Agal (accessory)

An agal (Arabic: عِقَال‎, ʿiqāl: "bond" or "rope"), also spelled iqal, egal or igal, is an accessory worn usually by Arab men. It is a black cord, worn doubled, used to keep a ghutrah in place on the wearer's head.[1] It is traditionally made of goat hair.[2]

A Bahraini man wearing agal.

It is usually worn in the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait & Qatar), Mesopotamia and eastern Syria and southwestern Iran by Ahwazi Arabs and the Hola people, as well as in communities of the Levant (western Syria, Lebanon, Palestine & Jordan and some parts of Yemen (eastern Yemen Hadhramaut and Shabwa ).

Head sculpture of a babylonian man (ca. late 8th–early 7th century B.C), Wearing what appears to be a Keffiyah and Agal, Metropolitan Museum, New york

The use of the agal and keffiyah based on antiquities including bas-reliefs and statues goes back to the ancient times. Agal's use is traced in Semitic[3] and Middle Eastern civilizations like old Babylon artifacts such as Elamite coins and figures and even in ancient Arabia kingdoms, Phd. Ernst Herzfeld (23 July 1879 – 20 January 1948) The well known German archaeologist and Elamologist in his book "Iran In The Ancient East", in referring to the Susa bas-reliefs points to the unique head wear of Elamites that distinguished them from other nations which is an ancient aqal.

Babylonian soldiers

References

Oxford English Dictionary. Second Edition, 1989.
Merriam-Webster definition, online edition
Walther Hinz German scholar of Elamite studies, lost world of Elam, Page 20-21 : In referring to dark skinned Susa basrelief with Agal: "These must be Elamites; from the hinterland Even today dark-skinned men, in no way negroid, are often to be seen in Khuzistan. They consider themselves for the most part as Arabs, and speak Arabic among themselves. It seems likely that the population even of Ancient Elam was a mixed one, consisting of dark-skinned aboriginals of uncertain race and of Semites, who had infiltrated from Mesopotamia in repeated incursions since the Akkad period"

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[1] Oxford English Dictionary. Second Edition, 1989.

[2] Merriam-Webster definition, online edition

[3] Walther Hinz German scholar of Elamite studies, lost world of Elam, Page 20-21 : In referring to dark skinned Susa basrelief with Agal: "These must be Elamites; from the hinterland Even today dark-skinned men, in no way negroid, are often to be seen in Khuzistan. They consider themselves for the most part as Arabs, and speak Arabic among themselves. It seems likely that the population even of Ancient Elam was a mixed one, consisting of dark-skinned aboriginals of uncertain race and of Semites, who had infiltrated from Mesopotamia in repeated incursions since the Akkad period"

Agal (accessory)

See also

References