Publication Date
730-750 (undated)
Type
Document
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Physical Dimensions
242 mm x 280 mm (height x width)
Library
Chester Beatty
Record ID
Is Pp8
Library Location
Islamic Collection
Date
730-750 (undated)
Notes
Papyrus letter to `Abdullāh ibn As`ad: an unidentified request. `Abdullāh ibn As`ad is well-known as the administrator of a district south-west of al-Fayyūm, near the town of Narmūda (Gr. Narmouthis) in Egypt, in c. 730-750. This papyrus letter was therefore probably posted to him in al-Fayyūm, but where the letter was sent from remains an open question. The sender, `Amr b. `Abdullāh, is not otherwise known in the historical record. Extensive blessings and greetings take up most of the surviving part of this fragile papyrus letter, which strongly suggests its intended function as a polite letter of request. In the final line just before the papyrus breaks off, `Amr writes that he would like `Abdullāh to do something once he receives his letter: with the rest of the letter missing, it is impossible to know what exactly that amounted to. Folio fragment, ink on fine light brown papyrus, mounted on paper and framed under glass, original cutting lines preserved at top, right and left sides (with loss of text at the bottom edge), Arabic text in a careful elongated cursive script (on recto, written perpendicular to the fibres:) beginning of a letter written by `Amr ibn `Abdullāh to local administrator `Abdullāh ibn As`ad, offering greetings and blessings, but not reaching the main subject of the writer’s request, with (on verso, written parallel to the fibres:) the address, written in a different, thicker pen, unsigned, southern al-Fayyūm, Egypt, undated, c. 730-750.
Materyal
Papyrus (material), Ink (material)
Nesne Adı
Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
Müstensih ve Üretim Yeri
`Amr ibn `Abdullāh, Al-Fayyūm
Yazı Tipi
Naskh script
