Geniza Lab

Bill of sale for a slave. Location: Fustat. Dated: Last third of Tammuz 1505 Seleucid, which is June/July 1194 CE, under the reshut of Sar Shalom ha-Levi. In the hand of the court scribe Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209). The slave (waṣīf) is an Indian man possibly named Padan (? פדן). Goitein at one time read it "Patan Patana," but the second word is rather ביעא ("sale"), and the first word is extremely faded; it needs to be checked in the physical manuscript. Seller: the druggist Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet b. Nadiv ha-Levi. Buyer: Abū a-Mufaḍḍal al-Sayrafī b. Abū l-Ḥasan of the Nānū family. Price: 19 ½ dinars. The seller guarantees (=provides ḍamān al-darak) against ḥiyal, i.e., against anyone else laying claim on the slave whether in Jewish or Muslim court. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) On verso there are 9 lines of Arabic script, undeciphered.