Geniza Lab

Maimonides’ epitome of Galen’s περὶ τῶν πεπονθότων τόπων (De locis affectis), from the second and third treatises, in Judaeo-Arabic, in Maimonides’ own hand. On the margin of P1 f.2v there is an example of Maimonides’ Arabic handwriting. (Information from CUDL)

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, including for medicinal items such as syrups (sharāb) and oxymel (sakanjabīn). ASE.

Petition. In Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps Mamluk-era based on handwriting and format, but that is a guess. The addressee is Shams al-Dīn [...] b. Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Nāṣir al-Dīn [...]. The petitioner is a physician or surgeon, expert in blood-letting, enema-giving, fresh wounds (al-jurḥ al-ṭarīʾ), and yellow-bilious boils (al-damāmil al-ṣafrāʾ). He is asking for a license to practice his trade. He concludes, "Let the [response] be recorded in the noble registers (al-ṣaḥāʾif al-karīma)." There is a rescript in the right margin: "I have granted his request" (adhantu lahū fī dhālika). (Information in part from Baker/Polliack catalogue.) ASE

Autograph leaves of Maimonides, Treatise on sexual intercourse. (Information from CUDL)

List of items, mostly medicinal substances like gum, white sugar, curcuma. Might be connected with T-S AS 215.253

Letter from Mūsā b. Abī al-Ḥay (Tinnīs) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1062. Mūsā reached Tinnīs by land because he was scared to travel by ship while carrying money. The letter contains a detailed account of wares that he sold or bought, especially pellitory (Anacyclus Pyrethrum) and flax. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, p. 509 and Goitein notes linked below.)

Letter in which an ophthalmologist blames his assistant who was also his relative for having left without giving him details about the various medications in the dispensary and asks him to return to work. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 97, II, p. 246, and from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Dāʾūd [...], possibly in Jerusalem, to his 'brother' Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov the physician (Samawʾal b. Yaʿqūb al-Mutaṭabbib), in New Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic, with an introduction in Hebrew and the address in Arabic script. Dating: Late, probably 16th or 17th century. The sender excuses himself for failing to write by citing a problem he had in the brain (al-dimāgh) which descended to his chest, and which required 7 or 8 months of purging. He is tired of the dressings and ointments, and is is scared of the barbers (muzayyinīn) of Jerusalem, because he has no experience with them. One barber diagnosed him with a fistula (nāsūr) and treated both him and the husband of his daughter Raḥel. The sender went somewhere else (Tyre?) for one month to convalesce. Greetings to and from numerous people in the family. Mentions ʿAbd al-Laṭīf, the beadle ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Ḥakīm, al-shaykh al-sadīd, al-shaykh al-saniyy Farajallāh Ibn al-Nushuww, the sender's maternal aunt Raḥel, Mūsā Ibn Khaṭīr, ʿAbdallāh al-Qayyim, Ibn Juwayhira, and many others. Resembles Yevr.-Arab. II 1457 and its associated letters in terms of the vivid medical details found in it.