Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman

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).

• 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

"… 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).