Literary text: T-S AS 157.119

Description

Judaeo-Arabic literary text in the form of a story composed in a rhymed format, like a maqāma (qasida, قصيدة). The text begins on the verso and concludes on the recto. The rhymes are marked by two diagonal lines slightly above or below the text. Arabic vocalization and tanween (تنوين) appear occasionally. The text narrates the events of a dark, gloomy, and ominous day that fell upon the ancestors of the narrator. The text presents the speech of a person speaking against a group of people to his master, the king. The speaker describes this group as small in number living among the larger group of people but doesn’t follow the traditions and religion of the larger group. The speaker advises that allowing this group to thrive is not a good thing but rather their eradication is a good thing. The speaker thus advises a campaign against that minority group. The recommended actions include confiscating their precious property and selling it for the cheap. Given the text of Esther 3:8-9, it can be thus assumed, with a fair degree of certainty, that the rhymed text transmitted in T-S AS 157.119 preserves a fragment of a poetic rendering of the story of Esther. ET.