State document: T-S AS 184.218

Description

A few words in chancery script from a large state document, likely a Fatimid decree. Reused for an intriguing literary work in Arabic listing the names of many individuals and who learned from whom, giving years such as 305 and 320 AH (early 10th century CE). Mentioning places such as Baghdād, Kūfa, and al-Ramla. There are recurring terms in almost every entry: "ṭāʾir" and "afrakha" and "farkh" and sometimes "sābiq" or "ghālib" and sometimes "maḥmūl." Sometimes colors are specified. Possibly to do with breeding birds for racing and genealogies of the birds? There are later manuals for pigeon training known as kabūtarnāma, though this would be an early example.