Geniza Lab

Verso and margins of recto: Business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic.

Family letter. In Arabic script. Nearly complete, but faded in places. Perhaps addressed to a 'paternal uncle' (yā ʿamm[ī], recto, l. 7). Mentions that someone "arrived and traveled to al-Shām." Mentions a cousin of the sender (ibn ʿammatī) (last line of recto). Mentions a cousin of the addressee (bint ʿammak) (verso, l. 7) and the sender's mother (verso, l. 8). Needs further examination.

Lists of People. Includes professionals, such as ṭabīb (doctor) mentioned on verso. FGP

Petition to the caliph al-Mustanṣir from a man who has been detained in the arsenal (khizāna, probably the khizānat al-bunūd, which was also used as a prison). The man’s family, including his mother who is disabled or chronically sick (zamina), have stood ransom. Dating: ca. 427–87 AH (= 1036–94 CE). (Information from Khan and CUDL)

Letter or petition. In Ottoman Turkish. The addressee is repeatedly called "sultanım" ("my sultan"). Dated: 1024 AH, which is 1615/16 CE. Mentions a certain esteemed friend Hakham Shemuel the Jew (l. 9) and travel to Jerusalem (Quds-i Şerıf ziyareti) (l. 10). ASE. MCD. Needs further examination.

Table in Arabic script and eastern Arabic numerals. Possibly accounts, but could also be calendrical reckoning or something else. The entries are arranged in four columns. The letters are written individually (and rarely form words), possibly serving as abbreviations or codes. (Information in part from FGP.)

Legal document. In Arabic script, in a relatively difficult hand. Bottom part only. Includes signatures and dates. On verso there is a single line of text, mentioning Zakariyyā. Needs examination.

Verso: Court records (shimmush). Three entries. In the hand of (and signed by) Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Dated: Elul 1441 and Tishrei 1442 Seleucid, which is 1130 CE. Goitein summarizes the entry in the lefthand column as "a woman makes payments to a Samaritan under duress." (Information from Med Soc II, pp. 341–42, 602, n. 42, in the section dealing with the "secret deposition" (modaʿ).)

Recto: Letter in the hand of Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli. In Judaeo-Arabic. Presumably addressed to Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen, Ṭoviyya's main correspondent and the person who reused verso for legal records. Dating: Probably shortly before Elul 1141 Seleucid, which is 1130 CE. Ṭoviyya extends congratulations on "the great happiness" that God has granted; he asks for advice on something; and he sends regards to "al-Segulat."

Letter from an unidentified sender, in Fustat, to Abū l-Ḥasan Muslim al-Maqdisī al-Tājir b. Ḥasan, in Alexandria. In Arabic script. Dating: Possibly the second half of the 11th century (per Aodeh). Dealing with various business transactions and past shipments, including of cheese. Mentions [...] b. Naṣr b. Faraḥ and Abū l-Ḥasan the brother of the Rayyis. (Information mainly from Aodeh.)

Letter from a certain Ibrāhīm (verso, l. 1). In Arabic script. Fragmentary (only the upper right corner is preserved). Mentions another Ibrāhīm (recto, l. 6) and discusses various business transactions. In the upper margin, mentions either a power of attorney or inn (wikāla), probably the former, since the next line mentions "the sign of the owner is on it in the name of the agent" (wa-ʿalāmat al-mālik ʿalyayhi bism al-wakīl). (The term "mālik" could also be short for mālik al-riqq, referring to the addressee.)

Letter from Ṭāhir, in Qūṣ, to his mother, in Alexandria. In Arabic script; large, very regular characters. Dating: Possibly 11th century. Goitein notes that this fragment is a palimpsest, but the 'undertext' may simply be a mirror-image imprint. The sender has rented animals (either donkeys or camels) to travel to ʿAydhāb for 8 dinars. He hopes to set sail at the end of Rajab. A large part of the letter is devoted to greetings to everybody at home and requests for prayers. He reports that a man known as [...] al-Farsī (or al-Qurashī?) told him that his cousins (awlād ʿammī) are well, living in a place called تبليه ?نبايه? in Yemen. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card and attached notes.)

Recto: Fragment of a state document, probably Fatimid. In Arabic script, chancery hand, huge letters, wide (but variable) space between the lines. The basmala appears twice, and one line begins, "Qāla Amīr al-Muʾminīn..." Verso: Also a state document; the relationship to recto is not clear. Opens with a reference to an employee of the treasury (al-mustakhdam fī bayt al-māl al-maʿmūr) and possibly the date Ṣafar 548 AH, which would be 1153 CE, and then the funds of Dīwān al-Abwāb.

Recto: Fragment of a large legal document in Arabic script. The top and the lower left corner are missing. Names several people and sums of money (e.g., 32 dinars in l. 2). It is not immediately clear if this is related to the document on verso or not. Verso: Legal document consisting of an acknowledgment (iqrār). In Arabic script. Concerns Muḥammad b. Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad known as al-Ṭaḥḥān ("the Miller") and al-Muʿallim Muḥammad b. Aḥmad b. ʿUthmān. Needs further examination.

Personal letter. In Arabic script. Written by a Muslim, as he begins and ends with prayers for Muḥammad. He refers to himself as "the slave" (al-mamlūk). Most of the letter is occupied with accounts of monthly expenses or income or rent (needs further examination) over a period of 15 months. Mentions Yūsuf, "the mother," and "the daughters." There is probably a substantial piece missing from the bottom. Needs further examination.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dated: 6[.]7 AH, which corresponds to 1210–1298; the decade digit is probably legible, so this can be narrowed further. Several of the witness signatures are prefaced with the word "ḥaḍara," and they are (strangely) located in the right margin and upper margin. The scribe gives his name at the upper left [...] wakīl [...]. The document itself needs examination for content.

Recto: Report or official correspondence, possibly. In Arabic script. Wide space between the lines. The ends of 5 lines are preserved. Mentions "the great resolution" (al-ʿazm al-kabir) in l. 2 and possibly jihād and rich people (dhawī l-aḥwāl wa-l-rafāha) in l. 3.

Letter. In Arabic script. The sender says that he initially planned to go to Alexandria "as soon as I heard the news" but then saw fit to delay his travel until he asked permission from the addressee (evidently the purpose of the present letter).

Long mercantile letter in Arabic script. Damaged and very difficult to read. Mentions names such as ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Abū Isḥāq Ibn al-Qābila ("Son of the Midwife," a family name). Needs examination.

Recto: Official letter, likely a report to a superior. In Arabic script. The first few words of ~26 lines have been preserved. "The slave renews the kissing of the ground...." (al-mamlūk yujaddid taqbīl (al-arḍ)). Mentions cows and calves and someone named Muḥammad b. Mudāfiʿ. Verso: Incomplete bill of delivery of 48 different materia medica with numbers (prices) only (i.e., no weights or quantities). Very clearly written in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)