Letter: T-S Ar.42.214

Description

Letter in Arabic script. Addressed to a high dignitary. Sent from Alexandria to Fustat/Cairo. The sender reports that he arrived safely in Alexandria on Thursday after an easy journey. He has sent letters with Abū Saʿd to Ibn Hilāl, but the latter has not yet made time to see him. Ibn Ṭāhir already set sail before the sender’s arrival. Two ships arrived from Constantinople but already departed before the sender’s arrival. Another ship arrived from Constantinople but will not travel again until the fall. Another two ships were out of service but are now ready to set sail for al-Shām, one for al-Lādhiqiyya (Latakia) and one for ʿAkkā (Acre). The sender plans to travel with whichever one of these is most convenient and to return to Alexandria in time to board the ship for Constantinople in the fall. He has met with Jamāl al-Dīn. The bottom of the letter is torn off here. It is not immediately clear if the text on verso (the ending of a letter in Arabic script, with one name written in Hebrew) belongs to the same letter or a different one. If it is the ending of the letter on recto, it would mean that both sender and addressee are Jews.