Documents

Document date

Ṭevet 4957 Anno Mundi (24 November 1196–22 December 1196 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Ṭevet 4957 AM, which is November/December 1196 CE. […] Elʿazar receives from ʿAlīya (possibly his mother, or rather a more distant relative) a house located on the outskirts of Alexandria near the funduq. […] The handwriting seems familiar and may be identifiable—the same scribe may have also left literary fragments in the Geniza.

Related Places

1

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender reports that all is well and that the first ships have arrived India, including one from the Coromandel coast (wa-qad waṣala awwal marākib al-Hind wa-waṣala markab min al-Maʿbar...). He reports that the pepper (al-filfil) was sold at 56 dinars, the spice (al-bahār) and the ginger at 40 (dinars), the cinnamon (al-qirfa) at 16 (dinars), the nutmeg (al-jawza) at 70 (dinars), the cloves (al-qurunful) at 80 (dinars), and the aromatic wood (al-ʿūd) for various prices.

Related Places

2

Tags

• ib7
• india book

2 Transcriptions

Document date

3 Sivan [4901] Anno Mundi (11 May 1141 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Fustat. […] This letter was written when Yehuda ha-Levi was on the ship in Alexandria. Abū Naṣr reports on Ibn al-Baṣrī, a Jew who converted to Islam and caused an uproar in Alexandria. The letter contains information on the legal authorities in Alexandria, the relations between Jews and Muslims in the city and on trade in silver and textiles.

Related People

3

Related Places

4

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib4
• india book
• scandal

3 Transcriptions 3 Translations 2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

Draft of a petition to the caliph al-Ḥākim, with tarjama and opening formulae. Recto contains a Hebrew legal deed (see separate entry). From Hibat Allāh b. Abū Manṣūr al-Yahūdī. It reads: ṣalawāt allāh wa-barakātuhu wa-nawāmī zakawātihi wa-afḍal taḥiyyātihi wa-salāmihi ʿalā mawlānā wa- sayyidinā l-Ḥākim bi-amri llāh amīr al-muʾminīn wa-ʿalā ābāʾihi al-ṭāhirīn wa-abnāʾihi al-akramīn.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• dimme
• lost archive
• petition

1 Transcription

Document date

Dhū l-Qa‛da 449 Hijrī (30 December 1057–28 January 1058 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Deed of acknowledgment dated 449/1058. Ṣadaqa b. Ṭayyib al-Mayāziri al-Ramlī receives from Ḥasan b. Ishaq al-Isrāʾīlī al-Mayāziri al-Ramlī a loan of 150 dirhams. […] Ṭayyib al-Ramlī, the maker of waist-cloths, contracted with Ḥasan b. […] Dated Ḏū al-Qa‛da 449 AH (= December 1057/January 1058 CE).

Related People

5

Related Places

1

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

18 Iyyar [4829] Anno Mundi (12 May 1069 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Faraḥ b. Yosef, in Alexandria, to Yehuda b. Menashshe, in Fustat. Dating: May 12, 1069. […] Mentions the ships that sailed from Alexandria to the west, probably the first ones after the winter. […] Also Mentions details about the situation in Sicily and the battles there, especially the rise to power of the last Muslim ruler of Palermo, Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ.

Related People

5

Related Places

5

Tags

• ibn al-ba'ba'
• sicily
• suftaja

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Verso: Accounts with the header "What was sold before the death of Abū Isḥāq b. Abū Sahl known as Ibn al-Ahuv, in the presence of al-Mawla al-Raṣuy and Abu ʿAlī his brother-in-law." […] Another list of goods is headed with "And in Fustat, in the presence of al-Mawla al-Raṣuy and [...]." The children of Abū ʿAlī b. Dāʾūd are mentioned, as is Hiba b. Dāʾūd. Abū l-ʿAlāʾal-Ṣabbāgh bought a chest. Recto: "What Abū ʿAlī expended for the deceased in his lifetime and after his death" including payments to various officials and for food and pullets (presumably for his final sickness).

Related Places

2

Tags

• abu sahl levi
• illness
• illness: cost
• illness: death

1 Discussion

Document date

27 Ramaḍān 405 Hijrī (21 March 1015 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Written by Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ the jahbadh and registered by the Dīwān al-ʿAmal and the Dīwān al-Ishrāf. Payment made under the supervision of three officials: (1) the auspicious, rightly guided qāḍī Thiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, protégé of the Commander of the Faithful, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Nahār; (2) on behalf of the fiduciary qāḍī Abū ʿAlī l-Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā b. Nahār; and (3) under the tax accounting of the elder Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b.

Related People

6

Related Places

1

Tags

• abu l-hasan b. wahb
• daman
• damin
• tax receipt

2 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from ʿAmram b. Yiṣḥaq to Ḥalfon. Alexandria; probably about 1143-1145. ʿAmram b. Yiṣḥaq sends Ḥalfon a short greeting for Purim. Abu Al-Ma'ali wanted to help Abu Al-Fakhr, the son of Ḥalfon’s brother, Abu Ali Yeḥezqel, to do what he had not succeeded in doing. […] According to Amram, Abu Al-Fakhr was like one of his sons, an expression that alludes to the familial closeness between them.

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib4
• india book

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Primary language

Arabic

The letter starting at the bottom of verso is addressed to a dignitary called "[...] al-muwaffaqa al-manṣūriyya al-sayfiyya al-nāṣiriyya [...] amīr al-muʾminīn...." (conceivably a reference to the ʿAbbāsid al-Manṣūr, but probably a reference to someone later).

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The letter reflects the economic difficulties of the Jewish community of Alexandria due to the heavy expenses of freeing captives. […] Azarya resided in Fustat and, apparently, planned to visit Alexandria at the time. (Information from Frenkel. See also Gil, Ishmael, 4:671 which describes the document as following: Letter sent from Alexandria by Yeshua ha-Kohen b. […] The writer complains about damage caused to his vineyard by one of the leading Christians in Alexandria, Abu al-Khayr b. Hanun, and notes that he has complained about it to the Amir Abu Mansur.

Related Places

2

Tags

• suftaja

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Ḥasan b. Manṣūr al-Neʾeman, probably in a small town, to ʿAllūn b. […] He reports that "al-Mumḥe Ibn al-Shofeṭ" spent the holidays with their community and served as cantor. […] This document used to be listed on PGP under the nonexistent shelfmark ENA 2736.20. See also T-S NS J454 (PGPID 8792), a letter from al-Mumḥe Ibn al-Shofeṭ which appears to be in the same handwriting as this one.

Tags

• brawl
• communal strife
• synagogue

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

21 Ramaḍān 405 Hijrī (15 March 1015 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Mīkhāʾīl, the son of the jahbadh who wrote most of the receipts in the corpus, on behalf of his father (see also T-S Ar.39.26, PGPID *). Registered by the Dīwān al-ʿAmal and the Dīwān al-Ishrāf. Payment made under the supervision of three officials: (1) under the supervision of the auspicious, rightly guided qāḍī Thiqat al-Mulk Makīn al-Dawla wa-Amīnuhā, protégé of the Commander of the Faithful, Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Nahār; (2) on behalf of the fiduciary qāḍī Abū ʿAlī l-Ḥasan b. Yaḥyā b. Nahār; and (3) under the tax accounting of the elder Sadīd al-Dawla Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b.

Related People

6

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• abu l-hasan b. wahb
• fatimid
• tax receipt

1 Transcription 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

Mentions an amir named ʿAlamal-Dīn Sanjar al-Maḥmūdī; a granary (shūna); a complaint about another official's irregular behavior; how the sender took the aforementioned sum of money to the treasury, but the Dīwān al-Murtajaʿ (Bureau of Reclamation) interfered. The sender now asks the addressee to issue an order (wa-suʾāl al-mamlūk khurūj al-amr al-ʿālī) to the dīwān. Apparently the petitioner was an official who had collected taxes in kind and sold them for 1400 dīnārs, but a group of Mamlūks came along and one of them, ʿIlm al-Dīn Sanjar al-Maḥmūdī, took 29 dinars from what the petitioner had collected, and now the group of Mamluks was withholding the 29 dinars from the fisc.

Tags

• mamluks

1 Transcription

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Names include: Bū l-makārim; Ibn al-Mukandij; al-Bilbaysiyya; Ibn al-Quṣayyira; the wife of al-Būnī; Umm Bū Saʿīd; the acquaintance of Sitt Wafāʾ; Umm Ghāliya; Umm Ḥasana; the wife of Fāris al-Shām(?)[…] ; Yosef ha-Kohen; the wife ('house') of Ibn Ḥātim; Abū l-Ḥasan al-Qudsī; Abū l-Ḥasan; the judge (dayyan); Makhlūf; a widow; a Persian ascetic (nazir ʿajamī); Umm HIlāl; the acquaintance of al-Kohen. […] Namir; al-Muhadhdhab; and al-Tifʾeret. There are also accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals in the margin.

Tags

• account

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Rajab 527 Hijrī (8 May 1133–6 June 1133 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Fatimid-era rent receipt of 10 dirhams for a shop. The renter is Abī al-Naṣr and the property owner is Jamāl al-Dīn al-Malik al-ʾAʿaz. The property is located in "Ḥammām al-Fār", a known locality outside the Roman fortress on its north-western side. It was a whole complex - a bathhouse, a market, and dwellings. There was also a Jewish presence there including shops, a Jewish endowment, and a kosher slaughterhouse.

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Tammuz 4857 Anno Mundi (14 June 1097–12 July 1097 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Two merchants setting out from Alexandria on a voyage to the Muslim West appoint their wives as executors and guardians of their children: (1) Yosef b. Isḥāq b. al-Dānī al-Fāsī gives his daughter Sitt al-Ḥusn 200 dinars and appoints his wife Sitt al-ʿAshīr bt. […] This record also mentions that he is going to be trading with the merchandise from his partnership with Sibāʿ al-Lādhiqī (cf.

Related People

4

Related Places

2

Tags

• 11th c
• alexandria
• hinge
• ib7
• india book
• (+ 2 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a young man named Sibāʿ, in Alexandria, to his mother, in Fustat, but addressed to his brother Abū l-Najm. […] MS heb. d 66/23 (PGPID 6459): Musāfir in Alexandria to his brother Yehuda the teacher in Fustat[…] - DK 315 (PGPID 30290): Najm in Fustat to his brother Musāfir in Alexandria - ENA 2808.19 (PGPID 6709): Sibāʿ and Musāfir in Alexandria to their brother Najm and mother in Fustat

Related Places

2

Tags

• boat
• capitation tax
• jaliya
• tax

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

Fragment from near the top of an official report or petition, mentioning the storehouses of the sugar refineries: ". . . ṣalawāt Allāhʿalā mālikih wa-yunhī anna . . . fī khazāʾin al-maṭābikh al-mubāraka. . . al-mubāraka al-saʿīḍa. . . " On verso there is Hebrew piyyuṭ.

Tags

• dimme
• to edit

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Small fragment from the beginning of a Judaeo-Arabic letter in the hand of Yehuda Ibn al-ʿAmmānī, probably in Alexandria, to Bū l-Majd (i.e., Meʾir b. […] Dating: early 13th century. Almost nothing is preserved. Mentions (al-Shaykh) al-Thiqa in the margin.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Hebrew

Either a poetic introduction to a letter from the Yeshiva of Jerusalem to the community of Aleppo, or a letter that is in its entirety a poem. Recto contains the poem, in which not only is there an acrostic (אנשי צב. . . probably "the people of Aleppo"), but also each verse is composed entirely of words starting with the same letter.

Related Places

2

Tags

• aleppo
• jerusalem

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Concerning business matters, mentioning the writer’s brother Shemuel, Alexandria and a certain Avraham, also sending greetings to Qamar, Yaʿaqov, Ṣedaqa, AVraham Aleman, Avraham Shānjī and others.

Tags

• shanji

No Scholarship Records

Letter from Musa b. Abi al-Hayy, from Alexandria, to Yosef b. Musa al-Tāhartī. Around 1045. The situation in Alexandria is very complicated. The writer mentions details about shipments of goods. Contains a copy of a receipt for goods that Alal b. Nahray b. Natan sent to Fustat. Mentions details about the process of weaving and bleaching linen.

Related People

4

Related Places

2

Tags

• al-tahirti
• trade

2 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Letter from Avraham Ibn Sughmār, from Fustat, to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Nahray traveled to Alexandria and the writer is sorry that he did not say goodbye. Mentions one dinar that the writer owes a person, the son of a person Ibn Sabra and he asks Nahray to arrange its return. Also mentions b. al-Qafsi, who is Maymūn b. Khalfa.

Related People

3

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Primary language

Arabic

Mentions a payment to Muʿallam Ibrahem bin Naʿīm Bu-Saʿad[?] al-Ḥakīm al-Yahūdī. Dated 2 Shawwal ___ AH. Has an ʿalāma "al-ḥamdu li-lāh rabb al-ʿālamīn" at the top and two witness signatures at the bottom. The line after the ʿalāma in an elongated script reads as "qāʾima" literally meaning table.

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Entires include: Jamāl Ṣāʾigh; Shemuʾel [...] Kohen; Najm(?) al-Shāmī; [...]; ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Abū ʿAlī; Rashīd Ibn al-Ṭaḥḥān; Abū l-Majd Ibn al-Aʿsar(?)[…] Muwaffaq; Maḥāsin Ḥazzān; Fuhayd Kohen; [...] al-Ṣāʾigh; Yosef Ibn al-Muʾajjir(?); [...] b. Mukhtār.

Tags

• list

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from ʿAwāḍ b. Ḥananel from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat, ca. 1060. In the handwriting of Avraham b. Abi al-Hayy and concerning business matters, specifically a shipment of nuts that was send by the writer to Nahray, and a shipment of oil that Nahray sent to the writer. Also mentions several other goods, and an apartment belonging to Nahray in Alexandria, in which the writer lives.

Related People

3

Related Places

1

Tags

• 11th c
• nahray b. nissim
• oil
• trade

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary languages

Arabic, Hebrew

Yefet and Yosef b. Avraham (who also have many more titles). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (1100–38 CE). Verso: Also a list of names, with Greek/Coptic numerals, including Abū ʿAlī, Ṣedaqa al-Jazzār b. Isḥāq al-Ṣāʾigh. Final word is probably "defter". (Information in part from CUDL)

Related People

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to Shemuel b. Baḥur, probably in Fustat. […] The sender intended to travel to Tūnis, but when he arrived in Alexandria, the ships were already setting sail. He conveyed the addressee's rebuke for Dāʾūd al-[...] who says he will travel as soon as Bū l-Ḥasan Ibn ʿAṣīda arrives. The sender has occupied himself in a shop with Yaʿaqov al-Qalʿī and they are awaiting a ship with a messenger.

Related Places

2

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Letter from Mardūk b. Mūsā from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim in Fustat. Gil dates this letter to August 10, 1047. […] Mardūk reports he was unsuccessful in selling beads/pearls and it really concerns him. He also narrates events related to the Bedouin (al-ʿArab) in Egypt. "there was a widespread rumor on the day your letter reached me ... but the bedouins have abandoned Mariout lake and left the caravans alone. Hence, the ship from Tripoli will definitely reach Alexandria."

Related People

2

Related Places

4

Tags

• bedouin
• fayyum
• nahray b. nissim
• shidda
• trade

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Likely a household inventory, but could also be business accounts or a dowry list. In Judaeo-Arabic. […] (See mediakron.bc.edu/ottomans/iznik-dish-2.) There are also "Chinese coffee cups (fanājīn)." (ASE) Presumably those coffee cups are also porcelain. Paleographically, datable to the 16th or 17th century, which was also the period of Iznik porcelain. (MR)

Tags

• ceramic
• iznik
• list
• ottoman
• porcelain
• (+ 1 more)

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic

Eliyyahu to someone with the title al-Shaykh al-Rashīd. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 1218–38 CE, based on the name of the sultan al-Malik al-Kāmil, which appears on verso. Shelomo begs forgiveness (mustaʿdhir) for something having to do with his need to study more (? al-qirā'a ʿalā _____) and benefit from the addressee's wisdom. Verso: Remnants of accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and jottings in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script, including phrases from a formal letter/petition like "al-mamlūk", and "yuqabbil al-arḍ". ASE.

Related People

1

Tags

• shelomo b. eliyyahu

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Natan tried to establish his position in Alexandria and al-Mahalla, an attempt reflected in this letter. […] Natan's residence in Alexandria see M. Gil, 'Scroll of Evyatar,' p. 89 lines 29-30. See also Goitein, Med. Soc. Vol. 5, p. 596 no. 19. (Information from Frenkel).

Related People

4

Related Places

2

Tags

• 11th c
• avraham b. natan
• munir al-dawla
• nahray b. nissim
• trade
• (+ 1 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

A list of at least 42 books of poetry, all called Dīwān or prefaced "min shiʿr [X]." In Arabic script. Poets named include: Ṭarafa, ʿAntara, al-Farazdaq, al-Shammākh, al-Quṭāmī, Abū Nuwās, Ibn al-Rūmī, Kushājim, Ṭāhir al-Ḥaddād. Underneath most entries it says جز واحد (one volume); some, such as the Dīwān of Ibn al-Khāzin al-Kātib, are labeled as two volumes (جزان).

Tags

• booklist

1 Transcription 2 Discussions