מכתב: ENA NS 48.26

תיאור

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Describing the horrific tortures inflicted on the writer and his colleagues in the citadel at the hands of four jailers and the jandārs and the slaves of the Great Amir. The purpose of the torture seems to have been the extortion of money (māl). The victims were tortured 17 times until, it seems, a higher authority (the ṣāḥib al-dīwān?) ordered them to be released. Apart from shackling and physical contortions and forcing substances in the noses and mouths, there is an extended description of being "pressed" in the "press" (al-miʿṣara). When they were released, they were dropped off at the synagogue. "Everyone is healthy, but very distressed." This letter was written on Monday night 27 Heshvan, which might make it possible to date. Regards are sent to Bū l-Rabīʿ and Bū l-Alā' and Milāḥ and Rāma(?) and Zahr. The writer's name may be Bū l-Faraj, but there seem to be two additional letters, and it is not completely certain that this word is even his name. Needs examination. Same scribe as T-S 10J7.4 (likewise an account of torture). ASE