In The Persian Gulf
Persian sailors had from very old times their own sailing guide books which were called 'Rahnāmag' in Middle Persian (later 'Rahnāmeh' رهنامه in Persian).
These Rahnamehs listed the ports and coastal landmarks and distances along the shores.
These lost but much-cited sailing directions go back at least until the twelfth century. In Rahnamehs, the Indian Ocean was described as "a hard sea to get out of" and warned of the "circumambient sea, whence all return was impossible.
Read more about this topic: Periplus
Famous quotes containing the words persian and/or gulf:
“Oh! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt thou be kind; and e’en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed. No fearless fool now fronts thee.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“And into the gulf between cantankerous reality and the male ideal of shaping your world, sail the innocent children. They are right there in front of us—wild, irresponsible symbols of everything else we can’t control.”
—Hugh O’Neill (20th century)