Omani Saifs...

[S.Al-Anizi]

After reading Dr.Elgood's "Arms & Armour of Arabia", I became more interested in the swords used and made in oman, or with imported blades, those with guarded hilts, not the kattaras, these:

Sword

Elgood, even with all his great sources of information, and with local Omani knowledge and expertise, could not pinpoint their exact origin, time, or place. Most collectors and experts in this area, say that these swords are a living fossil of their ancestors, the straight, double edged blades of arabia. What Im asking is, can these swords specifically, with their silver covered iron hilts, with their scabbards and blade shapes, be the continuation of the old swords of the region? Could this area of arabia really have been untouched of the turkification of weaponry in the 14th-century? Is it possible, that the sacred swords in Istanbul, had hilts very similar or identical to these?

Could the answer to these questions, answer the question of why the sword blade industry in arabia almost ceased to exist, and relied mainly on imported blades, with a few local smithies here and there? That the change from broadsword to sabre struck deeply the swordsmiths in the area, whom werent able to produce quality sabre blades?

Regards,

Al-Anizi

[Tim Simmons]

Hello Al-Azini,

That is a very good point. In the course of my work I make many things exported to Oman. Luxury goods made in silver. I have always been puzzled as to why my associates and I are making westernised versions of Arabian themes, not by our design I might add. The skills were there in the past.

[Rivkin]

What puzzles me in qattaras, in particular in straight ones is how many of the blades actually look western european. Take for example Caucasus or India - in both we have a huge influx of western made trade blades that actually look 100% western (hussar, venitian gurda, smallsword, rapier) with very few exceptions of special order swords. What follows is that locals start to rip off western trademark, deforming it in the process until it barely recognized, or not recognized at all.
With straight Omani kattaras we have a different story - the sword is very different from anything western past I would say 16th century, yet we see the blades that can quite clearly be dated to the 17th or even 19th centuries, in addition bearing perfectly recognizable and well done wolfs, stars and moons, I mean we see a few obvious local (or indian, persian ?") rip-offs here and there, but the majority of swords still has quite western looking symbolics.

If these are all locally made, while the wolf is by far less deformed than in Caucasus? Why we see so many moon and stars, wolfs, hands with swords, most of them with such a good quality of engraving? If these would be locally made we would expect a slightly broader distribution of skills and styles? And why they would emulate western swords, if at least at some time they were not buying such swords in masses? But then, if these blades are western, why go to such difficulties producing swords specifically for Oman? Or could it be that some of these swords are actually very old western swords, but then again - most of kattaras are somewhat thinner than a typical medieval western sword with a much more "roundish" point. But yet again one can try to blame it on extensive use.

[Michael Blalock]

When you consider that since 1503 Oman was the hub of world trade with Portuguese colonies on the east coast of Africa. Persian colonies since the 1100's and Indian traders since ancient times it is no wonder a very different style of sword developed from rest of the Arabian Peninsula. Good European blades must have been used as payment for slaves, which was the primary business of Omani traders.

[S.Al-Anizi]

Well I personally believe that most, something like 80% of Omani straight kattaras, have locally produced blades. However, with most sabre kattaras, they have imported trade blades, more than 90% of them. As you say, the mark of the running wolf of solingen, has been so altered, that the original one is unrecognisable anymore.

Clearly, the kattara is a unique sword, with its blade characterstics, the finess, the rounded tip, and also with the unguarded hilt, but thats not the sword Im talking about here, Im talking about the one i provided I picture above in my first post.

I really cannot answer your question regarding why the wolf mark is much better copied than in the caucasus, but it seems to be a fact. All the saifs and sabre kattaras with engravings such as moons, stars, and sword weilding arms are undeniably german, hungarian, or caucasian blades, but still, some local smiths, presumably in mecca or ha'il, did copy those marks, as a sign of quality, and some were skilled and copied them well. The reason why people not from the region do not see so many saifs or kattara's with locally made blades is not that they're of bad quality, the reason is purely commercial in my opinion, western antiques dealers buy swords with valuable persian wootz blades, and sell them in the west, establishing the fact that most arabian swords had such blades, which is wrong. The common bedouin, carried a straight saif, with a locally made blade made somewhere in one of the many towns in arabia. Those that are well off would hope to buy one with a european blade, or with a blade made in Ha'il, where swordsmithing was quite advanced in arabia. Only wealthy emirs or tribal sheikhs could afford a wootz blade. Most saifs Ive seen, and ive seen MANY, whether in damascus, riyadh, kuwait, have locally produced blades, next comes those with european blades, which became common in the early 19th century, and least came persian wootz blades, which were of high quality, only uncommon because of their price.

As to the idea of kattara blades being thinner and lighter than western broadswords, I think the answer to that lies in looking at portugese sword blades of the 15th-16th centuries. You know, Omani's had a long war with the portugese, and suceeding in defeating them and driving them back to central africa. They must have captured ALOT of blades, old and new, some obsolete designs, and these must have surfaced in the smithies of Muscat, where they were hilted, and used, and resharpened alot, until they reached a point of being very thin and whippy. Ofcourse this is only speculation, because all kattara blades, from 16th to the 20th centuries are thin and whippy, so they would have been naturally made so.

[S.Al-Anizi]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

Hello Al-Azini,

That is a very good point. In the course of my work I make many things exported to Oman. Luxury goods made in silver. I have always been puzzled as to why my associates and I are making westernised versions of Arabian themes, not by our design I might add. The skills were there in the past.

I know Tim, something happened to this region of the world. Between the mid 13th century and the late 17th century, this region, arabia, passed out of all knowledge and importance. Towns were established, towns vanished, battles, movements, changes in power, and no one knows anything about it.

[Jens Nordlunde]

Besides all the blades made in the region, the had a big import of blades and ingots from other countries, India being one of them.
With your interest of old blades from the region I think you will enjoy this book - Hoyland, Robert G. and Gilmoure, Brian: Medieval Islamic Swords and Swordmaking. Kindi’s treatise ‘On swords and their kinds’. Gibb Memorial Trust, London, 2006.

In the book the authors tell of the very famous Yemen blade, and a lot of other interesting things about blades.

[Jeff D]

Originally Posted by S.Al-Anizi

I know Tim, something happened to this region of the world. Between the mid 13th century and the late 17th century, this region, arabia, passed out of all knowledge and importance. Towns were established, towns vanished, battles, movements, changes in power, and no one knows anything about it.

Hi Saqr,

Are you referring to the Southern boarder states (Oman, Yemen) or are you refering to the entire Arabian peninsula?

Jeff

[tom hyle]

Certainly Omanis have carried saifs of the "nimcha" type; there is even a subtype that is considered Omani, so the existance of these swords does not obviate foreign influences, but seems to compete beside them. Europeans, particularly Germans, produced a great many straight double edged broadsword type blades in the 19th c. for export to Africa and other foreign places; Distribution may seem random at times, and certainly obsolete blades were exported as well as new ones, but some attention was paid to customer desire; local fashion could dictate/influence remote blade production.

[S.Al-Anizi]

Originally Posted by Jeff D

Hi Saqr,

Are you referring to the Southern boarder states (Oman, Yemen) or are you refering to the entire Arabian peninsula?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Im referring to the entire peninsula, and specifically Nejd and the Hijaz. Nothing is known about what happened between the 13th-17th centuries there, things like the many towns and cities established now, that were not there pre-13th century. Tribes and tribal confederations, the position of the grand sharif, when did the start? Ruling families and classes, and when they started to rule. Many things.

[Jeff D]

Originally Posted by S.Al-Anizi

Hi Jeff,

Im referring to the entire peninsula, and specifically Nejd and the Hijaz. Nothing is known about what happened between the 13th-17th centuries there, things like the many towns and cities established now, that were not there pre-13th century. Tribes and tribal confederations, the position of the grand sharif, when did the start? Ruling families and classes, and when they started to rule. Many things.

Hi Saqr,

You are right, I have had a hard time finding much information on this area as well. My guess the reason for this is:
In the time of the Prophet the peninsula was a major trade route from East to west for the caravans. This was due to the instability brought about by the Byzantine and Persians conflicts in the near middle east. The Caravans brought prosperity and likewise documentation. After the Mongol invasions the middle east was unified politcally, and became more stable. The carvans then took the more direct route through the middle east bypassing the peninsula. Unfortunately the region was scarce of the materials to maintain itself (iron, wood, coal, etc.) . Also agriculture remained at a relatively rudimentary level due to the low esteem it held in the Arab society. Essentially the peninsula became dominated by its nomadic tribes and therefore lost its documentation. The Northern and Southern boarder states did maintain themselves, however they became victims of European colonial interests.
Later when the middle east destabilized with the Ottoman-Persian conflicts the Northern routes and Southern sea routes had taken over.
At least this is my simplifed account of this area and why little is know of it (at least to me).
i would love to know more, if you or anyone else knows of any books on these areas i would love to hear of them.

All the Best
Jeff

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by S.Al-Anizi

After reading Dr.Elgood's "Arms & Armour of Arabia", I became more interested in the swords used and made in oman, or with imported blades, those with guarded hilts, not the kattaras, these:

Sword

Elgood, even with all his great sources of information, and with local Omani knowledge and expertise, could not pinpoint their exact origin, time, or place. Most collectors and experts in this area, say that these swords are a living fossil of their ancestors, the straight, double edged blades of arabia. What Im asking is, can these swords specifically, with their silver covered iron hilts, with their scabbards and blade shapes, be the continuation of the old swords of the region? Could this area of arabia really have been untouched of the turkification of weaponry in the 14th-century? Is it possible, that the sacred swords in Istanbul, had hilts very similar or identical to these?

Could the answer to these questions, answer the question of why the sword blade industry in arabia almost ceased to exist, and relied mainly on imported blades, with a few local smithies here and there? That the change from broadsword to sabre struck deeply the swordsmiths in the area, whom werent able to produce quality sabre blades?

Regards,

Al-Anizi

Salaams, We are currently having a very big discussion in the Forum on this very subject and I believe we have discovered the origin of this sword(The Short Omani Battle Sword and incidentally the long Omani Kattara as well) very much in line with what you were saying~

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by S.Al-Anizi

After reading Dr.Elgood's "Arms & Armour of Arabia", I became more interested in the swords used and made in oman, or with imported blades, those with guarded hilts, not the kattaras, these:

Sword

Elgood, even with all his great sources of information, and with local Omani knowledge and expertise, could not pinpoint their exact origin, time, or place. Most collectors and experts in this area, say that these swords are a living fossil of their ancestors, the straight, double edged blades of arabia. What Im asking is, can these swords specifically, with their silver covered iron hilts, with their scabbards and blade shapes, be the continuation of the old swords of the region? Could this area of arabia really have been untouched of the turkification of weaponry in the 14th-century? Is it possible, that the sacred swords in Istanbul, had hilts very similar or identical to these?

Could the answer to these questions, answer the question of why the sword blade industry in arabia almost ceased to exist, and relied mainly on imported blades, with a few local smithies here and there? That the change from broadsword to sabre struck deeply the swordsmiths in the area, whom werent able to produce quality sabre blades?

Regards,

Al-Anizi

Salaams, We are currently having a very big discussion in the Forum on this very subject and I believe we have discovered the origin of this sword(The Short Omani Battle Sword and incidentally the long Omani Kattara as well) very much in line with what you were saying~ Regards, Ibrahiim Al Balooshi.