Documents

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The addressee is advised to pursue a modest, safe living as a moneychanger. (Information mainly from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 240, 269, 460, 467; IV, p. 161.)

Tags

• diwan
• nar
• torture

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Sunday, 11 Heshvan 1437 Seleucid (10 October, 1125 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In another hand underneath, there is a request to find appropriate Bible verses (bawāsīq) for the ceremony of thanksgiving after safe arrival (birkat ha-gomel). On recto, in the same hand as the second part of verso, there are Judaeo-Arabic translations of selected verses (Psalms 1:5-6; 2:1-4 with Hebrew incipits).

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

The groom approved of the evaluation of the tawqīm of the dowry and took on the responsibility of keeping the items safe. The items listed include twelve items of gold and silver jewelry, thirty-four articles of clothing, four pieces of bedding, and thirteen copper items and other household goods, totaling 145 dinars.

Tags

• autograph

2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

Another numismatic reference that might be the most useful for dating is "dhahab al-Ashrafī al-Dhāhirī"; in general, ashrafī refers to the late Mamlūk dīnār first minted in 1425CE under Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay which stayed in circulation under the Ottomans (but which was known more commonly as sharīfī/şerifi post-1517CE). It is safe to say that this document is late-Mamlūk 15th/16th-century or much less likely early Ottoman.

Tags

• dimme
• numismatic dating
• pinholes

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The writer admits that popular opinion is against him (anā taḥta safeq fī l-amr). In the bottom, fragmentary portion, he seems to complain that he is not being paid; he also mentions a blanket and "three sick people, and I am the fourth."

Tags

• hamas
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: emotion
• illness: etiology
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

The sender opens by reporting that he arrived safely in Constantine (or less likely Constantinople) with his family and son after much difficulty getting out of Bijāya, “It was like the exodus from Egypt, God did miracles for us, and we went out with a high hand."

1 Transcription

Document date

Monday, 4 Av 1758 Seleucid (17 July, 1447 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: A sort of food safety code. Mentions a group of people including Shemuel and Ṣedaqa known as ʿAwwām ('the swimmer/diver'), who take an oath by "the God of Israel who was revealed on Mount Sinai... and the Torah" that they will henceforth fry foods only in sesame oil (sīraj), whether eggplant, egg, mubaḥtara, taro (qulqās), or any other fried food, they will fry it only in sesame oil.

Tags

• food
• wine

1 Transcription

Inferred date

2 February, 1063 – 2 February, 1063 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Khalaf, who had written to tell al-Tāhartī that he had sent a pouch containing 500 rubāʿiyya (quarter-dinars) in Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ's ship (r, II. 10–11); also mentions details of maritime transport to and from the Maghreb, a ship accident, and the security and government situation in Sicily, whereas by contrast al-Mahdiyya under Tamīm b. Muʿizz is safe. Dated end of Shevaṭ; Gil notes that the same events are discussed in T-S 16.163, which is dated 8 Elul and mentions the year 453H, and so dates this letter to February 2, 1063.

Related People

3

Related Places

5

Tags

• al-taherti
• ibn al-ba'ba'
• nahray b. nissim
• trade

3 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Barhūn Ibn al-Tāhertī arrived from Sunbāṭ and reported that he and his family are safe (the original danger is unspecified), having lost only the furnishings of their house and his servants (khadam), whom he know hopes to redeem (iftikāk).

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Now [I say that] he has revealed unto me that you are about to return to your cities and to the inhabitants of your dwelling-place. Return in safety, in the protection of Allah and that of his Messenger. Yours is the safeguard of Allah and that of his Messenger with regard to your persons, belief, and property, slaves, and whatever is in your possession. […] If any of you goes on a journey, he shall be under the safeguard of Allah and his Messenger. "There is no compulsion in matters of religion."

Tags

• khaybar

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

The reason is that ʿAlī Numayr al-Rashīdī arrived last week with a letter for the governor (sanjak), informing him that his ship had been commandeered in Messina, even after he had received a promise of safe passage (al-amān). The writer strongly suggests that the recipients approach the consul, who should write immediately to Messina and command ʿAli Numayr's ship to be restored, otherwise the Basha will know how to treat these Venetian prisoners, and the situation will be terrible for all further ships arriving from Messina. […] There was no promise of safe passage at all. Rather, the Muslims accidentally docked somewhere in the territory of Syracuse in the dead of night, thinking they were in al-Mahdiyya (Tunisia).

Tags

• 16th c
• consul
• crete
• florence
• france
• (+ 8 more)

1 Transcription

Document date

10 Kislev [no year]

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

I praise God who turned the end to the good and brought me back in safety." Information from Goitein's note card (#27134) and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #449.

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: chills
• illness: du'f
• illness: fever
• (+ 9 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Also mentions Naṣr, who is in a ḥajj caravan; and sends regards to the addressee's children; Abū ʿImrān and his children; Abū ʿImrān and Ghulayb; Abū l-Munā (and congratulations on his safe return from al-Jāwa, probably meaning Southeast Asia broadly); and Munajjā.

Tags

• ib7
• india
• java
• letter etiquette

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

I pray to God to bring him back in safety "before I depart and be no more" [Psalms 39:14]'" (Goitein, Med Soc, V, p. 120, translating lines 19–25).

Tags

• 11th c
• arabic address
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: letter norms
• (+ 3 more)

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The main commodities mentioned are copper and pepper; customs dues, freight charges, porters' fees, and safekeeping are also reported. The sender mentions a tax paid at al-Furda (the customshouse at the port city of Aden) and the names of Ali al-Nili ('the indigo trader') and Abu Ghalib al-Rubban ('the captain'), suggesting the letter's origin in the port city of Aden sometime in the 12th century.

Tags

• customs
• tax
• trade

1 Transcription

Document date

1098 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Lebdi’s travel to al-Tīz in southeast Iran, his troubles there, his safe arrival in Nahrawāra (Gujarat), and his actions there for Ḥasan b.

Tags

• al-tiz
• dahlak
• ib1
• india
• red sea

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Document date

Ṭevet 1452 Seleucid (13 December, 1140 – 10 January, 1141 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

If the goods saved were pepper, lac and brazilwood it is safe to assume that the ship did not founder, in which case these products were likely to be spoiled, but was captured by pirates and later on recaptured, most probably by the Fatimid fleet.

Tags

• ib5
• india

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Arabic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

The writers also mention Jews who had escaped from Jerusalem on their own, and others who had been given safe-conduct with the wālī. Of the refugees who arrived in Ashkelon, many had died of the epidemic they encountered there: "The attacks of these illnesses (amrāḍ), the falling of that plague (wabā'), that pest (fanā'), that disaster (balā')" (recto, lines 17–19); later, describing how the refugees perished, "Some of them arrived here healthy, and the climate turned against them (ikhtalafa ʿalayim al-hawā'), and they arrived at the height of that plague (wa-waṣalū fī ʿunfuwān dhālik al-wabā'), and many of them died" (recto, lines 42–44); then, twice more, the writers emphasize their great expenses caring for those who have survived but are still sick, who need not only food and clothing but medicines and syrups (recto, lines 53–55 and right margin 19–20).

Tags

• 12th c
• ashqelon
• captives
• crusades
• epidemic
• (+ 11 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter to a hazzan, Ben Sadoq, who is asked to intervene on behalf of the writer, Menashshe nin Shemaiah, before Sar Salom, head of the …

Tags

• 11th c
• communal
• petition

1 Transcription 1 Discussion