The Qurra Papyrus - Order For Payment By The People Of The Monastery Of Abba Hermaotos - Egyptian National Library Inv. No. 334, 91 AH / 710 CE

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First Composed: 21st December 2005

Last Modified: 22nd December 2005

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Assalamu ʿalaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)

Figure: (a) Picture of the papyrus and (b) the content of the papyrus.

[] encloses letters supplied to fill a lacuna.

Date

Ṣafar, 91 AH / December - January, 710 CE.

Size

8.8 cm x 21.1 cm. Light brown, tolerably fine papyrus. The text is written on the recto in black ink by the hand of Rāshid at right-angles to the horizontal fibres. Diacritical points are sparingly added. Verso is blank. The papyrus breaks off directly after the last line of the Arabic text, the Greek minute above the basmala, as also the Greek text below line 7 is lost. The extant portion of the text is in fairly good condition.

Accession No.

Inv. No. 334.

Contents

The translation is given below. The Greek text is in italics:

  1. [Monastery of Abba Hermaotos. Solidi 28⅙].
  2. [In] the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
  3. This is a letter from Qurra bin Sharīk
  4. to the people of Horōs Abayermayōtos of the district of Ishqauh
  5. Verily, it has fallen upon you (as your part) of the gold-tax of the year eighty-eight, twenty-
  6. eight counted dīnārs; and a sixth of a dīnār; and Rāshid has
  7. written (it) in Ṣafar of the year ninety-one.
  8. ...............

Location

Egyptian National Library, Cairo, Egypt.

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References

[1] L. Caetani, Annali Dell'Islām, 1912, Volume V, Ulrico Hoepli: Milano, Plate facing p. 336.

[2] A. Grohmann, Arabic Papyri In The Egyptian Library, Volume III (Administrative Texts), 1938, Egyptian Library Press: Cairo, No. 163, pp. 54-55.

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