The Qurra Papyrus - Order For Payment By The People Of The Homestead Of Hagios Pinoutios - Egyptian National Library Inv. No. 336, 91 AH / 710 CE
Islamic Awareness
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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
The document consists of two pieces; the smaller one measures 8.6 cm x 21 cm and the larger one is 11.7 cm x 20.8 cm. Both joined together meaure 20 cm x 21 cm.
Brown, tolerably fine papyrus. The bilingual text contains eleven lines written at right-angles to the horizontal fibres. The Arabic part is written in black ink by the hand of Rāshid, diacritical points are few but sparsely added, ق has one point above. The Greek text is in the brown ink in a neat miniscule hand. Verso blank. Thr brown clay seal on the folded margin shows a wolf(?) with a star above and in from of it.
Accession No.
Inv. No. 336.
Contents
The translation is given below. The Greek text is in italics:
- [Homestead of] the Holy [Pinoutios. Solidi] 37.
- In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
- This is a letter from Qurra bin Sharīk
- to the people of Subrā Agiye Bi[nūtī]yeh of the district of Ishqauh.
- Verily, it hath fallen upon you (as your part) of the gold-tax of the year eighty-eight, thirty-
- seven counted dīnārs; and Rāshid has written (it) in
- Ṣafar of the year ninety-one. In the name
- of God. Corra, son of Szerich, governor, to you people of
- [Ha]gios Pinoutios of the village of Aphrodito: It has fallen to you (as your contribution) to the public taxes of the sixth indiction (or),
- [accor]ding to the reckoning of the Arabs, of the year 88, 37 counted solidi-thirty-seven.
- Written in the month of Thot of the eight indiction.
Location
Egyptian National Library, Cairo, Egypt.
References
[1] L. Caetani, Annali Dell'Islām, 1912, Volume V, Ulrico Hoepli: Milano, Plate facing p. 352.
[2] A. Grohmann, Arabic Papyri In The Egyptian Library, Volume III (Administrative Texts), 1938, Egyptian Library Press: Cairo, No. 163, pp. 50-52.
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