Geniza Lab

Small fragment of a letter in Arabic script.

Receipt for the capitation tax (jizya) for the Jewish man Bū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Bū l-Faḍl al-Qazzāz (the silk trader) in Fustat. Dated: 52[.] AH = 1126–35 CE. Same man: T-S AS 182.90, T-S AS 182.186, T-S Ar.35.170, and T-S Ar.35.204.

Bottom of a letter in Arabic script, probably a family letter. Ends with a Hebrew שלום. Fragmentary and faded.

Accounts in Arabic, reused for Judaeo-Arabic calendrical reckoning.

List of materia medica (e.g., chicory seed, licorice, mastic, anise) with quantities. For a prescription? In Arabic script.

Letter in Arabic script. The writer is in Aden. He reports that something of the addressee's is safe in his keeping. "If his (or your?) son arrives to Aden this year, I will give him the letter. . . and if he does not arrive to Aden, and I learn his whereabouts, I will write to him." ASE.

Lists of materia medica, with simples such as indigo, Mimosa nilotica, pomegranate flower, and turpeth. In columns, with quantities in Coptic numerals. (Information from CUDL)

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: the ware-house keeper has paid the sum of two and a half (dirhams?) on behalf of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: 10 Ṣafar 404 AH, which is August 1013 CE. Verso: beginning of an Arabic letter to a judge (see separate entry). (Information from CUDL)

Beginning of an Arabic letter to a judge. Verso: tax receipt (see separate entry). (Information from CUDL)

Management of feverish patients, with rose-water and bread made from white flour recommended as their food and drink. Either notes or correspondence, as verso is written inverted in relation to recto, and the two sides seem to be in different hands. (Information from CUDL)

Ophthalmological text, mentioning the lens and layers of the eyes, and couching as a treatment for cataracts. In the margins are many different jottings in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic, including epistolary formulae. (Information from CUDL)

State document. Petition in Arabic script, opening only. Probably a draft. It consists of an "I kiss the ground" (taqbīl) clause followed by ~10 extravagant titles and some blessings and a plea for indulgence, then "wa-yunhī," then nothing. ASE.

Recto: very damaged text of a makhzuma (ledger of receipts). Verso: makhzūma (ledger of receipts) submitted in Rajab 495 AH (= April-May 1102 CE) by Muḥammad b. ʿAlī, representative of a sugar cane extraction factory and a honey factory, to the office of supervision (dīwān al-ishrāf). The makhzūma is witnessed and signed by ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī. The accounts are for the kharājī years 490 and 491, corresponding respectively to 493/94 AH and 494/95 AH. The makhzūma was so named apparently owing to the fact that it was sealed or strung together with other leaves by 'piercing' (khazama). (Information from CUDL and Khan.)

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Fragment. Needs examination. Verso: Elaborate geometrical designs.

Legal document in Arabic script. Describing the borders of a house or property. Perhaps a document of sale.

Receipt relating to the tax farm of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ, the cashier, and registered by the Office of Accounts on behalf of the Office of Supervision: Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahb has paid the sum of 3 and a half and a sixteenth (dirhams?) for the estates in Al-Fayyūm, under the supervision of the judge Ṯiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, of the protégé of the commander of the faithful Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Bahār, and the accountant Abū l-Sarī Theodor b. Yuḥannis. Dated: 13 Jumādā II 403 AH, which is December 1012 CE. (Information from CUDL)

Accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Grocery list? It lists a raṭl of sesame oil (sīraj/sayraj), 1/2 raṭl sumac, 1/2 raṭl tahina, a cupful of rice, eggs, a raṭl of linseed oil (zayt ḥār), and several more items. Another entry was added in lighter & thinner characters: 3 ounces of olive oil (zayt ṭayyib)

Recto: Biblical verses in Hebrew language written in Arabic script (ṭov lehodot...), headed by a basmala. Verso: One column is either a magical text or dense jottings / pen trials, while the other column appears to be instructions for a recipe. All in Arabic script.

State document, Fatimid period. Petition or report to a vizier (beginning only), possibly under al-ʿAḍid (see line 4, where the blessing uses the verb ʿaḍada; thanks to Lara Balaa for this observation). (MR)

Minute fragment of a state document. The only words preserved are "[al-Must]anṣir Billāh Amīr al-Muʾmin[īn]." Dating: 1036–95. Reused for a Hebrew liturgical jotting on verso.