Letter: T-S K25.279
Letter T-S K25.279What's in the PGP
- 1 Transcription
- 1 Translation
Description
Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. From the circle of the 13th-century Mosul Nasis. Extremely faded. The beginning and ending are missing. All of recto and part of verso are narrated as secondhand reports ("he said... he said... he said..."). Recto is a horrifying account of the Mongol (Tatar/תתר) invasion (cf. Bodl. MS heb. a 3/24 and T-S 20.128, belonging to the same circle of Mosul Nasis and possibly from the same sender). The Mongols entered the narrator's city on Simḥat Torah and plundered it, taking captive al-Nasi al-Fakhr, his wife Sitt al-Ruʾasāʾ, his brothers, his sister, and his 2-year-old son. Thousands of men, women, and children fled. By the time they reached Wādī ʿUmayr, the women were exhausted from carrying their children. The Mongols tore the children away—including the son of al-Fakhr and Sitt al-Ruʾasāʾ—and threw them on the ground as they cried out for their parents. When the letter resumes on verso, the sender (or the narrator of recto?) is describing his difficult economic circumstances wherever he has ended up (Syria? Bilbays? Fustat?). Everything that al-Nasi al-Fakhr had, clothing or otherwise, has been lost. Previously they were supported by the community or private donors ("kāna yaṣilunā mezonot") but now the people cannot spare any attention for them, even though they profess to love them. He mentions someone named Barakāt with the title al-Tifʾeret; a distinguished physician; and other notables who say that either the sender or the addressee should obtain a decree/rescript (tawqīʿ) and become the leader (muqaddam, ḥākim) of the community. There are a couple more faded lines, and the continuation is missing. ASE
Tags
Editor: Elbaum, Alan
Translator: Elbaum, Alan (in English)
T-S K25.279 recto
recto
- [. . .]
- ופי אלסוכה ג . . . . . . . וקע אלכלף ונצבו
- אלמנגליקאת עלי אלבלד יום שמחת תורה
- אכדו אלבלד ונהבוה ואכדוהם שבויים
- לה ולאכותה ולאכתה ולזוגתה אלמנגצה
- סת אלרוסא אכת אלנשיא אלפכר יר הו
- קאל וכאן להם ולד עמרה סנתין וכסר
- מתל אולאד . . . . . . . . . . . אלצבי עלי
- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .מן יהוד אלבלד
- לאנה תכדמהם קאל ונחן מע אהל אלבלד
- אלוף עדידה נשים ואנשים ואטפאל
- יסוקונא בין ידיהם מתל יום אלקיאמה
- קאל גינא אלי ואדי עמיר קצרו אלנסא ען
- אלמשי לתעבהם בחמל אולאדהם קאל
- פאכדו אלתתר אלאטפאל רמוהם פי אלטריק
- פי אל . . . . ואכדו [ביד]הם אלטפל רמוה
- ען כתף אלמרה חאמלתה קאל וצאר אלטפל
- יבכי ויסתגית באבא באבא וטלב ואלדה
- שלמה אחתמאלה מא מכנוה ודאסוהם
- אלכלק ואלדואב מע מא רמו מן אלאטפאל
- ומן קצר פי אלמשי קאל פלא זאלת אמה
- אלמנגצה אלמסכינה תציח ותציח ובקית
recto
(1-5) . . . and in the sukka. . . the conflict broke out, and they erected mangonels against the city. On the day of Simḥat Tora they took the city and plundered it, and they took them as captives: him, his brothers, his sister, and his frail(?) wife (6-10) Sitt al-Ruʾasāʾ the sister of al-Nasi al-Fakhr, m[ay his glory] b[e elevated].
He said: They had a boy just over two years old, like the children. . . the young man on. . . from the Jews of the city, because he served them(?).
He said: Together with the people of the city, we were (11-15) several thousand men, women, and children, and they drove us before them like it was the Day of Judgment.
He said: When we arrived at Wādī ʿUmayr, the women could no longer walk from their fatigue from carrying their children.
He said: The Tatars took the babies and threw them onto the road (16-20) in the. . . and they took in their [hands] the baby boy and threw him down off of the shoulder of the woman carrying him.
He said: The baby was wailing and crying out “bābā bābā,” and his father Shelomo tried to pick him up, but they wouldn’t let him. The people and the animals trampled them, along with the babies they had thrown down (21-22) and those who could no longer walk.
He said: His wretched, frail mother kept screaming and screaming, and she remained. . . .
T-S K25.279 verso
verso
- . . . . . . . . . אללה תעא]לי יקנע לנא
- בדלך וירחמנא למענו ולמען דויד עבדו
- פאננא פי חאל מן הדא אלגלא צעב גדא
- נשתרי אלכו[בז] רטל ביג קרטאס ונצף
- ונחן פי צרה קשה וגמיע מא כאן ימלכה
- אלולד אלנשיא אלפכר יר הו מן מלבוס וגירה
- באעה וכל אסבוע י . . . . . וינפקה עלינא
- אללה תעאלי . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . שגל
- מן אלטב ולדאך קד קל מעאשה כאן יצלנא
- מזונות אנקטעת ואן וצל שי יכון קדר נזר
- גדא לאן אל[נאס] מגלובין ענא בל יטהרון
- לנא אלמחבה אלעטימה וגרבני וסאלני
- אלחכים ברכאת אלתפארת שצ ואלמולי
- אלחכים אלפאצל . . . . . . . אלחכמא
- . . . אל . . . . . . . . . . וגירהמא מן אלאעיאן
- קאלו נאכד לך תוקיע ותכון אנת מקדם
- עלינא חאכמנא ותדבר אמורנא פשכרתהם
- עלי דלך . . . עת //. . .\\ פלמא עאודוני
- ו . . גו פי אלקצייה ושרעו פיהא אגתמעת
- באלאעיאן וגירהם וקלת קד מא ימכנני
- מן וגוה אולא [
- [. . .]
verso
(1-5) . . . may God the exalted content us with this and have mercy upon us for His sake and for the sake of His servant David. We are in a very difficult state from the inflation: we buy 1 raṭl of br[ead] for 13.5 qirṭās. We are in great distress. Everything (6-10) which the boy al-Nasi al-Fakhr, m[ay his glory] b[e elevated], possessed, clothes and other things, he has sold. Every week he. . . and spends it on us, may God the exalted. . . . [He cannot find?] any work in medicine, and for this reason his livelihood has dried up. We were receiving maintenance but it has been cut off. If we receive anything, it is only (11-15) a trivial amount, for everyone has turned away from us, and they do not show us any great love. The physician Barakāt, al-Tifʾeret, m[ay his Rock] p[reserve him], and the master the physician al-Fāḍil. . . . [the . . . of] the physicians. . . and other notables apart from them (16-20) approached me and proposed, “Let us obtain a rescript for you, and you will be our head and our judge and look after our affairs.” I thanked them for this. . . and when they came back to me and [...] in the matter and commenced upon it, I met with the notables and others and said, “I may be unable to do this (21-22) for various reasons, firstly. . . .”