Geniza Lab

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: ca. 1090 CE. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. One ‘Ulla and one Yaḥyā release one another from a partnership. These individuals are likely Abū al-Ḥasan Yaḥyā b. Samuel ha-Kohen al-Baghdādī and Abū al-‘Alā ‘Ulla b. Joseph ha-Levi al-Dimashqī, who repeatedly release one another and rekindle their partnership in a number of documents in the Geniza corpus. The majority of the present document concerns the establishment of a 2-year long-distance trading partnership. This release from that partnership includes the text of the contract. One of the partners invested 120 dinars, and the other one 150. Both partners would trade actively. Profits and losses are to be split evenly. The active partner is liable for losses at sea, a departure from the commenda model (see also the verso of T-S K25.153, PGPID 9291, for an example). On the verso there are jottings and accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals ("expenses on Sunday: syrup(?)... sugar... a cup of [...]... chicken: 3...."). (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", pp. 273-274; and from Goitein’s index card.)