Geniza Lab

Recto/verso: recto and verso

Verso, continuing onto recto between the lines (secondary use): Letter describing a requisition (muṣādara) carried out against a whole town, in which Muslims, Christians, Samaritans and Jews were all affected, with the latter suffering even more than the others. All clothing and provisions of wheat and wine hoarded in the house of the writer's maternal uncle were plundered; even the rope of the well was taken way. The authority ordering the requisition is referred to as the biblical 'Haman the wicked'. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 393.) The sender himself was interrogated by the raqqāṣīn who were searching for his uncle, but he pretended to be not from there and fled. The letter refers to three obscure torture devices or techniques: "they in{ser}ted the ʿṬY (עטי), the hinbāzīn (הנבאזין), and the khazm (? כזם) in their (the Jews') noses (v3). Later, the sender explains that a person who has had the ʿṬY enter his flesh will not heal (r5–6). The meaning of ʿṬY is not clear; khazm is also not clear, but comes from a root referring to piercing, sometimes nose piercing. The term hinbāzīn/הנבאזין/هنبازين is apparently known from Coptic martyrologies (according to some sources deriving from Greek ἑρμητάριον < Latin armentarium < Armentarius, the nickname of the emperor Galerius Maximianus); see https://st-takla.org/Coptic-Faith-Creed-Dogma/Coptic-Rite-n-Ritual-Taks-Al-Kanisa/Dictionary-of-Coptic-Ritual-Terms/9-Coptic-Terminology_Heh-Waw-Yeh/henbazeen.html and Phillips Barry, "Martyrs' Milk" (1914) (https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Open_Court/VuoXAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ermetarion&pg=PA563&printsec=frontcover). Recto (original use): Ketubba for Sitt al-Banāt. In the hand of Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen (1125–50). The ends of 6 lines are preserved. The groom undertakes not to curse her or treat her with disrespect. The identification of the scribe as Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen allows us to tentatively date the letter to the last years of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (1138–39) when there was a mutiny against the government, and Maṣliaḥ picked the wrong side, so that many Jews were jailed and Maṣliaḥ himself was executed in 1139. (Information from Amir Ashur.)