Documents

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, from Alexandria, to Yosef b. […] (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #260) VMR A. L. Udovitch's transcription differs from the earlier transcription of Bernard Dov Shapira, so the PGP team of the 1990s has produced an edition using Udovitch's transcription as a base-text, indicating the differences between the two transcriptions with an asterisk and giving Shapira's reading at the end of the line in parentheses.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

Tags

• byzantine coins
• coins
• trade

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Document date

Tuesday, 17 Sivan 5323 Anno Mundi (8 June 1563 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew

Legal document in Hebrew. Location: Fustat/Cairo. […] CUL Or.1081 2.26 + T-S NS 99.59 (PGPID 26279)) acknowledges a debt of 4 ducats (peraḥim) to Moshe, a repairer of books, known as מג׳מגם (on verso, מג׳מג׳ם).

Related Places

1

Tags

• 16th c

1 Transcription

Document date

Sunday, 13 Ṭevet 1416 Seleucid (1 January 1105 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. […] By the order of the court, which was responsible for such cases, a search was begun to locate any estate left by the deceased. After a search, a khalqān (l. 12), a large copper cauldron, was found and 8 and three-quarter silver dirhems; also a himyān (l. 15), a purse of a girdle, and a qirṭās (l. 16), a bag, were found containing money aggregating 41 dinars (l. 17) "in cash," and ʿayn (l. 23), which means gold. The funeral expenses were estimated at 6 dinars (l. 18) and the remainder of 35 dinars were deposited (ll. 22, 20) until a legitimate heir came to claim them (l. 26). The 8 and three-quarter dirhems were added to the funeral expenses (l. 27).

Related People

3

Related Documents

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2 Transcriptions 2 Discussions

Primary languages

Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, Romance

Yiṣḥaq, “the son of the brother of Umm Nadiv,” asking whether a woman who was deserted by her husband with whom she had lived for ten years, but had not received a bill of repudiation from him, may marry another man. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society,1:591; 3:264, 485.) EMS. The remainder of the fragment is also filled with text. Apart from difficult Arabic text on verso, there is what Goitein calls an Arabic/medieval Greek/Romanesque (laʿaz) glossary, partially in Arabic script on recto and partially in Hebrew script on verso. […] Examples: khubz --> אבסומי (= Ψωμί), mawlāy --> senyor. Merits further examination

Tags

• arabic script
• greek
• legal query
• responsum
• romance

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

Tax receipt, mentioning the tax was credited towards the treasury.

Tags

• dimme
• fiscal
• nuqila
• tax receipt

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1171–1172 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Incomplete letter to Moses Maimonides congratulating him on becoming the Head of the Jews of Egypt. […] The name of the sender is not preserved; Friedländer conjectured that the letter was written by Yosef Ibn ʿAqnīn. The sender is concerned that the new duties will keep Maimonides from writing books. […] Berlin: Verlag von Bruno Cassirer, p. 257-261.)

Related People

1

Tags

• maimonides

3 Transcriptions

Document date

Wednesday, 26 Adar II 4848 Anno Mundi (22 March 1088 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document, in which Thāmira bt. Avraham appoints Avraham b. […] Bishr, debtor of her late father, since she and her minor sister were the only legal heirs. Dated Wednesday, 26th Adar II 4848 AM (= Spring 1088 CE).

Related People

8

Related Places

1

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Same cluster: T-S NS J539 (PGPID 26500), Bodl. MS heb. d 68/107 (PGPID 6486), and CUL Or.1081 J61 (PGPID 8959).

Tags

• capitation tax
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• jaliya
• petition
• (+ 1 more)

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Avraham b. Rav Shelomo the Yemeni, in Jerusalem, to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. […] Avraham also mentions divorcing a woman in Jerusalem "after much suffering and paying her more than was due her." […] (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:47, 262, 437, 485.) EMS. ASE.

Related Places

2

Tags

• abu zikri al-rayyis
• divorce
• jerusalem
• judge eliyyahu

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1152–1153 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

India Book III, 41: Letter from Avraham Ibn Yiju, in Fustat, to his brother, Yosef, in Mazara, Sicily. […] But Ibn Yijū's explicit motive is different: he says he wants his future son-in-law to be "learned in Torah" (r12), and he's heard from both their other brother, Mevasser, and the Sicilian merchants in Aden and Fustat said that Surūr fits the bill[…] On the dating of the letter: Goitein dates the document to September 1153 because this letter was written from Egypt, and Goitein believes Ibn Yijū to have traveled from Aden to Cairo in spring or summer 1153, while the reference to the Salībiyya winds indicates that this letter was written in September — hence September 1153; Friedman, however, believes that Ibn Yijū arrived in Egypt in 1152, and indeed, at r22, Ibn Yijū explains that his daughter had been engaged to the son of Khalaf b.

Related People

7

Related Places

3

Tags

• ib3
• india book

2 Transcriptions 2 Translations

Primary language

Arabic

Palimpsest. Original text: Leaf from an Arabic diwan on vellum in elegant calligraphy. […] The text is faded and damaged but merits further examination. The most legible (but unattributed) poem includes two lines that continue to circulate in anthologies of zuhdiyyāt (sometimes credited to the mourners of ʿAbdallāh b.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• classical arabic poetry
• palimpsest

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Bottom part of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: no earlier than 1425 CE based on the mention of the currency ashrafī. Describing at length a business dispute. Mentions: a certain ʿAfīf; a Qaraite banker (al-Ṣayrafī al-Qaraʾ); Shelomo; a settling of accounts that came up short by one ashrafī; the Nagid; David Sofer; a mat (naṭʿ); Moshe Maʿānī; sending a sum of money to "al-makān al-sharīf" (Jerusalem? […] Shemuel (Shemuel ha-Ramati). The letter concludes with various greetings.

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Friday night, 20 Iyar 4957 Anno Mundi (May 1197 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Anno mundi: Friday night, 20 Iyar 4957 (the 17th year of Maḥzor 261). Seleucid: 20 Iyar 1508 Seleucid Coptic: 15 Pashons 913 Hijrī: 21 Jumādā II 593

Tags

• birth record

1 Discussion

Letters of thanks, drafts, mostly in rhymed prose, to Khalaf b. […] Avraham, Aden, for their gifts and loyalty to the Palestinian Academy (Yeshiva), then located in Cairo, Egypt. The letters are issued in the name of the Gaon. VMR

Related People

2

Related Documents

1

Tags

• draft
• gratitude
• ib-addenda
• ib6

1 Translation

Document date

27 Adar 1403 Seleucid (8 March 1092 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: February 1092. […] (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 172-173) Alternate description: Legal document. Partnership record. Dated: February 1092. […] T-S 8J4.11 is part of a record of a trading partnership between Yaḥyā ha-Kohen b. Samuel and ‘Ulla ha-Levi b. Joseph al-Dimashqī, investors with Bishāra the freedman.

Related People

10

Related Places

3

Related Documents

1

Tags

• court record
• partnership

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter in the hand of Berakhot b. Shemuel to his father-in-law. […] (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, 188, 189.) Same writer as T-S 13J21.35, which is signed Abū l-Barakāt. There are many more letters in his hand. See Zinger's dissertation, p. 261.

Tags

• berakhot b. shemuel
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: akhlaq
• illness: alam
• (+ 3 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

First page of a treatise of phlebotomy regarding nomenclature, names, and the number of blood veins (360) in a human body according to Galen and the (appropriate) sites for bloodletting. The author says that physicians should be wary of letting blood only from specific veins so as to not cause harm to people.

Tags

• anatomy
• dimme
• galen
• medical

No Scholarship Records

Account of the Qodesh: revenue from rent and building expenditures, probably ca. 1043. The recto of this leaf is a continuation of the two preceding accountings of revenue from rent (T-S NS 99.49 and T-S K25.84), mostly from the same names of houses and tenants being listed. […] (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 200 #26.) In the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya.

Tags

• 11th c
• account
• communal
• qodesh
• waqf
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

1526 Seleucid (6 September 1214–26 August 1215 CE)

Primary languages

Greek/Coptic Numerals, Judaeo-Arabic

Detailed commercial accounts for the year 1526 Seleucid = 611 AH = 1214/15 CE of a silk merchant who served also as Parnas. His business correspondent was charged with collecting a yearly pledge for Yiftaḥ, wherefore this detail of communal finance appears in the private account of these two merchants. The sums collected are debited to the business correspondent, the monthly payments of four dirhams to R. Yiftaḥ are credited to him. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 465)

Tags

• account
• silk
• trade

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

1357–59 Seleucid (1045–1048 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

T-S K2.107 + T-S NS J609 (PGPID 26553), a related calendar for the years 1361–62 Seleucid, corresponding to 1049–51 CE.

Tags

• al-tustari
• calendar
• karaite

1 Transcription 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

Versions of the story may be found in Abū Hayyān al-Tawḥīdī's Kitāb al-Baṣāʾir wa-l-Dhakhāʾir (https://shamela.ws/book/26423/1991) and al-Tadhkira al-Ḥamdūniyya (https://shamela.ws/book/10646/500).

Related Documents

2

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Muḥarram 598 Hijrī (1 October 1201–30 October 1201 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

October 1201. A double leaf of a notebook, of which only the upper part is preserved. […] The total revenue of Marheshwan was 269 dirhams, as against the expected 555.5 indicating a loss in revenue of 286.5, i.e. more than half. […] Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (c.1181–1209).

Tags

• 13th c
• account
• communal
• famine
• qodesh
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Allush ('Lamb') b. Makhlūf al-Nafusi to M[ahr]uz ben Yaʿaqov. Dating: 1130s or 1140s. Business letter concerning payments involving and owed to various merchants, including someone named Madmun, perhaps the representative of merchants and Nagid of Yemen, Madmun ibn Ḥasan (d. 1151); Abu Said ibn al-Dimyati; Abu Zikri, perhaps the representative of the merchants in Fustat during the first half of the twelfth century with the same name; and the writer's brother, Yiṣḥaq (= the well-attested India trader Yiṣḥaq ben Makhlūf). […] MS heb. b 11/21]. The letter also mentions Abu Said Makhlūf and Ibn Elisha, travel to the Maghrib and Aden, and shipments of pepper.

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Tags

• ib-addenda
• ib2
• pepper
• trade

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Fourth: Epistle on the methods of the community of the Brethren of Purity and Friends [of Loyalty]...."

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a penniless woman, the widow of Abū Surrī, to Mevorakh b. […] Her daughter was married to Yosef b. Asad b. Qirqas who left her to travel three and a half years ago. That was prior to al-Afḍal's siege of Alexandria in 1094. […] Cohen, Jewish Self Government, pp. 221-260.) For a detailed discussion of the geographical situation of Nastaro, see Khan, "A Copy of a Decree from the Archives of the Fāṭimid Chancery in Egypt," BSOAS, Vol. 49, No. 3, 1986, p. 444.

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Tags

• 11th c
• al-malik al-afdal (1094-1121)
• communal
• funeral
• illness
• (+ 8 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

In the fihrist the exact date of Saadya’s death is given as Sunday, 26th Iyyar, 1253 of the Seleucid Era, corresponding to 15th May 942 CE.

Tags

• copy
• saadya

1 Transcription

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter (fragment) from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Yaʿaqov ha-Ḥaver b.

Related People

1

Tags

• communal

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1025–1051 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter fragment from Shelomo b. Yehuda to a personality in Fustat.

Related People

1

Tags

• 11th c
• communal
• shelomo b. yehuda

1 Transcription

Document date

3 Adar II 4845 Anno Mundi (2 March 1085 CE)

Legal document, Sunday 3 Adar II 4845 A.M. (1085), Alexandria. […] Cohen in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 56 [2013], pp. 218-263, also in Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #623).

Related People

7

Related Places

5

Tags

• mandate

4 Transcriptions 2 Translations 2 Discussions

Primary languages

Arabic, Greek/Coptic Numerals

Apparently private rather than fiscal based on the use of numerals and the format with columns of credits (lahū) and debits (ʿalayhi). However it is notable that the first page (verso, left side) is headed with the name of al-Qāḍī Abū l-Ḥusayn b. […] "a receipt of the diwān" (recto, left page, right column) and "Dīwān Fakhr al-Dīn" (recto, left page, left column). Merits further examination.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Leaf from a court ledger. On recto, written at 90 degrees to the other text blocks: Draft of the deathbed will of Abū l-Ḥasan. […] He also manumits his two female slaves, Gharaḍ and Kashf (still a minor, so she will remain with Sitt al-Riyāsa until she comes of age, at which time she can decide to stay or to leave). Written by Mevorakh b. Natan. Goitein's index card indicates that Abū l-Ḥasan was the son of Abū l-Faḍl Shela ha-Levi Sar ha-Leviim; another document relating to the same family is Sitt al-Riyāsa's trousseau list, found in Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.25r–26r (PGPID 2725). (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 456.)

Related People

2

Related Documents

3

Tags

• draft
• mevorakh b. natan
• will

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Seʿadya ha-Talmid ve-ha-Sofer b. Yisra'el ha-Hazzan to Shemul b. […] It is known from another letter that the writer was a man from Acre and became a ḥaver there (T-S NS 320.42, ed. Gil, Palestine, II, #141). The purpose of this letter is to invite the addressee to the writer's sermon.

Related People

2

Tags

• invitation to sermon

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Accounting of building expenditures ca. 1230. Fragment of a leaf, of which the bottom left part is missing; it includes three columns of items on both recto and verso.

Tags

• 13th c
• account
• communal
• coptic numerals
• qodesh
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion