Origins of strains: pulling it all together
The past few weeks have been fairly productive, in terms of my digging into the origins of Arabian horse strains, based on the accounts in the Arabic edition of the Abbas Pasha Manuscript. I wrote about the origins of the Dahman, Saqlawi, Hamdani, Hadban, Shuwayman, Krushan, Mimrah, and Harqan strains. I also have upcoming entries on the Wadnan and Rabdan strains.
I will be pulling all these together into an article or a book chapter, while trying to identify some emerging common trends. One can already see that three groups, the Sharifs of Mecca, the tribe of Bani Lam (from Tai) and the tribe of ‘Abidah (from Qahtan), play a central role in the original configuration of modern Arabian horse strains.
Whatever analysis emerges will remain incomplete without accounts of other ancient strains, such as Jilfan, Trayfi, Tuwayssan, Sa’dan and Frayjan.
I am so excited to read the finished article or chapter! This has been SO interesting from start to finish.
What I am wondering, now, is whether, like the Saqlawi, some of the other older strains don’t spring from the Kuhaylan. I must go re-read your piece on the Dahman as well, to see if it has a separate origin as a strain. And I must send you some more of the delightfully bewildering European descriptions of the races of Arabians – there are strains (maybe strains?) in there that I have never heard of before.
Please do, Kate!
Roger Upton’s books make me feel like I’m in a whirlpool when he tries to explain the various strains and their relationships to each other. He probably didn’t understand it himself — or if he did, he certainly couldn’t explain it!
I am not aware of it, Jeanne!
I thiiiink I have sent the letter of M. Rousseau, consul-general of France at Aleppo, published in Fundgruben des Orients 1813, vol. 3, pp. 65-9, to the Archives, but if I haven’t I shall. At any rate, he concludes the letter by listing eighteen “des races les plus renommées des chevaux arabes”:
“1. Kuheil. 2. Djelfy. 3. Scydi. 4. Ménaki. 5. Seglawoui. 6. Deydjan. 7. Hemdani. 8. Richan. 9. Soueyti, 19. Eubéyan. 11 Behdan. 12. Fezeidjan, 13. Hedban. 14. Toeyssan, 15. Wednan. 16. Choueiman – El Sebbah, 17. Mucherref. 18. Abou Erkoub.”
Niebuhr also names several strains in his Beschreibung von Arabien, aus eigenen beobachtungen und in lande selbst gesammleten nachrichten abgefasset, 1772, Copenhagen: Nicolaus Möller. In the vicinity of Mosul, he places the “Dsjülfa, Mânaki, Dehälemîe, Seklaúi, Sáade, Hamdâni und Frädsje”; near Aleppo, “Dsjülfa, Mânaki, Toreífi, Seklaúi”. He adds three more strains to this list, each found near a specific city: “Zu Hâma findet man, Challaúi. Zu Örfa, Daádsjani. Zu Damásk, Nédsjedi”
Edward Scott Waring, 1807, A Tour to Sheeraz, by the route of Kazroon and Feerozabad, London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, pp. 112f, lists the “breeds” of the Nejd: “Uby-yu, Soytee, Unezu, Humdanee, Reeshan, Motyran, Diheem, Huzmee, Shumytee Kohilan.”
He also talks about horses on the mainland across from Bahrain: “The horses of Bine Khalid, and those of Quteef, a town on the main, opposite Bahrein, are called Buree, or horses of the desert, and are reckoned superior to any other breed; those of Moontufij are Juifan and Furuju, the horses of Chaub, Wuznan, and Nuswan; those of Huwezu, Reeshan, and Nuswan.” In a footnote, he comments on the “Moontufij” being “those we call Moontufeek”.
Ali Bey El Abassi/Domingo Badía y Leblich lists six “races des chevaux” in volume 3 of his 1814 Voyages d’Ali Bey El Abbassi. They are “djelfé” (“tire son origine de I’Arabie heureuse ou du Yémen”), “seclàoui” (“se tire de la partie orientale du désert”), “oœl mefki” (found near Damascus), “oœl sabi”, “oœl treidi”, and the last of all, “oœl nagdi” (“qui vient des environs de Bassora … On connoît peu les chevaux oœl nagdi à Damas”).
John Macdonald Kinneir has yet another list, in Journey through Asia Minor, Armenia, and Koordistan, 1818, London: John Murray, pp. 507f. He calls them “races” or “families”, and talks about Al Khamsa, which is comprised of “Kuheilut el ajvez, Showeiman el subah, Uzithin el Khursa, Suglavie ben gedran, Dehma el naamir.” As for the others, he says:
“The most famous families or breeds in Arabia are, Kuheilu el Samench, ul Muanigieh, Aboyel el nejedis, or Aboyan Kineideish, Aboyan el Shirack, Tereifieh, Mutabuh, Hedeba, Gerade, Zubie, Julfa, Bereisa, Risha, Jouheira, el Naumeh, Curoosh, el Kurry, or el Kerry, Saadeh, Ghureh, Ghuzaleh, Humdanieh, Igithemieh. It is to be remarked that these names have different origins, some are derived from the owners of the original branch, some from the place where the breed was established and others from particular qualities of the animal herself, which gave the name to the family.”
Andrew Crichton, 1845, The History of Arabia: Ancient and Modern lists as Al Khamsa “Taueyse, Manekeye, Koheyl, Saklawye, and Julfa”, and then goes on to give some of their substrains (which he calls “innumerable ramifications” of the “principal races”):
“The Saklawye is subdivided into the Jedran, Abriyeh, and Nejm el Subh; the Koheyl into Ajuz, Kerda, Sheikha, Dabbah, Ibn Khueysha, Khumeyseh, and Abu Moarraff; the Julfa has only a single branch, that of Estemblath.”
Crichton also mentions “various others of a secondary or less-esteemed breed, such as the Henaydi, Abu Arkub, Abayan, Sheraki, Shueyman, Hadaba, Wedna, Medhemeh, Khabitha, Omeriah, and Sadathukan.”
Captain Kerr’s article published in 1870, in the Oriental Sporting Magazine Vol. III, pp. 1438-45, has a very long list of strains, with the strains and substrains (which he calls “breeds”) categorised into three different classes, first class being the most superior. He does, however, include a shorter, more easily reproducible list, on the origin of strain names:
“The Kheilan Aboo Maarif is called from its long mane (arif.) The Keheilan Tamri is supposed to be like a palm tree (tamri.) The Kheilan Nowag is remarkable for the size of its genital organs (nowag); the Kheilan Ras el Fedawi (strong head); the Kheilan Zabi (gazelle); the Kheilan el Wati (the low); the Samhan el Gomea called after its owner; the Jilfan Stam el Bulad (steel sinews); Toessau el Gamieh after its owner’s name; and the Shooeman Ibah. Also Wadnan Horsan from the tribe Horsan, Dahiman Shaooan, Dahiman um Amr; Djreban, Rabdan, Trefi, Sadan Togan (falcon), Rishan Sharabi, Helawi, Kebeishan Omeier are all varieties, more or less valuable, of the Keheilan breed.”
So there’s a quick survey of the strains in the first texts I have to hand – not comprehensive, but it will do for a comment!
This is just wonderful. I have a lot to say about each account. Do you mind putting publishing it as a main article?
Kate, you wrote:
Edward Scott Waring, 1807, A Tour to Sheeraz, by the route of Kazroon and Feerozabad, London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, pp. 112f, […]
also talks about the horses of Chaub, Wuznan, and Nuswan; those of Huwezu, Reeshan, and Nuswan.” In a footnote, he comments on the “Moontufij” being “those we call Moontufeek”.
I say, on “the horses of Chaub” these is the Arab tribe of Ka’ab in the Khuzistan province of Iran.
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asayer-tribes (under (d) Arab tribes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banu_Ka%27b
Their “Wuznan” strain is obviously the Wadhnan, and their “Nuswan” is the strain of Nasman, where whoever published the book took the M for a W. Both strains are still represented among Iranian asils today.
Onto those of “Huwezu, Reeshan, and Nuswan”
His “Huwezu” is Hawiza, an important Arab town in the Khuzistan area of Iran and the center of a principality of same name under the Musha’sha’i dynasty. Today the town is called Hoveyzeh in Farsi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoveyzeh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musha%27sha%27iyyah
Also see http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asayer-tribes and search for “Hawiza”
Their strains mentioned here as the easily recognized Rishan/Reeshan and the Nasman, same as above.
Fantastic! I look forward to seeing the finished work.
I also hope that you can get a talented designer to create a visual representation of the interrelationships!
Yasser, see an early mention of your mare’s strain under: “Igithemieh” dating to 1818.
The same account has a mention of the Kray strain, under “el Kurry, or el Kerry”.
Sure, I can put it together as something more coherent. There are some more strains listed in other writers too, so I can add those into a proper post, properly formatted. And hooray that some of those strains make sense to you!