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Originally Posted by Miguel
Hi Ibrahiim,
A most interesting thread. I had never heard of an Omani Terr until now, they look very similar to the Ethiopian shields. When I was a child our local museum had two Omani battle swords which we were told were made from the blades of crusaders swords which conjured up all sorts of things in the minds of us children, we thought them beautiful things and I still do. Thank you so much for this thread and for bringing back happy memories from my childhood.
Regards
Miguel
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Salaams Miguel, Interestingly I had a shield ( Omani Terrs) with friends in the UK ...They bought it from me...and along with about 100 other items donated the whole lot to the research department at Durham University. They claim that the Omani Shield was in fact Ethiopian but whilst that may be the case the collecting centre and merchant hub for the entire region was Zanzibar...and included a large stretch of the African coastline and hinterland. No doubt that the great traders in that region who were Omanis collected many items (and slaves) etc from the whole area and deep into central Africa. Zanzibar then acted like a lightening rod for all tradeable commodities which included Terrs Shields; in great demand amongst the Manga (Omanis in Zanzibar) and for export to Oman.
Regarding the Old Omani Battle Sword which is the style you may be referring to it does look like it has stepped out of the 12 th C... because it has. In fact I place it earlier to the time of Ibn Julanda the first Imam of Oman in about 751/752 AD...... It compares favourably with the Abassiiid which can be seen at the Topkapi...There will be more about that later although it can be viewed at The Omani Battle Sword on Forum. Please see
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...t=sayf+yamaani
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.