Salaams Jim, Your advice and points of detail are respected and in particular upon the final instructions to get on with the research. I was particularly interested in the Hormuz and other visitors to Oman. I posted on# 164 a precis of such visitors activity viz
1.In 1878 a Mr Geary (editor of the Times of India) visited Muscat and wrote of the weapons he saw carried by locals ~ A favourite weapon is a straight broad two-handed sword, the sweep of which would take off a man's thigh or even cut him in two at the waist.The swordsmen carried over their shoulder small shields of rhinoceros horn 8 or 9 inches in diameter....
2.Captain James Welstead in 1835 at Jalaan Bani Bu Ali (on the Eastern edge of the Wahaybah) remarked on the Funoon, Razha, sword parade and dance that the blades of their swords are 3 feet in length, straight, thin, double edged and as sharp as a razor.
3.Mr Frazer who also visited Hormuz in 1821 (and Oman at the same time as Welstead in about 1835) described The Omani Garrison at Hormuz swords as similar to Scotish Broadswords and also described separately in Oman later the Ters buckler shields..
It is, however, those visitors remarks ( At para 1 and 2 above) that part cloud the issue since they were on scene for perhaps minutes or hours as onlookers rather than fully focussed on precise research on the subject of this dancing sword. In the case of the other (At para 3) could it be that he was viewing the Omani Short Battle Sword since it too looks like a Scotish Broadsword to the untrained eye and in the hands of quite physically small Omani men ? It is also possible that both visitors (1 and 3) were looking at the Old Battle Sword or the dancing sword~ it is not clear. It is however placed as a reference.
Co-incidentally I was researching a book detail last night and reccommend to Forum Ian Skeets
Oman Before 1970. The End of an Era. (actually a rewrite of
Muscat and Oman which was a far better tittle as it describes in 3 words the immense difference between the Coastal belt Omanis and the Interior Omanis in history.
This is a masterful work full of incredible detail and with an eye on the virtually mediaeval state of the country only about 50 years ago with anecdotes on its ancient history quite new to me. He very much is aware of the mythical nature of Oman and the fables and pure storytelling that has gone on down the ages.
In one such story an amazing fact has surfaced concerning the Saif Yamaani (The Old Omani Battle Sword) and its possible manufacturing base.
In Omani History there is a story about Malik bin Fahm the founder of Oman who originally lived in Yemen. One day one of the tribesmen complained that one of Maliks men had killed his dog. Malik was mortified and complained that this was an outragious insult and that he would leave the country immediately~ and joined by a large party of his followers he duly did... East to Oman. A fanciful reason to leave notes the author however that the likely reason in fact was the collapse of the Mehrab dam. In truth the dam did burst however more gradually than is imagined and could have taken 300 years to finally become useless...There may well have been a large early exodus and at the same time a gradual follow on..over 3 centuries. Dog or no dog Malik left "in what they say" was the second century a.d. On arrival near Nizwa Malik became aware that the Persians were centred in Sohar and other garrisons and wrote to the Marzaban(Persian Governor) giving him notice of his intent to settle in Oman and if he didn't like the idea they would have a battle... To cut a long story short there were several battles in which the Persians were completely routed elephants 40,000 men and all..after which the Omanis settled on a happy ever after note and Malik lived til he was 120.
His spirit is alive in that region today and people of the Azdite or Yemeni tribes will swear he was their great great grandfather in a bewildering mathematical exercise depending on their imagination... however, that is not important... Malik is.
He was decended from the Azd tribe as part of the Qahtan line of Arab ancestry tribes usually referred to as Yemeni in that they settled in Yemen. The other line from Adnan originally settled in northern Arabia and referred to as Nizari. Both lines settled in Oman; Malik bin Fahms Yemeni Azdites being one of the settlements in that line. As timelines go that puts us somewhere in the mid 2nd century to the mid 4th allowing for myth and legend and history mixed...So what does this have to do with swords...?
Near Nizwa, the often capital of the Interior, and later seat of Ibadiism, and a production area for copper and iron objects where the bellows was an early discovery in furnace production, is a small town called Izki; one of the oldest Omani towns. One of its quarters is called
Yemen. Another is called
Nizar even to this day. Each belongs to the direct decendant tribe Beni Ruwaha and Beni Riyam; Qahtani and Nizari direct decendants !
Later the Omanis rose up under Immam Julanda against the Iraqi garrisons subjugating the country in about 751 a.d. that the weapons they used were called
Sayf Yamaani The Old Omani Battle Swords. It is postulated that they were made not in The Yemen but near Nizwa at Izki in the quarter called
Yemen. Research in that direction is ongoing.
I further submit that the reference book
Oman before 1970 The End of an Era, by Ian Skeet, be logged with research and for bibliography.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.