Geniza Lab

Arabic accounts.

Arabic (script) writing exercise.

Ottoman-era legal document (or letter with legal content?) addressed to Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad b. Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad dated 19 Shaʿbān 930 = 1524 CE. Mentions ابراهيم يشوع (؟) اليهودي . A transaction in the coinage of al-jadīd al-Sulaymānī (=the new coins minted by Suleiman I) is also mentioned. Signature in the shape of a cartouche at the top-right corner.

Bifolio from a register containing multiple entries recording fiscal payments, including name of the taxpayer and amount paid. Registration marks visible. Could be identified as one of the various types of ledgers (makhzūma, ruznamaj, khatma, and tawālī) described by Fatimid fiscal manuals.

Late account in Arabic, along with sums. There is introductory text saying that this is the blessed register of what is owed by Ibn al-Muʿallim Yūnus (or Yūsuf?) al-Ḥakīm al-Yahūdī al-Ḥarīrī (?).

Difficult-to-read and very brief Arabic document, containing the common but mysterious glyph لے at the top of recto and phrases such as "mamlūkuhu", 'li l-sharṭ' and "inshallah," so probably a letter or a legal document. There are also a few words on verso, perhaps the remnants of an address.

Recto: Six lines from a formal Arabic petition, probably late Fatimid. The second line reveals the name of an official: "...al-salāṭīn khāliṣa amīr al-muʾminīn Asad al-Dīn." The amir Asad al-Dīn was one of the higher-ranking officials during the time of al-ʿĀḍid and was the subordinate of his vizier Shāwar (Ibn Taghrī Burdī, vol.5, pg. 352 and al-Maqrīzī:Ittiʿāẓ, vol.3, pg. 304). He ruled Egypt after him for approximately six months (al-ʿAbbāsī al-Ṣafdī, pg. 127). This document could be dated around 562/1166 during the period of al-ʿĀḍid. Verso: The upper part of an Arabic letter from a certain [Daniel?] b. Bū l-Majd possibly to his sister (in the upper left corner: "ʿabduhā akhūhā"). The text continues on the margin in oblique lines, one readable phrase is "tawakkal ʿalā l-Allah". Needs further examination.

4 pages. 3 of them are brief notes, along with accounts, signed and sealed by Anṭūn al-Wakīl aka Anṭūn ʿAbd al-Laṭīf to a certain muʿallim Yūsuf [Isḥāq? ʿAqqāq?]. The note on Page 3 seems to have been written by someone else. Dated 8 and 9 October 1821 (11 and 12 Muharram 1237). The format is the same as AIU XII.118, from 6 months earlier, and involving different people.

Undeciphered document in Arabic script. Possibly a receipt with a signature at the bottom. Needs examination.

Leaf from an Arabic literary work.

List or table in Arabic script. Needs further examination.

Arabic writing exercises.

Document in Arabic, perhaps a letter.

Fragment of a leaf of accounts in Arabic.

Recipes in Arabic, purpose unclear. One of them is attributed to al-Rāzī and al-Zahrāwī.

Fragment of a bifolium of an Arabic treatise on physiognomy (ʿilm al-firāsa).

Letter in Ottoman Turkish. It begins "benim efendim" (my master). Several materia medica may be mentioned, including barberries (line 5), unless barbarīs means something else in Turkish. Needs examination by somebody who knows the language.

Late letter in Arabic. Needs further examination.

Long Arabic letter (22 lines plus 4 lines on margin) written in first person about trade (line 13: "wa-kāna fī l-balad jamāʿa min al-tujjār... fa-abāʿū...), (line 17: ...qabl al-safr bi-yawmayn...). Also mentions maṭāyā (riding animals/horses) at least two times. Dating: Probably 11th or 12th century. Needs further examination.

Recto: Letter/petition, or letter in the style of a brief petition, from "your student Bū l-Majd" to a high-ranking physician. In Arabic script. Dating: Probably ca. 13th century, based on format, typical name, and handwriting. The writer asks the addressee in formal terms to come visit him, because he has developed a pain in his leg. The door of the building is open. Verso: A few words in calligraphic Judaeo-Arabic, mostly "tajriba" repeated several times. ASE.