1. The Present Study 2. The Dhow 3. The Northern Arabian Gulf and the People of the Sea 4. Oman and its Seafarers: Gateway to the Indian Ocean 5. The Dhow Industry 6. The Routes to West India 7. The Crew of an Ocean-going Dhow 8. The Pearldivers and Crew 9. The Principles of Navigation 10. Getting Ready: Steering and Rigging 11. Braving the Winds 12. The Sea: Portraying the Reality
Dionisius A. Agius is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Material Culture at the University of Exeter, with a special interest in maritime culture and ethnography. He is currently working on traditional dhow-building, dhow-types, sea trade and seafaring communities of the Red Sea region. He is co-editor (with Richard Hitchcock) of The Arab Influence in Medieval Europe (1996); author of In the Wake of the Dhow: The Arabian Gulf and Oman (2002) and Classic Ships of Islam: From Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean (2008).
"… a well-balanced fusion of literary sources, oral testimony and
published volumes … Besides offering the reader a comprehensive
overview of the maritime world and culture of the Arabian Gulf, it
is also a precious record of a fast-disappearing world." Timothy
Gambin, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 35, ii
(2006): 347-348."…. Equally important is the contribution it makes
to the reconstruction of Arab seafaring by offering a
well-researched and well-documented study on Muslim Arab seafaring
in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, one which will now be relevant to
further comparative studies of the Arabs’ Mediterranean
activities". Maya Shatzmiller, Bulletin of the Society for Arabian
Studies, 11 (2006): 48-49."This is a very handsome book with ample
illustrations, tables and maps … I can only laud the fine scholarly
efforts, in the field and in the library, of the author … He has
much in his writing of material culture and is at his best when he
is explaining it to us, as throughout this book" (G. Rex Smith,
Journal of Semitic Studies, 52, i [2007]: 176-7).
Major Book PrizeAwarded one of the most significant and prestigious
major awards by the Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah Foundation and the
British-Kuwait Friendship Society for the best scholarly work on
the Middle East "A well-balanced fusion of literary sources, oral
testimony and published volumes … Besides offering the reader a
comprehensive overview of the maritime world and culture of the
Arabian Gulf, it is also a precious record of a fast-disappearing
world." - Timothy Gambin, International Journal of Nautical
Archaeology, 35, ii (2006): 347-348."Equally important is the
contribution it makes to the reconstruction of Arab seafaring by
offering a well-researched and well-documented study on Muslim Arab
seafaring in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, one which will now be
relevant to further comparative studies of the Arabs’ Mediterranean
activities". - Maya Shatzmiller, Bulletin of the Society for
Arabian Studies, 11 (2006): 48-49."This is a very handsome book
with ample illustrations, tables and maps … I can only laud the
fine scholarly efforts, in the field and in the library, of the
author … He has much in his writing of material culture and is at
his best when he is explaining it to us, as throughout this book" -
G. Rex Smith, Journal of Semitic Studies, 52, i [2007]: 176-7."A
stimulating and valuable account of a fading maritime culture, that
brings life to the people of the dhow." - Lucy Blue, Centre for
Maritime Studies, Department of Archaeology, University of
Southampton."Wonderful, enthralling ... Based on fieldwork among
surviving sailors, merchants and shipwrights from Kuwait to Oman,
this is an invaluable account of the dhows of the Arabian/Persian
Gulf and the men who sailed them. Agius has combined oral history
with a deep knowledge of written sources to give us a vivid and
unforgettable picture of a world that is on the point of vanishing
forever - to our great loss." - Paul Lunde, Historian,
Civilizations in Contact, Golden Web Foundation, University of
Cambridge.“Agius’ contribution is important as he succeeds in
portraying (through some 200 interviews) this part of the world
before the discovery of oil; the patterns of life; the social
conditions, the multiplicities of trade and cultural interactions
among different communities so divided but so similar at the same
time." - Beatrice Nicoline, Middle East Studies Association
Bulletin, 40/2 [2006]: 235-6. “A wealth of information on the way
of life of the sea people” - Fran Gillespie, Gulf Times, May 12,
2006.
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