The Arabic Papyrology Database
www.naher-osten.lmu.de/apd

Metadata

In order to search in "Metadata" in "TEXT" or in "DOCUMENTS" you will have to choose your request according to the following compilations. "Date" explains how dates are assigned to the documents, "Kind" and "Material" give an overview over all possible categories. "Provenance" and "Scribe" give you examples of how possible entries will look like.

Date

Basically two main distinctions have to be made - the one between (internally) dated and (internally) undated papyri. If a date is mentioned in the text of the document, that date will appear twice: once written as date (e.g. 286 AH) being one information in "Metadata" and once converted into a date or a period of time according to the Julian Calendar (CE). Undated papyri may only refer to a period of time, which we specify in CE (e.g. 1.1.801 CE - 30.12.900 CE), but some of the undated papyri do not even contain such a hint.
In "DOCUMENTS" and "TEXT" you can restrict your searches by periods of time. Make sure you type in your request in CE.

Provenance

Provenances can be chosen via pulldowns in both "DOCUMENTS" and "TEXT". They are organized hierarchically; e.g. if you choose "Upper Egypt", all documents that were assigned specific places in Upper Egypt will be listed, as well as documents whose provenance within Upper Egypt could not be further specified.
The geographical information of the provenances is linked to the "Places" database of Trismegistos. Click on the "TM=..."-link given after the origin of a document to obtain more geographical and historical information about a specific place.

Kind

1. Protocol

2. Legal text

  • - Act of emancipation
  • - Marriage contract
  • - Divorce document
  • - Inheritance document
  • - Contract of sale
  • - Lease
  • - Hires of employees
  • - Written obligation
  • - Order for payment or delivery
  • - Receipt for payment or delivery
  • - Waqfiyya
  • - Deed of gifts (ṣadaqāt)
  • - Signatures of witnesses
  • - Certificate of discharge
  • - Responsum (fatwa)
  • - Other legal text

3. Administrative text

  • - Official letter, administrative document
  • - Official declaration
  • - Petition
  • - List, account
  • - Other administrative document
  • - Registration (kitāb siǧill)

4. Private text

  • - Private letter
  • - Business letter
  • - Prayer
  • - Note
  • - Amulet
  • - Astrological text
  • - Prescription
  • - Receipt for payment or delivery
  • - Other private document

5. Literary text

6. Drawing

 

Language

The APD contains only Arabic documents in Arabic script. However, some of the documents may be bilingual or trilingual and also contain some:

  • - Judaeo-Arabic
  • - Greek
  • - Coptic
  • - Latin
  • - Castilian
  • - Pahlavi
  • - Catalan
  • - Italian
  • - New Persian
  • - Turkish
  • - Syriac
  • - Judaeo-Aramaic
  • - Hebrew
  • - Armenian
  • - Georgian
  • - Aljamiado (Castilian)
  • - Aljamiado (Latin)
  • - Aljamiado (Italian)
  • - Aljamiado (German)

Material

papyrus, paper, ostrakon, woodtable, waxtable, stone, parchment, leather, bone, textile

Scribe (examples)

  • - ʿalī ĭbn hibat ăl lāh ĭbn ḫalaf ĭbn muḥammad ĭbn šaraf ăl miṣrī
  • - ʾismāʿīl ĭbn zayd ĭbn ʾaḥmad
  • - muslim ĭbn ʾamīn
  • - yazīd

Coptic months

  • - 1 Thoth: tūt
  • - 2 Phaophi: bābih
  • - 3 Hathyr: hātūr
  • - 4 Choiak: kiyahk
  • - 5 Tybi: ṭūbih
  • - 6 Mecheir: ʾamšīr
  • - 7 Phamenoth: baramhāt
  • - 8 Pharmuthi: barmūdih
  • - 9 Pachons: bašans
  • - 10 Payni: baʾūnih
  • - 11 Epeiph: ʾabīb
  • - 12 Mesore: misrà
  • - 13 Epagomenal days
  •