In an Antique Land

by Amitav Ghosh

  23 for some reason … was never cleared out: The recent research of Mark R. Cohen and Yedida K. Stillman suggests that the practice of discarding manuscripts in a chamber within a synagogue and leaving them there permanently was common among Middle Eastern Jews well into this century. See their article ‘The Cairo Geniza and the Custom of Geniza among Oriental Jewry: An Historical and Ethnographic Study’, in the Hebrew journal Pe’amin (No. 24, 1985).

  24 The document … thought to be the last: See S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 9.

  25 From the late seventeenth century … Egyptomania: See Erik Iversen’s The Myth of Egypt and its Hieroglyphs in European Tradition, pp 88–123, (Geo Gad Publishers, Copenhagen, 1961).

  26 Concurrent with this … travellers undertook journeys: Cf. Eric Iversen, The Myth of Egypt, pp 108–110.

  27 It was … the first report: The Italian traveller, Obadiah of Be(a)artinoro had described the Synagogue of Ben Ezra in a letter to his father in 1488, but the Geniza does not figure in his account (Cf. Simon Hopkins, ‘The Discovery of the Cairo Geniza’, pp 144–6, Bibliophilia Africana IV, ed. C. Pama, Cape Town, 1981).

  28 The visit appears … unremarkable: Cf. Norman Bentwich, Solomon Schechter; A Biography, p. 139, (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1938), and Simon Hopkins, ‘The Discovery …’, p. 147.

  29 In fact … Karl Leibniz: See Erik Iversen’s The Myth of Egypt, p. 125.

  30 ‘Can a man risk’: Simon Hopkins, ‘The Discovery …’, p. 149.

  31 ‘But who knows’: ibid., p. 150.

  32 The German scholar: Paul Kahle, The Cairo Geniza, pp. 2–3, (Oxford University Press, London, 1947).

  33 He had obtained … documents: Paul Kahle, for example, met Samaritan priests in Palestine who complained bitterly of how Firkowitch had swindled them of their manuscripts, paying them next to nothing (The Cairo Geniza, p. 4).

  34 ‘It is not often’: Elkan N. Adler, ‘Notes of a Journey to the East’, p. 6 (Jewish Chronicle, 7 December 1888).

  35 The Cattaouis: See Gudrun Krämer’s account of the history of the Cattaouis in The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914–1952, pp. 88–98 (University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1989).

  36 By this time the indigenous Jews of Cairo: Marion Woolfson, Prophets in Babylon; Jews in the Arab World, p. 102 (Faber and Faber, London 1980); and Gudrun Krämer and Alfred Morabia: ‘Face à la Modernité: Les Juifs d’Egypte aux XIXe et XXe siècles’, pp. 84–5, (in Jacques Hassoun ed. Juifs du Nil, Le Sycomore, Paris, 1981).

  37 Soon afterwards the British ambassador: The Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt, Vol. I, p. 336–41, (Macmillan, London, 1908).

  38 The Cattaouis … mansion: Elkan N. Adler, ‘Notes’, p. 6 .

  39 The Bodleian Library … two members of its staff: They were A. Cowley and A. Neubauer. Both Cowley and Neubauer were greatly excited by the newly discovered fragments and were desperately eager to lay their hands on more, but curiously enough, even as late as 1896 they do not appear to have had any idea of where the documents were coming from. (See A. Neubauer’s article, ‘Egyptian Fragments’, Jewish Quarterly Review, pp. 541–561, Vol. VIII, 1895–6; and A. Cowley’s article in the same issue, ‘Some Remarks on Samaritan Literature and Religion’, pp. 562–575. See also Mark R. Cohen’s Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt, p. 11, Princeton, 1980).

  40 He took with him letters … the Cattaoui family E. N. Adler, ‘An Eleventh Century Introduction to the Hebrew Bible’ (Jewish Quarterly Review, p. 673, Vol. IX, pp. 669–716, Macmillan, London, 1896–7).

  41 Between them, they granted: Ibid., p. 673.

  42 ‘Dear Mrs Lewis,’: A copy of the note is reprinted in Norman Bentwich’s Solomon Schechter, opp. p. 111.

  43 ‘All students of the Bible’: The Academy, p. 405, No. 1254, 16 May 1896.

  44 ‘If it could be proved’: S. Schechter, ‘A fragment of the Original Text of Ecclesiasticus’, p. 1 (Expositor, Fifth Series, Vol. IV, London, 1896).

  45 So little did he think A. Lutfi al-Sayyid, Egypt and Cromer: A Study in Anglo-Egyptian Relations, p. 64 (John Murray, London, 1968).

  46 ‘We need not … inquire too closely’: Quoted in A. Lutfi al-Sayyid, Egypt and Cromer, p. 62.

  47 Schechter was fortunate … that Cromer: See, for example, N. Bentwich’s Introduction to Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings, (ed. N. Bentwich, East and West Library, Oxford, 1946). Bentwich writes: ‘Lord Cromer, then the British Agent in Egypt, was interested in Schechter’s exploration, and helped him to secure the removal of the treasure to Cambridge.’ (p. 15).

  48 They decided to make … a present: See S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, p. 5; and Paul Kahle, The Cairo Geniza, p. 7.

  49 It has sometimes been suggested: Bentwich, for example, writes: ‘It was fortunate that the Egyptian Jewish community regarded their archives at that time as little more than a rubbish heap, and were prepared to let him carry away the greater part of their collection to Cambridge …’ (Introduction to Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings).

  50 In fact … lucrative trade: Schechter himself was to comment later that the beadles of the Synagogue had ‘some experience’ in dealing with the documents. (S. Schechter, ‘The Cairo Geniza’, p. 102, in Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings).

  51 ‘I flirted with him’: Bentwich quotes these letters in his biography, Solomon Schechter, p. 129.

  52 ‘For weeks and weeks’: Ibid., p. 128.

  53 ‘The whole population’: Solomon Schechter: Selected Writings, pp. 102–3.

  54 ‘with the spoils’: E. N. Adler, ‘An Eleventh Century Introduction’, p. 673.

  55 So it happened: My first explorations of Masr owed a great deal to the enthusiasm of Sudhir Vyas. I would like to thank him, and his colleague at the Indian Embassy Shri A. Gopinathan, for their hospitality. I would also like to thank Shri K. P. S. Menon and Sm. Lalitha Menon for their interest in, and support of my work during their stay in Egypt. Later Laurent Ham’s knowledge of the city was to prove invaluable to me: I am deeply grateful to him for his help and for innumerable kindnesses.

  56 Goitein … published in India: Cf. S. D. Goitein, ‘Letters and Documents on the India Trade in Medieval Times’, (Islamic Culture, Vol. 37, pp. 188–205, 1963).

  57 The complete bibliography: Robert Attal, A Bibliography of the Writings of Professor Shelomo Dov Goitein, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1975 (Supplement 1987).

  58 His interest in the Geniza: See Mark R. Cohen’s obituary ‘Shelomo Dov Goitein (3 April 1900–6 February 1985)’ in the American Philosophy Society Year Book, 1987.

  59 His monumental study: The five volumes of S. D. Goitein’s A Mediterranean Society were published in the following years, by the University of California Press: Vol. I, 1967; Vol. II, 1971; Vol. III, 1978; Vol. IV, 1983; Vol. V, 1988. The fifth volume appeared posthumously.

  60 Scanning Goitein’s … oeuvre: Goitein did however occasionally write biographical sketches. His posthumously published article ‘Portrait of a Medieval India Trader: Three Letters from the Cairo Geniza’ (Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 50, part 3, pp. 449–64, 1987), for example, deals with the life of the trader ‘Allân b. assûn.

  61 The India Book: The catalogue numbers of the India Book documents were published in Shaul Shaked’s A Tentative Bibliography of Geniza Documents (Mouton, Paris, 1964), which was published under the joint direction of D. H. Baneth and S. D. Goitein.

  62 Judæo-Arabic evolved: This brief account is based largely upon the ‘Introduction’ in Joshua Blau’s Judæo-Arabic, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1965), the standard work on the subject. Those who wish to learn more about this extraordinary and wonderful language are strongly recommended to consult Blau’s excellent study.

  63 Mark Cohen’s encouragement: In case my debt to Mark Cohen is not apparent already, I would like to add a line of acknowledgement here. It was Mark Cohen who convinced me that I could indeed learn Judaeo-Arabic, and he has been very generous with constructive criticism
as well as advice and encouragement ever since. My debt to him is incalculable.

  64 Over the next couple of years: My Geniza research would not have been possible without the support of a great many people. To begin with, I would like to thank Dr A. Udovitch of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton and Dr Stefan C. Reif of the Taylor-Schechter Geniza Research Unit of the Cambridge University Library. To Dr Geoffrey Khan, also of the Taylor-Schechter Geniza Research Unit, Cambridge, I owe a very special debt—for guiding my first faltering steps in the field of Geniza studies, for giving me the benefit of his understanding of the material, and for his patience in answering my innumerable queries. Dr Menahem Ben Sasson also helped me a great deal in the early stages of my research and I would like to thank him for his advice, for many valuable suggestions and for checking several of my transcriptions. I need hardly add that neither he nor anyone else is in any way responsible for any of the views expressed here. Finally a tribute is due to the staff of the Manuscripts Reading Room of the Cambridge University Library for their efficiency and unfailing helpfulness.

  Nashâwy

  1 Since his friends … referred to him as al-Mahdawî: Khalaf Ibn Ishaq for instance, addresses Ben Yiju as al-Mahdawî in his 1148 letter (National and University Library Jerusalem Geniza MS H.6, in Strauss, ‘Documents’).

  2 Mahdia … a major centre of Jewish culture: See H. Z. Hirschberg’s A History of the Jews in North Africa, Vol. I, pp. 339–41 (E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1974).

  3 ‘altogether Mahdia offered’: Al-Sharîf al-Idrîsî, Kitâb tazha al-mushtâq fi itirâq al-afâq, p. 257 (Geographie d’Edrisi, ed. and trans. P. A. Jaubert, Vol. I, Paris, 1836).

  4 Of Ben Yiju’s immediate family: S. D. Goitein believed that Ben Yiju may have had another sister, Yumn (cf. Letters, pp. 204 fn).

  5 He was called Perayâ: The Jewish naming system in the medieval Arabic-speaking world was enormously complex being compounded out of two languages, Arabic and Hebrew. Most people had several names, each context-specific—tekonyms, nicknames, (both individual and collective), tides that were the equivalent of surnames, and so on. To simplify matters I have tried to refer to each individual by a single name throughout this narrative. As a rule (if a principle founded on indeterminacy can be called a rule) I have tried to use the name that is most commonly used for them in the documents themselves. I have also generally tried to transcribe the names as they occur in the documents, in the expectation that those spellings provide the nearest available approximation to the manner in which the names were actually pronounced, at the time, by the people who used them. But in such instances when those spellings produce results that are meaningless or absurd I have substituted the etymologically appropriate Hebrew equivalents. Thus I have generally used the Arabic ‘Farhîa’ instead of the Hebrew ‘Perayâ’, taking at face value the following statement by Goitein: ‘No such Heb. name (Perayâ) exists in the Bible. This is one of the pseudo-biblical names invented during the Geniza period and I suspect that the verb contained in it was understood as Ar. fara (“Joy in God”) rather than Heb. pera (“flower”) which makes no sense.’ (Letters, pp. 327). The relationship between the name and the Arabic root was evidently apparent to those who used it, since Farhia is usually twinned with the diminutive Surûr, which has a similar semantic value in Arabic. I have however used ‘Berâkhâ’ rather than ‘Barkha’ for example, (which is how the name is spelt by Ben Yiju, in his letter), since it has no Arabic equivalent or referent. I can only beg the indulgence of those who consider this method haphazard, or otherwise objectionable, while pointing out that when a naming system is intended to create multiple levels of identity, any procedure for privileging one name (or even one spelling) is bound to be arbitrary.

  6 and he was a Rabbi: Khalaf ibn Ishaq once addressed Ben Yiju as the son of the ‘R(abbi) Perayâ, son of Yijû’ (S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 192).

  7 Madmun ibn Bundar: See S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 177; 181–82; and ‘From Aden to India: Specimens of the Correspondence of India Traders of the Twelfth Century’, p. 45, (in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. XXXIII, pts I and II, 1980). For the institution of the nagîd, see Goitein’s articles, ‘The Title and Office of the Nagid; a Re-examination’ (Jewish Quarterly Review, pp. 93–119, LIII, 1962–3), and ‘Mediterranean Trade in the Eleventh Century: Some Facts and Problems’, p. 61 (in Studies in the Economic History of the Middle East ed. M. A. Cook, Oxford University Press, London, 1970). The Nagîdate and the interesting historiographical controversies surrounding it are also extensively discussed in Mark Cohen’s Jewish Self Government in Medieval Egypt

  8 Madmun’s earliest extant letters: T–S 20.130. My assumption that this is the first item in Madmun’s correspondence with Ben Yiju is based on a comment in the text (recto, lines 4–5) which seems to suggest that Ben Yiju had only recently made the journey to India.

  9 From the tone and content of those … letters: Their business relations were patterned on a model of informal co-operation, widespread amongst Middle Eastern merchants, in which traders in different countries rendered each other mutual service. For more on the subject of co-operation amongst merchants see S. D. Goitein’s article ‘Mediterranean Trade in the Eleventh Century: Some Facts and Problems’, p. 59; and Abraham L. Udovitch’s ‘Commercial Techniques in Early Medieval Islamic Trade’, (in Islam and the Trade of Asia, ed. D. S. Richards).

  10 The letters are full of detailed instructions: for example, one passage in a letter from Madmun to Ben Yiju in India reads: ‘… collect yourself all the letters for the people of Mangalore … and be careful with them because they contain things that I need urgently … deliver each one to the person to whom it is addressed, by hand, personally, for God’s sake.’ (T–S N.S. J 1, verso, lines 6–10). In a departure from the epistolary conventions of the time, Madmun used the second person pronoun, inta, a relatively familiar form, to address Ben Yiju: I have translated it as ‘yourself’ in this passage. It is a clear indication that there was a certain asymmetry in their relationship.

  11 The other was Khalaf ibn Ishaq: Khalaf was a fine calligraphier and a prolific correspondent; many of his letters to various different correspondents have been preserved in the Geniza. See S. D. Goitein, ‘Portrait of a Medieval India Trader’, p. 453–54.

  12 Judah ha-Levi … composed poems in his honour: See S. D. Goitein’s article, ‘The Biography of Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi in the Light of the Cairo Geniza Documents’ (in Essays in Medieval Jewish and Islamic Philosophy, ed. Arthur Hyman, Ktav Publishing House, Inc., New York, 1977).

  13 Abû Sa’id alfon: In a letter to Ben Yiju in Mangalore, Madmun refers to a certain ‘Nâkhudha Abu Sa’îd’ who might be Abu Sa’id Halfon (T–S MS Or 1081, J3, recto, line 3). Although to the best of my knowledge, no letters addressed directly from Ben Yiju to Abu Sa’id Halfon (or vice versa) have been preserved, several letters between others in the circle have survived (e.g. T–S MS Or. 1080 J 211 and T–S Box J 1 fol. 53 [Khalaf to Halfon]. Cf. Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, pp. 47, 150).

  14 The second of the great travellers: Abû-Zikrî Sijilmasi and Abu Sa’id Halfon were in fact partners in the Indian Trade, and several documents relating to their joint business dealings have been preserved in the Geniza (e.g. T–S 13 J 22, fol. 33, ‘Memorandum to alfen b. Nethaneel, while on his way to India, from his partner Abû Zikrî’ and T–S N.S. J 22, ‘Deed of acquittance by Abû Zikrî to alfon b. Nathaneel in connection with their India business’ (Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, pp. 132, 160).

  15 Chief Representative of Merchants: See S. D. Goitein, Letters, p. 62; ‘The Beginnings of the Kârim Merchants’, pp. 176–7 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. I, part 2, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1958); and ‘Bankers Accounts from the Eleventh Century AD’, pp. 62–3 (Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, IX, pt. I—II, 1966).

  16 References … a shipowner called Marûz: See T–S 8 J 7, fol. 23, recto, line 3; T–S N.S.
J 10, verso 1st Account, line 9; and 2nd Account, line 1.

  17 So close were the … three: See S. D. Goitein, Letters, pp. 62–5.

  18 At the time … gifted Hebrew poets: Cf. Yosef Tobi, ‘Poetry and Society in the works of Abraham ben Halfen (Yemen, twelfth century)’ (in Biblical and Other Studies in Memory of S. D. Goetein, ed. Reuben Ahroni, Hebrew Annual Review, Vol. IX, Dept. of Judaic and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, Ohio State University, 1985).

  19 instances of Geniza traders living abroad: See, for example, S. D. Goitein, ‘Abraham Maimonides and his Pietist Circle’, p. 157 (in Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies, ed. A. Altmann).

  20 The second reason … lies in a cryptic letter: T–S MS Or. 1080 J 2 63, verso.

  21 Fortunately the scrap: Ben Yiju was clearly the recipient of his letter, because the back of the letter is scribbled on in a handwriting which is unmistakably his. Professor Goitein included the catalogue number of this letter in Shaked’s catalogue of Geniza documents, and he must have known of its contents for he described it there as the ‘first part of a letter sent by Mamûn … of Aden to Ben Yijû in India,’ (Shaul Shaked, Tentative Bibliography, p. 47). But he did not quote it in any of his published references to Ben Yiju and probably did not fully appreciate the implications it has for the story of Ben Yiju’s life.