Abstract
Hundreds of Fatimid chancery documents, fragmentary and whole, found their way into the geniza of the medieval Syro-Palestinian synagogue at Fustat. Several dozen have been published (mainly by S. D. Goitein, S. M. Stern, and Geoffrey Khan), more have been identified, and many more still remain to be discovered. Though a good proportion of these documents concern Jewish individuals or groups, it is becoming increasingly apparent that a significant number relate to Christians or Muslims, for reasons that have not yet been adequately explained. This presentation will (1) survey existing publications on the subject, with glances at comparable editions of material from the Melkite monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, the Qaraite synagogue in Cairo, and other Fatimid-era archives; (2) discuss document typologies (petitions, decrees, internal chancery directives), their physical characteristics and uses; (3) offer some explanations as to how non-Jewish administrative material may have entered the Geniza; and (4) discuss these documents’ significance for Fatimid and Middle Eastern history.
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