{"title":"A Hebrew Letter on Papyrus and Its Contexts: Oxford MS Heb.d.69(P)","authors":"Amit Gvaryahu","doi":"10.1163/15685209-12341579","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\nThis article is a new reading of a Hebrew letter, Oxford MS Heb.d.69(P), written on papyrus and dated tentatively by scholars to the 6th century. The article begins with a new edition of the letter, first published in 1903, its first translation into English, a discussion of its language and epistolary conventions, including layout, script, and formulary. In the letter, written by the scribe Isi, the lender Lazar describes to Jacob the borrower the history of their contract, and the former’s attempts to collect, and demands payment. I discuss the currency mentioned in this description, the terms of the loan, and the rate of interest it reflects. The article ends with a discussion of the broader usefulness of this letter for the economic and social history of Jewish provincials in Byzantine Egypt.","PeriodicalId":45906,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341579","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article is a new reading of a Hebrew letter, Oxford MS Heb.d.69(P), written on papyrus and dated tentatively by scholars to the 6th century. The article begins with a new edition of the letter, first published in 1903, its first translation into English, a discussion of its language and epistolary conventions, including layout, script, and formulary. In the letter, written by the scribe Isi, the lender Lazar describes to Jacob the borrower the history of their contract, and the former’s attempts to collect, and demands payment. I discuss the currency mentioned in this description, the terms of the loan, and the rate of interest it reflects. The article ends with a discussion of the broader usefulness of this letter for the economic and social history of Jewish provincials in Byzantine Egypt.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (JESHO) publishes original research articles in Asian, Near, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies across history. The journal promotes world history from Asian and Middle Eastern perspectives and it challenges scholars to integrate cultural and intellectual history with economic, social and political analysis. The editors of the journal invite both early-career and established scholars to present their explorations into new fields of research. JESHO encourages debate across disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. Published since 1958, JESHO is the oldest and most respected journal in its field. Please note that JESHO will not accept books for review.