An Arabic Private Letter from the Eighth Century

I thank Andrea Jördens and Rodney Ast for permission to publish P.Heid. Inv. Arab 734. Thanks are also due to Ursula Hammed, Marie Legendre, and Naïm Vanthieghem for helpful corrections and comments.

The left part of a private letter sent by a certain ʿUmar b. Muslim has been preserved. The message is addressed to his son and daughter and another person, presumably also from his household, perhaps his wife. The phraseology and handwriting are consistent with the conventional format of early Arabic papyrus letters, which suggests that the document dates from the eighth century, see Grob 2010: 40–42. The subject matter remains obscure, but the mention of the ʿāmil of ʾUshmūn is a point of interest. The term is generally understood to refer to an unspecified official, but in this context, it may also signify the representative of the financial director, see Legendre 2016: 15–16. ʿUmar b. Muslim appears to have been involved in the affairs or the network of the ʿāmil of ʾUshmūn, possibly even as an official. The mention of ʾUshmūn may indicate a provenance from its region for the papyrus, but the text may well have been written elsewhere and may only make passing reference to the city.

P.Heid. Inv. Arab. 734 belongs to the so-called 'Schott-Reinhard papyri'. They were part of the collection of C. Reinhard, the dragoman of the German Consulate in Cairo, which he acquired in Egypt in 1897. After his death, the collection was purchased by the industrial magnate and philanthropist Friedrich Schott and donated to the University of Heidelberg in 1904. On the 'Schott-Reinhard papyri', see C. Becker, P.Heid.Arab. 1, p. 5–6.

The fragment is only complete on the top and the left side. Three distinct vertical folds are discernible, suggesting that the papyrus was broken along a vertical and a horizontal fold. The writing in black ink goes against the fibres on the recto, and parallel to it on the verso. Some Arabic words are visible between the lines, such as for instance on the top of the recto and between the third and the fourth lines. These words, which I have not been able to decipher, give a rather clumsy impression, suggesting that they were writing exercises. Some undecipherable traces of ink on the verso, especially below the address, could also indicate that the papyrus was reused for pen trials.

P.Heid. Inv. Arab. 734 15.6 (w) × 12.2 (h) Provenance unknown 8th century

Fig. 1: P.Heid. Inv. Arab. 734 recto.

Fig. 1: P.Heid. Inv. Arab. 734 verso.

4–5

āfānā Allāh wa-iyyākum bi-aḥ]san ʿāfiyati-hi fī l-dunyā | [wa-l-āḫirati: The same initial blessing can be found in P.Berl.Arab 2 75.5–6 (Fayyum, 8th c.). Cf. also P.Mird 42.4 (Khirbet al-Mird, 7th c.), P.JoySorrow 32.4 (Dimyāṭ, 8th c.), and P.JoySorrow 39.4 (Provenance unknown, 8th c.).

wa-llah maḥmūd: This phrase was preceded by the sender's affirmation of his good health and was used to thank God for it, see Grob 2010 : 49–50.

5–6

lam yaḥduṯ ʿalayya baʿda-kum ʾillā [ḫayrun: For this phrase and its parallels, see Khaled Younes’ comments in P.JoySorrow 8.4–5n.

qad katabta ʾilayya biḫabari min ḥāli-ka: There is no exact parallel for this phrase, but one may compare the fragmentary P.Heid.Arab. 2 25.1 (provenance unknown, 8th c.): min ḫabari-ka wa-ḥālika which may have contained a similar phrase to P.RagibLettres 4.7–8 (provenance unknown, 8th c.): ǧāʾa-nī kitābu-ka al-ʾawwalu wa-alʾāḫaru wa-fahimtu mā ḏakarta fī-hi | min ḥāli-ka wa-ḥāli mā qibala-ka.

Grob, E.M. (2010) Documentary Arabic Private and Business Letters on Papyrus: Form and Function, Content and Context (APF Beihefte 29). Berlin. Legendre, M. (2016) “Neither Byzantine nor Islamic? The Duke of the Thebaid and the Formation of the Umayyad State, “ Historical Research 89: 3–18.

An Arabic Private Letter from the Eighth Century Papyri.info 704976 704976 P.Heid. inv. Arab. 734 Papyrus 15.6 12.2 8th century

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An Arabic Private Letter from the Eighth Century Duke Collaboratory for Classics Computing (DC3) 704976 704976

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بسم اللـه الرحمن الرحيم من عمر بن مسلم الىــد واحمد وفاطمة ابني عمر سلم عليكم فانــي احمــد اليكم الــله الذي لا اله الا هو اما بعد عافنا اللّه واياكم باحــسن عافيته فاتمها في الدنيا والآخرة والله محمود لم يحدث علي بعدكم الا خير مع عامل اشمون وكتبتـعه ـــو قد كتبت الي بخــبــر من حالك ىــحـه العامل يستوصي به ـشـ

من عمر بن مسلم الى vestiges

An Arabic Private Letter from the Eighth Century Duke Collaboratory for Classics Computing (DC3) 704976 704976 704976

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‘|1 In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. |2 [From ʿUmar b. Muslim to … ]d and Aḥmad and Fāṭima, the children of ʿUmar. |3 [Peace be upon you. I praise for your sake G]od besides Whom there is no god but He. |4 [As for what follows, may God grant us and you the best of his health and may He perfect it in this world |5 [and the hereafter … ] and God is blessed. Nothing happened to me after you (pl.), |6 [except good things … ] with the ʿāmil of Ushmūn and you/I wrote … |7 [ … ] and you (sing.) have already written to me about the news concerning your condition… |8 [ … ] … the ʿāmil takes care of/has good intentions towards him/it |9 [ … ] …’ Back: ‘From ʿUmar b. Muslim to …’