Letter: T-S Ar.39.11

Description

Business and/or administrative letter(s) in Arabic script. Dating: No earlier than the reign of al-Afḍal (based on the titulature of the petition in T-S Ar.40.38) and probably still Fatimid-era, so some time in the range 1094–1171. This is a bifolio which seems to have excerpts from four different letters, one per page, although Aodeh understood it to be a single letter. Aodeh speculated that it might be from Daniel b. ʿAzarya, based on the mention of Ḥusām al-Dawla (as in Daniel b. ʿAzarya's letters T-S 13J8.8 and T-S 10J20.8 + T-S 10J5.22; however, Aodeh also acknowledges that other traders mention Ḥusām al-Dawla, as in T-S 10J15.19). It joins with T-S Ar.40.38 (PGPID 21041). Join: Alan Elbaum. Fol. 1r: Letter containing congratulations for the holiday and ordering 20 baskets of aromatic wood. Written on Friday, 26 Rabīʿ II. Fol. 1v: Letter to a qāḍī titled Muʿtamid al-Dawla wa-Ḥisnuhā. Aodeh identifies him as Qirwāsh b. al-Muqallad of Mosul, but this seems far-fetched. Cf. T-S Ar.39.464 for another Muʿtamid al-Dawla. The sender rebukes him for failing to purchase the 15 dinars' worth of gallnuts he had ordered. He now inquires about the price of linseed oil in the addressee's location and orders 20 dinars' worth if the price is good. Fol. 2r: Letter reporting that the sender had sent merchandise with Abū l-Maʿālī. He reiterates an earlier request for 20 qinṭārs of flax. A new letter begins in l. 8, with blessings for Ḥusām al-Dawla. There is a draft of a different letter to Ḥusām al-Dawla with a nearly identical opening to this one in T-S Ar.40.107 (PGPID 21023). Fol. 2v: Continuation of the previous letter, with poetic praises for somebody and reporting that the sender received from Abū l-Manṣūr b. [...] al-ʿAsqalānī massive amounts of agricultural produce: 120 irdabbs of wheat, 500 irdabbs of barley, 10,000 irdabbs of chickpeas, 400 irdabbs of fava beans, and 10 raṭls of gallnuts.