Agal (accessory)

It is traditionally worn by Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula (except Yemen and Oman), Iraq, Jordan, tribes in Syria, Sinai and Sharqia in Egypt, the south of the Maghreb, parts of Palestine, the Negev in Israel, and Khuzestan in Iran.

The use of the agal and ghutra is depicted in bas-reliefs and statues across the Middle East dating as far back as ancient times. In his book Iran in the Ancient East, the archaeologist and Iranologist Ernst Herzfeld, in referring to the Susa bas-reliefs, points to the ancient agal as unique headwear of Elamites that distinguished them from other nations.