Geniza Lab

Legal document in Arabic script. On verso accounts in Arabic script and the draft of a beginning of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, perhaps Mamluk-era. Needs further examination.

Recto: Fragment of a legal document in Arabic script. Very neat handwriting. Only the beginnings of the lines are preserved. Mentions a broker in the market (al-simsār bi-sūq al-[...]) and Muhadhdhab al-Yahūdī. Verso: Later legal document in Arabic script. Mentions a banker (al-Ṣārifī) and several other names. Dating: Looks late, probably not earlier than 13th century, but needs further examination.

Legal document in Arabic script. ولما طالب خصمه المذكور بالقيام له بدليل عمل الى . . . . Unusual format for a legal document, with very large script. On verso there are accounts. The paper is very dark.

Legal document (iqrār). Acknowledgment made by al-muʿallim Yaʿqūb b. Ismāʿīl. In Arabic script. Needs examination for content and dating.

Legal document in Arabic script. Damaged. Needs examination for content. One of the parties may be named Salāma.

Legal documents in Arabic script. Looks like three distinct documents, one large one on recto and two smaller ones on verso. Bunch of names of people who consent to witness (bi-shihādin shahida). Dating: Ottoman-era? (The dates are given but are difficult to read.) Needs examination.

Recto: Document in Arabic script. Possibly a letter. Rudimentary handwriting and orthography. Sings the praises of a Coptic sage in Alexandria. This sage is versed in theology (الناطق بالقوال التالوغسية) and Hermetic arts (المتادب بالاداب الهرمسية) and translates the Coptic and the Arabic languages (مترجم الغات القبطية والعربية). Verso: Letter (or legal query) from Christians addressed to Muslim authorities. In Arabic script. The writers complain about a Christian who was attacked by Muslims, who had been asked by other Christians to do that. They grabbed him, beat him, and dragged him before the bishop of the Christians. Dating: Unknown. Szilagyi dates the fragment to the 10th-15th centuries on the basis of the handwriting. The reference to translating and Coptic and Arabic suggests an earlier date, 10th to 13th century. And there is one word (الاوبيين) that perhaps should be read "al-Ayyūbiyyīn" which would date the fragment to 1171–1250 CE. But it might also be al-adībīn. Informtion from Krisztina Szilagyi via FGP.

Legal document in Arabic script. Fragment (lower right corner). Needs further examination.

Legal document, dated 689 H, (=1290/91 CE), in a very faded script, with signature(s) at the bottom. One of the parties is al-Ḥājj Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. Needs examination for content.

Legal document in Arabic script. Fragment (upper left corner). Dating: Likely Mamluk-era, based on typical names and titles. Needs further examination.

Small fragment from the lower right corner of a legal document in Arabic script. Needs further examination.

Fragment, not very legible script. Accounts with niṣfs and mentioning of graves (qubūr) and a woman. Scribbly note on verso with names, probably signatures. Needs examination.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Badr al-Dīn al-Ḥāmī(?) does something with Fatḥallāh al-Yahūdī on a certain date. The document is dated, but needs to be deciphered.

Jottings of accounts and calendrical notations in a mixture of Arabic script, Greek/Coptic numerals, and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century, based on handwriting. Alt description: A curious mix of notes, scripts, and a tidy hand of archival notes in Hebrew script on 18th C documents on verso. Notary's notepad?

Legal document in Arabic script. Fragment (upper left corner). Seems to be an acknowledgment by the Rabbanite Jew named [ʿUmar?] b. Ibrāhīm known as Shams al-Dawla(?) in which he undertakes to pay support to a Rabbanite Jewish woman (presumably his wife or divorcee). Mentions paying daily a sum of silver (fiḍḍa) and providing food (ṭaʿām) and possibly water (?? inṣāf mā, but this could also say ayḍan fa-mā). Mentions children in the last line.

Fragment of a legal document, 6 lines, not very legible script. Indication of a default in loan repayment on the first due date (ākhiruhā yatluhu awwal mudda) due to losses (khusrān), name of two witnesses towards the end.

Legal document. In Arabic script in a nice hand. Yehuda b. Ibrāhīm the Jew attests that he has received 15 rounds (aqrāṣ) of Levantine cheese (al-jubn al-Shāmī)from Ibrāhīm b. [...]. Dated likely late Mamlūk or early Ottoman.

Arabic script (VMR)

Legal or official document. In Arabic script. Dated: Jumādā II 1239 AH, which is February 1824 CE (but this reading should be checked). Mentions ʿUmar Agha the superintendent of freights of silk (nāẓir anwāl al-ḥarīr), apparently in the Bīṭāsh area of Alexandria (mentions وكالة البيطاش). Witnessed by Aḥmad Ghānim al-[...]. Needs further examination.

Arabic script (VMR)