P. Colt. No. 60 - A Bilingual Entagion From The Year 54 AH / 674 CE

Islamic Awareness

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First Composed: 15th September 2000

Last Modified: 12th January 2007

Assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu:

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure: (a) Schematic representation of the Protocol, (b) picture of the entagion and (c) its content.

[] encloses letters supplied to fill a lacuna

Date

54 AH / 674 CE.

Size

32.2 cm. x 18.1 cm. It has Arabic and Greek text.

Light brown, fine papyrus, written in brown ink. The papyrus was folded up. In the center of the fold an oval - Nile mud seal measures 1.2:0.9 cm This document was found in ‘Auja' al-Hafir (Nestana or Nessana), South Palestine.

Accession No.

P. Colt. No. 60.

Contents

The translation of the document is:

  1. [Arabic] [In the name of] God, the Compassionate and Merciful.

  2. From al-Hārith b. ‘Abd to the people of Nassana

  3. province of Gaza, in the region of al-Halus

  4. Pay quickly to ‘Udayy Ibn Khalid of the Bani

  5. Sa‘d Ibn Malik the due for Dhūl-Qa‘dah and

  6. al-Muharram and Safar and the two months of Rabi‘

  7. seventy measures of wheat and its equal in oil.

  8. written by Abū Sa‘īd in Dhūl-Qa‘dah

  9. in the year 54. [Greek] In the name of God.

  10. Al-Hārith b. ‘Abd to the people of Nestana in the region of Elusa, province of Gaza.

  11. Pay quickly to Adiu b. Khalid of the Bani Sa‘d b. Malik for the 5 months Dhūl-Qa‘dah

  12. and al-Muharram and Safar and the two Rabi‘ seventy modii of wheat, seventy sextarii of oil.

  13. Written in the month of November of the 3rd indication, year 54 according to the Arabs,

  14. by the hand of Alexander son of Ammonius. Total: 70 modii of wheat, 70 sextrii of oil.

[Seal]

Repetition of line 14.

Comment

A protocol is a protective cover at the beginning of a papyrus roll, bearing caliph/governor's name and formulae. An entagion is an announcement of taxes owed by the local community. This entagion was found during excavations at Nessana, 59 kms south of Beer-Sheba. The Roman fortress, surviving throughout the Christian period, was occupied by Muslims in 12 AH / 634 CE and deserted at the end of the Umayyad period. Numerous papyri document the transition from late Byzantine to early Islamic administration. The protocol suggests that this entagion comes from the time of Umayyad caliph Mu‘āwiya (40–60 AH / 661–80 CE).

Diacritics appear on ب، ث، ز and ق.

Location

Not known.

References

[1] A. Grohmann, "Zum Papyrusprotokoll In Früharabischer Zeit", Jahrbuch Der Österreichischen Byzantinischen Gesellschaft, 1960, Volume IX, pp. 5-9.

[2] H. I. Bell, "The Arabic Bilingual Entagion", Proceedings Of The American Philosophical Society, 1945, Volume 89, pp. 538-539.

[3] B. Gruendler, The Development Of The Arabic Scripts: From The Nabatean Era To The First Islamic Century According To The Dated Texts, 1993, Harvard Semitic Series No. 43, Scholars Press: Atlanta (GA), pp. 22-23.

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