University of Pennsylvania, Halper 395

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Metadata

DS ID:

DS26007

Shelfmark:

Halper 395

Title:

Letter to Ali Abu'l-Ḥasan ben Saʻid "the banker" in the Matsatsa, Fustat

Letter

Author:

Ben ʹAmram, 9th/10th century

Place:

Orient

Date:

1100?

twelfth century (dates CE) AAT

Language:

Judeo-Arabic

Judeo-Arabic WIKIDATA

Material:

torn, loss along left edge; folded mail format; marginal postscripts

Physical Description:

Extent: 1 folio : torn, loss along left edge; folded mail format; marginal postscripts

Note:

In the address, the family name of the addressee is ben al-Matsmudi, Tayib Almarb'aah (Doctor of the Square).
The name of the writer is faded. He is in the service of the diggers of a canal for Abu'l-Munajjā. He asks Abu'l-Hassan to approach the Nagid, asking him to induce Abu'l-Munajjā to pay his accumulated salary, and requests to be relieved of his post.
He mentions (l. 5)Bakhur ben Naṣr, a notable in Sahur (near Alexandria), and the refinement of sugar in Minya[t Ziftā] (l. 10).
In the postscript in the margin he sends regards to acquaintances. On the verso, in the marginal postscript he asks that his family buy wheat and grapes and have them processed.
About the neighborhood mentioned in the address, see Goitein, Mediterranean Society, vol. II, p. 264.
Cairo Genizah Collection (University of Pennsylvania. Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. Library).
Cairo Genizah Collection (Dropsie College. Library).
Amram.

Keyword:

Personal correspondence

Egypt

Fruit trade

Correspondence

History

Sugar trade

To 1500

Wheat trade

Grapes

Institutional Record:

https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9940420723503681

IIIF Manifest:

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p30p0x88h/manifest

Holding Institution:

University of Pennsylvania