasa Katz]

If one is curious about trade and travel routes in the Islamic world in the 14th Century CE, there are many great maps in Dunn's book, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta.

Battuta travelled between Yemen and East Africa, and much later, by camel caravan from Tunisia into the Sahel, hence to Mali and back.

He also went through Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the steppes, Afghanistan, Sindh, and lived in India.

Dunn gives maps for Battuta's various itineraries, describing the modes of transport and times needed.

There is no information given about travel across central Africa between the East and Mali, as Battuta did not take that route.

http://www.google.com/search?q=dunn+...-1&btnG=Search
But one can get an idea of how very many travel routes existed throughout Dal al Islam, for trade and for making the Haj.

Blades and technicians would have circulated far and wide.

One very great discovery was managing boat traffic across the Indian ocean by exploiting the monsoon patterns. India, Muskat/Oman, Yemen/Hadramaut and Mogodishu and surrounding ports would have been well connected.

Even though Dunn offers an overview, his book is very readable and the maps are a big help.

[ariel]

Omitted: see new thread

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams Note to Library; Odd stamp .. Stag.

Small Curved Omani KATTARA ... The blade apparently a European style ..heavy back edge on an Omani long hilt. Spotted in Buraimi Souk recently.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Ibrahiim al Balooshi

Salaams Note to Library; Odd stamp .. Stag.

Small Curved Omani KATTARA ... The blade apparently a European style ..heavy back edge on an Omani long hilt. Spotted in Buraimi Souk recently.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

Salaams~ This is another variant of the stamps available with Ras Al Khaimah sword makers. Readers may recall the Lion with Sword and the Taj Crown etc ... well heres another... The Stag Stamp; "Ras Al Khaimah". The same workshop region is also expert at making scabbards and long hilts. These appear to be by Shehu craftsmen and a similar stamp has been seen on their knife blades also called "Shehi"

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams ; Note to forum. The question as to where the Metalic Long Hilted Red Sea Variant see fits is interesting in that it could be the source of the Omani Long Hilt on both Curved Kattara and The Straight Omani Dancing Sayf.

It is now suggested that the sword is related to an Abassiid form at the Istanbul Military and Yemeni Military museums thus see the entire thread at;


http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=16205


See my comparison with a sister weapon at # on this thread which needs to be added the very similar attributes on both swords in hilt design
1. Pointed pommel.
2. Pommel not part of the tang but separate though part of the hilt top configuration.
3. Rounded hilt probably octagonal following period mosque styles.
4. Cuffs in both styles.
5. Rivvet supported design in essentially two parts.
6. Quillons in one form and folded quillons supporting the cuff in the other and the slightly different design probably governed by the different length of blades.

In all respects the Red Sea Variant appears as a stretched Old Omani Battle Sword Hilt. In a separate assessment the Red Sea Variant could be the key link as the mother of the Omani Long Hilt on both Straight Sayf and Curved Kattara forms.

The question as to a link to the sword in the Wallace is open to speculation and obviously in itself a huge undertaking.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams all Note to Library.

See http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...485#post152485 # 27 for an unfolding scenario closely linked to this thread.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Salaams all... For simplicity may I only refer to Kattaras and Sayfs on this thread as the other sword (Omani Battle Sword) has its own thread now? It may be an idea for separate Omani Curved Kattara, Omani Straight Sayf, and Omani Shamshiir threads in due course thus focussing the workload and avoiding duplication. Thinking aloud. So I have floated new threads one for each sword type but not the Omani Shamshiir.. yet
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.