Geniza Lab

Ketubba (marriage contract). Location: Fustat. Dated: 20 Tammuz 1376 Seleucid, which is 1065 CE. Groom: Fuḍayl b. Efrayim. Bride: Ḥasana bt. Yosef. They subsequently divorced and remarried two years later: see BL OR 8663.1. On verso and continuing at the bottom of the recto is a poem or draft letter (to a Nagid?) in Hebrew. AA. ASE.

Marriage contract (ketubba). One of the very few Byzantine ketubbot to have survived. Location: Mastaura, on the Meander River (in Asia Minor). Dated: Friday, 4 Nisan 4782 AM, which is 9 March 1022 CE. Groom: Namer b. Elqana. Bride: Evdokia bt. Kalev. The dowry is listed, including many Greek terms. There is a design with curlicues at the bottom of recto, and the text of the ketubba continues onto verso. Witnesses: Yehuda b. Navon, Moshe b. Leon, Shelaḥya b. Yosef, Moshe b. Shabbetay. (Information from de Lange's edition.)

Marriage contract (ketubba) in the Palestinian style, probably from Tyre, ca. 1089-1099.

Replacement for a lost ketubba (אירכסא). Location: Baalbek, according to both Goitein and Ashtor, although the remaining portion of the document only specifies the Biqāʿ Valley of Lebanon (בקעת הלבנון תחת הר חרמון). The name of the locale appears to end with לת—could it be Zaḥla instead? Dated: 21 Av 1564 Seleucid, which is 1253 CE, under the authority of the Nasi [...] b. Yeḥizqiyahu b. Yishai. Husband: Ismāʿīl b. Ṣemaḥ ha-Levi. Wife: Majdiyya bt. Mufaḍḍal. NB: An earlier version of the PGP record for this document linked it (erroneously?) to T-S Misc.27.4.23 and was credited "D.B. 3-20-89."

Marriage contract (ketubba), in the Palestinian style, from Ṣā, Egypt (Sa al Hajar, a village on the east bank of the Rosetta branch of the Nile, in the delta, next to the ancient Egyptian city of Sai's/Sai), in 1081 C.E. The bride is a divorcée, and the advanced marriage gift is only two dinars while the dowry totaled a mere five and one/third dinars. (Ed. Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 175-81) EMS

Fragment of a marriage contract of Sittuna with some items of dowry. Dated ca. 1000. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 413, and from Goitein's index cards)

Detailed Karaite marriage contract of Elazar b. Shemarya and Rebecca bat Yosef. Dated Tishri 1512/ September 1200, Cairo. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 409)

Marriage contract between Eli b. Qimoy and Sutayt b. Yair, written by Shemarya b. Elhanan. Dated 1306/ 994-5. (Information from Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, p. 272)

Part of a ketubba for Ratab (רתב) bat [...] b. Isaac ha-Kohen ha-Sar and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen [b. ...]. Dated Marḥeshvan 1604 (= 1292 CE) in Fusṭāṭ. The names of witnesses are not preserved. Written under the jurisdiction of David b. Abraham Maimonides. There is a decorative heading in larger letters in which many of the letters are decorated with crude fleurs de lis. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba); line two begins with the phrase "on the river," the only clue to establishing the provenance of the document. Dated 4844 A.M. (1084 C.E.) (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 217-26) EMS

Large fragment of a marriage contract. Dated from the early 11th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 378, 417)

Ketubba fragment for an unnamed bride and groom. Dated the 1st of Shevat 1415 (= 1104 CE), in Fustat. NB: Goitein and Worman referred to T-S 16.90 as T-S 16.91, and vice versa.

Digest of a marriage contract. Location: Fustat. Dated: 14 Elul 1405 Seleucid, which is August 1094 CE. Groom: Yakhin the cantor. Bride: Sitt al-Kull, a virgin. Marriage payments: 50 + 105 = 155 dinars. The fragment also contains drafts of various legal documents (one involving the rent of a house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ and 125 dinars; another involving Abū l-Surūr's claim that he came to Fustat with 25 dinars and spent it all) and letters (one to a judge called al-Rayyis), and many jottings. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 406, Goitein's index cards, and CUDL.)

Legal document concerning a wife agreement to the reduction of her delayed marriage gift from 70 to 20 dinars and renounces the title of trustworthiness granted her in the marriage contract. Dated Nisan 1437/April 1126. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 256, 412, 483)

Betrothal deed, in which Yisrael b. Daniel (groom-to-be) betroths Sittuna bat David b. Avraham (bride-to-be), dated Sunday, 11th Tammuz 4767/1318 (= 1007 CE), in Fustat. The bride’s father is her representative, as witnessed by David b. Shemaʿya, and Kalaf b. Avraham. The marriage gift is 250 dinars, of which 100 dinars has already been advanced. (Information from CUDL)

Ketubba with a valuable dowry listing gold jewellery, pearls, rubies, and turquoise, second half of the 15th century. (Corrected by comparison with photocopy of MS & Goitein's notes) (Z.F.)

Ketubba from the late 13th–14th century, with no names preserved other than a signatory, Joseph ha-Levi. Information from CUDL.

Lower part of a marriage contract (ketubba). Written and signed by Avraham b. Shabbetay. Groom: Yefet b. Nissim. Bride: Sitt al-Dār bt. Yiṣḥaq. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 21 Adar 1374 Seleucid, which is 1063 CE. On verso of Halper 339, there is Hebrew poetry (written after the document was torn up). (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 47, 532.)

Ketubba for Muʿazaza bat Mevorakh, a divorcee, and Meʾir. Written under the jurisdiction of Sar Shalom ha-Levi (1171–1195 CE) and witnessed by Levi ha-Levi b. Abraham. Dated the 4th of the month, in Fusṭāṭ. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba), fragment.