Geniza Lab

On recto a literary text? verso list of births (info from FGP)- needs examination

Arabic letter - needs examination.

Letter from a father to a son. In Arabic script. Fragment (upper half only). Recto contains only the formulaic opening greetings. Verso contains closing greetings from the addressee's mother and sister, from the whole family, from Hiba, from Abū ʿAlī, and from Sitthum.

Letter, probably. In Arabic script. Mentions Muḥammad b. ʿAmmār al-Tājir in l. 3. On verso there are a few words in Hebrew (Proverbs 1:8). Needs further examination.

Business accounts in a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Mentions the commodity tartar (ṭarṭar).

Accounts in Arabic script. Related to agriculture: the words zirāʿa and fallāḥ appear.

Letter of gratitude. In Arabic script. Full of expressions of patronage and no specific details. The sender's name may be Zayn and the addressee's name may be Bū l-Makārim—though paleographically it looks more like بو المكالر.

Three drafts of a testimony concerning the qualifications and good conduct of the physician Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū Sahl b. Ibrāhīm (=Yedutun ha-Levi?). The witnesses confirm his trustworthiness, good health and moral values, religious devotion, reliability, probity, charitableness, and integrity. No witness statements are present in the document. Ca. 13th century. (Information in part from CUDL and Khan.)

Petition or formal letter concerning an iqṭāʿ, which was subsequently torn, and a related record written on verso. Dating: Probably Mamluk or early Ottoman era, based on format and the use of the title khwājā. Needs further examination.

Formal letter in Arabic script. Full of eloquent expressions of patronage. Unusual layout. Needs examination for content. Verso is covered with unidentified writing in Arabic script in all directions, with some Greek/Coptic numerals.

First-person business accounts in Arabic script. Mentions several names and commodities. Refers to "the wax/candle sellers from ʿAsqalān" (al-ʿasāqila al-shammāʿīn).

Petition addressed to a dignitary titled Sayyidnā, perhaps Avraham Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. Only the bottom 7 lines are preserved. It may have to do with a group of people who are being persecuted by a tax collector (...al-jābī yudawwir ʿalayhim dawra...). The remainder consists of expressions of deference (two versions of a raʾy clause, blessings for the addressee, and apologies for being long-winded). On verso there is the beginning of a draft of a legal query addressed to the Nagid Avraham Maimonides, which was then crossed out. This text on verso was written no earlier than 1213 CE, when Avraham assumed the title Nagid. Underneath there are accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals listing fruits and produce, e.g., biṭṭīkh aṣfar, khawkh, ḥummuṣ. The last line includes the phrase "until Rosh ha-Shana (raʾs al-sana)."

Accounts in Arabic script. State document?

Legal document in Arabic script. Fragment (left side only). Dated: 7[..] AH, which is the 14th century CE if this has been read correctly. Mentions "two halves equally" (nuṣfayn bi-l-sawiyya, l. 4). Needs examination for content.

Tax receipt?

Deed of acknowledgment (iqrār). Fragment (upper half only). In Arabic script. Parties are Sālim b. Abū l-Faraj and Yaḥyā b. Sulaymān al-Yahūdī. Needs examination for content.

Accounts in Arabic script. State document?

Accounts in Arabic script.

Unidentified document in Arabic script. Extremely faded.

Instructions of some sort in Arabic script. Small fragment. On verso jottings in Hebrew script.