Contributions to Arabic Metrology

Author
Miles, George Carpenter, 1904-1975
Series
Numismatic Notes and Monographs
Publisher
American Numismatic Society
Place
New York
Date
Source
Donum
Source
Worldcat
Source
Worldcat Works
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HathiTrust

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CC BY-NC

Acknowledgement

Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Humanities Open Book Program.

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Table of Contents

FRONT

BODY

THE BENAKI MUSEUM COLLECTION
I. UMAYYAD OFFICIALS

A. Usāmah b. Zayd

Finance Director, 96–99 A. H.: 714–717 A.D.

Interim Governor, 102 A.H.: 720–721 A.D.

COIN WEIGHTS

1. Dīnār.

امر اسا
مة بن زبد
*ميزان د
ينر واف

Green, 29, 4.28 (B.9489) Plate I

Similar to Launois, Maspero, 3.

2. One-half dīnār.

Similar to CẠM I, 4–5.

Pale blue-green, 23, 2.21 (B.9502) Plate I

3. Fals of 10 qīrāṭ.

امرا
سامة نب ز
يد ميزان ا
...الفلس (؟)عش
قراريط

Order of Usāmah b. Zayd, weight of the fals (?) of twen(ty) qarārīṭ.

Pale blue-green, 22, 2.03 (B. 9507)

Unpublished. Fals weights of 10 qīrāṭ are exceedingly uncommon: my records show only two other specimens. The weight is a little high, the theoretical weight for 10 qīrāṭ being 1.95.

VESSEL STAMP

4. Measure of lentils ('adas).

[امر اس[ا
مة بن زيد مكيلة
عدس
واف

Pale green, 32, frg. lacking (B. 9437) Plate I

Possibly similar to Fouquet Collection p. 367, no. 99, incompletely preserved. For the pharmaceutical uses of 'adas, lentils, see EAG Suppl., pp. 45–46; also Garbers, p. 165.

B. Ḥayyān b. Shurayḥ

Finance Director, ca. 99–101 A.H.: 717–720 A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

5. Measure of dessicated chick-peas (ḥimmaṣ maḥshūsh).

امر حيان
بن شريح
مكيلة حمص
مشوش
واف

Pale green, 34 (B. 9449) Plate I

Cf. Launois, 16, the 4th line read مجشوش "broyé, concassé," and the 5th line reconstructed و[اف]ية For محشوش "dessicated", see CAM I, pp. 110–111, and for the pharmaceutical properties of ḥimmaṣ, chick-peas, see EAG Suppl., p. 23.

C. 'Ubaydullāh b. al-Ḥabḥāb

Finance Director, 102–116 A.H.: 720–734 A.D.1

COIN WEIGHTS

6. One-third dīnār.

مما امر
به عبيدا
لله ابن الحبحا
ب مثقال ثلث
واف

Green, 19, 1.43 (B. 9497) Plate I

Similar to EAG 11.

7. Fals of 24 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 25; Launois, Maspero, 5.

Green, 30, 4.72 (B. 9491) Plate I

8. Fals of 18 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 29.

Green, 27, 3.71 (B. 9488) Plate I

The word به is definitely lacking, and the 4th line is clearly ثمنية اعشر (not clear on CAM I, 29), as on Launois, 54–56, Fahmy, 25ff., and University College, 100–101.

VESSEL STAMP

9. Measure of chick-peas (ḥimmaṣ).

بسم الله ا
مر عبيد الله بن ا
لحجاب بصنعة
مكيلة حمص
وافيه

In the name of Allāh: ordered 'Ubaydullāh b. al-Ḥabḥāb the making of a measure of ḥimmaṣ, full measure.

Green, 45 (B. 9435) Plate I

It will be noted that here and elsewhere I have read بصنعة (bi-ṣan'ati), instead of بصنعه that is, "the making," rather than "the making of it," as I have in previous publications. The orthography is, of course, identical in Kufic script, but the former reading is doubtless more logical. This suggestion was made by Harold W. Glidden in his review of CAM I in American Journal of Archaeology 63 (1959), p. 323.

End Notes
1
For "106" read "116" in CAM I, p. 9.

D. Al-Qāsim b. 'Ubaydullāh

Finance Director, 116–124 A.H.: 734–742 A.D.

COIN WEIGHTS

10. One-half dīnār.

بسم الله
امر القاسم
بن عبيد الله
نصف(sic)بمثعال
واف

In the name of Allāh: ordered al-Qāsim b. 'Ubaydullāh, weight of a half, full weight.

Green, 22, 2.17 (B. 9504) Plate I

Unpublished.

11–12. Fals of 30 kharrūbah. With Muslim b. al-'Arrāf. Dated 119 A.H.: 737 A.D.

Similar to CAM I, 51, EAG, 30, etc.

11. Green with claret splotches, 34, 5.98 (B. 9486)

12. Brownish green, 34, 5.90 (B. 9480) Plate I

The curious name of the prefect and its misspelling is discussed in CAM I, p. 19, and EAG Suppl., pp. 11–12. In a review of CAM I in American Journal of Archaeology 63 (1959), p. 323, Harold W. Glidden has pointed out that العاف is probably simply an error.

VESSEL STAMPS

13. One-half qisṭ. With Ṣaffār b. Shabbah. Dated 122 A.H.: 739–740 A.D.

Similar to CAM I, 58, with first line, بسم الله preserved.

Green, 40 (B. 9448) Plate I

See CAM I, pp. 22–23, and the references there, for remarks on the name of the prefect.

14. One-quarter qisṭ (?).

Similar to CAM I, 60.

Green, 37 (B. 9438) Plate I

This curious stamp with the word *قسطان is very common; I have recorded 16 other specimens.

15. One-quarter qisṭ. With Muslim b. al-'Arrāf. Dated 119 A.H.: 737 A.D.

Similar to CAM I, 61, with the same error in the spelling of al-Qāsim's name; last letter only of the digit of the date preserved.

Brownish green, 36 (B. 9436) Plate II

E. Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd

[Governor, 108 A.H. (part): 727 A.D.]1

Governor, 124–127 A.H.: 742–744 A.D.

Finance Director, 124–125 A.H.: 742–743 A.D.

Governor, 127–128 A.H.: 745–746 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

16. One-third dīnār.

بسم الله
امر الامير
حفص بن الو
ليد مثقال
ثلث دينر

In the name of Allāh: order of the amīr Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd, weight of a third dīnār.

Green, 21, 1.42 (B. 9499) Plate II

Unpublished. Other one-third dīnār weights of Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd, but of different types, are Launois, 105 = Fahmy, 43, and Rogers, JRAS 1877, no. 15.

DISK-WEIGHT

17. Raṭl. Dated 12x A.H.: ca. 741–746 A.D.

بسم الله ا
مرالامير حفص
بن الوليد بصنعة
ر]طل واف سنة]
[وعش[رين...
......

In the name of Allāh: ordered the amīr Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd the making of a raṭl, full weight, year .....and twen[ty] .... .......

Dark green, 105 × 79 (fragmentary), thickness 21, stamp 45+, 172+ gr. (B. 9467) Plate II

Unpublished. My reconstruction of a fragmentary legend on a disk-weight of Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd (EAG, 25), which I interpreted as "a raṭl and ¼ wuqīyah (?)," is probably to be corrected to read "raṭl, year 124."

End Notes
1
In previous publications I have placed Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd before al-Qāsim b. 'Ubaydullāh, but in view of the very large number of his weights and measure stamps I now believe they should be assigned to the longer period of his activity, that is, to the period between 124 and 128 A.H.

F. Yazīd b. abi-Yazīd

Prefect, ca. 116–127 A.H.: 734–745 A.D.

Finance Director (?), ca. 127 A.H.: 745 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

18. One-third dīnār.

Similar to CAM I, 67.

Green, 20, 1.43 (B. 9500) Plate II

VESSEL STAMPS

19. Qisṭ of meat (?).

امر يزيد
بن ابى يز
يد قسط
للحم(؟)وا
ف

Order of Yazīd b. abi-Yazīd, qisṭ for laḥm (?), full weight.

Bluish green, 23 (B. 9458) Plate II

Unpublished.

20. One-quarter qisṭ of olive oil(zayt).

Similar to CAM I, 72–73.

Green, 35 (B. 9453) Plate II

G. 'Isâ b. abi-'Aṭā

Finance Director, 125–127 A.H.: 743–745 A.D.

128–131 A.H.: 745–749 A.D.

COIN WEIGHTS

21. One-half dīnār. With Yazīd b. abi-Yazīd.

Similar to CAM I, 76, abbreviated and garbled.

Green, 22, 2.16 (B. 9501) Plate II

22. One-third dīnār. With Yazīd b. abi -Yazīd.

بسم الله
عيسى بن ابى>
عطا بصنعة
مثقال ثلث على
يدىيزيد بن
(sic)يزيد

In the name of Allāh: 'Isâ b. abi- 'Aṭā, the making of a weight of one-third, at the hands of Yazīd b. Yazīd (sic).

Brownish green, 20, 1.43 (B. 9505) Plate II

Unpublished. Cf. Fahmy, 73, which may perhaps have the same legends, but where [امر] in the 2nd line, and ا]بى] in the 6th, are transcribed by the editor. Here the word امر is definitely lacking, as is ابى in the name of the prefect.

H. Uncertain Umayyad Official

DISK-WEIGHT

23. One-half great raṭl (?). Dated 12x A.H.: ca 738–747 A.D. Stamp A (center):

.......
.......
[نص[ف رطل؟
[كب[ير
واف

......... ......... one-hal[f raṭl] (?) kab[īr], full weight.

Stamp B (left):

......
(عشرين(؟
ومائة>

........
twenty (?) and one hundred.

Stamp C (right):

الوفا
لله

Full weight to Allāh.

Dark green, 105×46 (fragmentary); thickness, 18; 109+

Stamp A: 34 Stamp B: 23 Stamp C: 18 (B. 9468) Plate III

Unpublished. With regard to the pious exhortation, الوفالله I adopt Harold W. Glidden's proposal (American Journal of Archaeology 63 (1959), p. 323) that the word al-wafā' in the context of these metrological objects would be better translated "full weight" or "full measure", rather than "honesty".

I. 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwān

Finance Director, 131–132 A.H.: 749 A.D.

Governor, 132–133 A.H.: 750 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHT

24. [Wuqīyah]. 'Abd al-Malik b. [Marwān?].

Obverse:

ب]سم الله ا]
مر عبد]الملك بن]
مرون؟بص]نعة و]>
قية واف؟]على يدى]
.......

[In] the name of Allāh: or- [dered 'Abd] al-Malik b. [Marwān(?) the mak]ing of a wuqīyah, full weight(?)], at the hands .............

Reverse: Circular legend, مر.....صاحه(؟)الله>

Nothing in center?

Green, 55; thickness, 7; 17.50+ (fragmentary) (B. 9475) Plate III Unpublished.

VESSEL STAMP

25. Qisṭ.

بسم الله امر
ا]لله بالوفا وامر]
ا]لامير عبد الملكة]
بن مرون بصنعة
قسط واف

In the name of Allāh: ordered [A]llāh full measure, and ordered [t]he amīr 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwān the making of a qisṭ, full measure.

Green, 36 (B. 9434) Plate III

Unpublished.


II. 'ABBĀSID OFFICIALS

A. Muḥammad b. Shuraḥbīl

Prefect, ca. 132–152 A.H.: ca. 749–769 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHT

26. One-sixth wuqīyah.

Obverse:

س]س]
و]قية]
......

[S]ixth [wu]qīyah .......

Reverse: Center: within linear circle,

......
كامل

....... Kāmil

Circular legend within linear border, [على ي]دى محمد بن ش[رحبيل]>

[At the h]ands of Muḥammad b. Shu[raḥbīl].

Green, 29+ (fragmentary) (B. no inventory number) Plate III

Unpublished. Compare a very similar one-sixth wuqīyah weight, no. 36, below, and BM, 18, with perhaps identical obverse (it is uncertain whether the present piece has a third line), and كمل in the center of the reverse, issued by 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Yazīd.

B. 'Abd al-Malik b. Yazīd

Governor and Finance Director

133–136 A.H.: 751–753 A.D.

137–141 A.H.: 755–758 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

27. Fals of 24 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 100.

Green, 29, 4.52 (B. 9484) Plate III

RING-WEIGHT

28. Raṭl. With Muḥammad b. Shuraḥbīl.

بسم الله امر
عبد الملك بن يز
يد بصنعة رطل
واف على يدى
محمد بن شر
حبيل

Dark green, top only (both sides and bottom lacking), 63×50×26 Stamp, 40 (B. 9439) Plate III

Similar to EAG Suppl., 19.

VESSEL STAMP

29. One-quarter qisṭ. With Muḥammad b. Shuraḥbīl.

Similar to CAM I, 102–103.

Green, 31 (B. 9452) Plate III

C. 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ

Prefect, ca, 133–141 A.H.: 751–758 A.D.

ca. 165–169 A.H.: 781–786 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHT

30. Great Wuqīyah.

Stamp A:

و]قية]
كبير
و]اف]

[wu]qīyah kabīr [full] weight.

Stamp B:

على يدى
عاصم
بن خفص

At the hands of 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ.

Brownish green, 58 × 29 (fragmentary); thickness, 14; 25.40+ Stamp A: 17+ Stamp B: 19 × 17 (B. 9476) Plate IV

Unpublished. Another stamp may possibly have been present above stamp A.

D. The Caliph al-Manṣūr

136–158 A.H.: 754–775 A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

31. One-half (?) qisṭ

مما امربه
عبد الله عبد
[الل]ه امير المؤن[ين]
او] فوا الكيل ولا]
[تك]ونوا من المخسر[ين]
نصف قسط
[وا[ف

Green, 41 (B. 9445) Plate IV

Similar to EAG, 55.

32. Measure of lupine (turmus).

امر عبد
الله عبدا
لله امير المؤ
منين بصنعة
مكيلة ترمس
واف

Ordered the Servant of Allāh 'Abdullāh, Commander of the Faithful, the making of a measure of turmus, full measure.

Green, 45 (B. 9443) Plate IV

Unpublished, but cf. EAG Suppl., 15, for another measure of lupine issued by al-Manṣūr with a different arrangement of the legend. For ترمس lupine, and its pharmaceutical uses, see EAG Suppl., pp. 14–15.

33. Measure of shelled pomegranate (jullanār al-muqashshar).

امر عبدا
لله عبد[ال]له
(sic)[ا]مير المنومي[ن]
[بصنعة مكيل[ة
[جانار الم[قشر
واف

Green, 31 (B. 9451) Plate IV

Similar to Launois, 149, read جلجان المقشر "pois décortiqué." See CAM I, pp. 110–112, for my argument that the word usually interpreted as جلجان "chickling vetch," is more probably جلنار "pomegranate." See also Garbers, pp. 208–210, where full references to the botanical and pharmaceutical literature on the pomegranate are given. In footnote 84 in CAM I, p. III, the reference to al-Ghāfiqi should be corrected to read pp. 394–395 (Fasc. II, Cairo, 1937).

34. Measure of pulverized henna (ḥinnā mard).

جلنار
امير (sic)لله عبد
(sic) لمؤمنين
(sic) بصنعة مكي
حنا مرد
واف

Ordered the Servant of Allāh 'Abd (sic), Commander of the Faithful, the making of a meas- (sic) of ḥinnā mard, full measure.

Green, 44 (B. 9446) Plate IV

Unpublished. I am not certain of the meaning of مرد mard. It might mean "crumbled or broken into small pieces with the fingers, and then moistened,"1 or a sort of plaster,2 or "softened, steepened, dissolved."3 Several measure stamps for henna have come to my attention, but none with this qualification except the Benaki Museum specimen. In 1960 the American Numismatic Society acquired an unpublished stamp of Usāmah b. Zayd for "henna for the head" (حنا الراس) in the University College collection there are two imperfectly preserved stamps (nos. 119 and 142) with the legend ....حنا ال in Muntaza Palace in Alexandria, an unpublished piece with (حنا المرا(؟ and in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva another unpublished stamp with جنا المر In the latter two cases the qualifiying word might perhaps be the same as here, the last letter malformed and omitted respectively.

In addition to its use as a dye for the hair and fingers, henna (Lawsonia inermis, sometimes called Lawsonia alba) has been recognized since antiquity as having certain medicinal properties. Dioscorides, who called it Kupros, wrote that the best variety grew in Ascalon and Canopus and that it was useful for ulcers in the mouth, as a decoction for burns and as a poultice for carbuncles and inflammations. In mediaeval and more recent times henna has been employed in the treatment of jaundice, leprosy, small-pox and skin disorders. It is interesting to note that today the Dispensatory lists henna as a naturally occuring naphthoquinone with antihemorrhagic activity in lawsone (3-hydroxy-1, 4-naphthoquinone).1

End Notes
1
Lane, p. 2706, here with reference to bread moistened in broth.
2
Cf. مرد H. Wehr, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (Ithaca, 1961).
3
Steingass, s.v.مرد

E. Muḥammad b. al-Ash'ath

Governor, 141–143 A.H.: 759–760 A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

35. Measure of white chick-peas (ḥimmaṣ al-abyaḍ). With 'Abdullāh b. Rāshid.

................
[لامير محمد[بن
[الاشعت بصنع[ة
[مكيلة حمص الا[بي
[ض على يدى ع[بد
[ا]لله بن راش[د]

................ amīr Muḥammad [b.] al-Ash'ath the making of a measure of ḥimmaṣ al-a [bya] ḍ, at the hands of 'A[bd-] [u]llāh b. Rāsh[id].

Green, 34, with fragment of rim (B. 9447) Plate IV

Unpublished, but probably similar to EAG Suppl., 24, where the word الابيض, white, is not preserved but probably was originally present. The "white" variety of Cicer arietinum is known (cf. EAG Suppl., p. 23).

End Notes
1
Dioscorides, I, 124 (Gunther, p. 65); Grieve, pp. 404–405; Dispensatory, p. 790.

F. 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Yazīd

Prefect, ca. 141–152 A.H.: 759–769 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHT

36. One-sixth wuqīyah.

Similar to CAM I, 135 (the letters عبد الر effaced on the reverse).

Brownish green, 30, 6.25 (B. 9490). Plate IV

Compare no. 26, above.

G. Yazīd b. Ḥātim

Governor, 144–152 A.H.: 762–769 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHT

37. One-half raṭl. With 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Yazīd.

Stamp A (center):

بسم الله
على يدى عبد
الرحمن بن يزيد
نصف رطل
واف

In the name of Allāh: at the hands of 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Yazīd, one-half raṭl, full weight.

Stamp B (lower left):

بسم الله
امر الامير
[يزيد بن ح[اتم

In the name of Allāh: order of the amīr Yazīd b. Ḥ[ātim] ..............

Dark green, 103 × 87 (fragment lacking); thickness, 18; 168+

Stamp A: 39 Stamp B: 27 (B. 9466) Plate V

Unpublished. The last line of stamp B is doubtless اصلحه الله, as on no. 38, immediately below.

RING-WEIGHT

38. Uncertain weight. With Muḥammad b. Shuraḥbīl.

Stamp A (left):

بسم الله
امر الامير
يزيد بن حاتم
اصلحه الله

In the name of Allāh: order of the amīr Yazīd b. Ḥātim, may Allāh keep him straight.

Stamp B (right):

ب]سم الله]
على]يدى محمد]
بن شرح]بيل]

[In] the name of Allāh: [at] the hands of Muḥammad [b. Shuraḥ]bīl, .............

Dark green, 57 × 46 × 28 (part of top only)

Stamp A: 30 Stamp B: 33 (B. 9442) Plate V

Unpublished. The name of the prefect has been reconstructed by comparison with several weights and measure stamps on which the names of Yazīd b. Ḥātim and Muḥammad b. Shuraḥbīl occur together: University College, 161, CAM I, 142, Launois, 189 bis, and an unpublished one-quarter qisṭ stamp in the Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo.

VESSEL STAMP

39. Executive stamp.

Similar to CAM I, 144.

Green, 31 (B. 9456) Plate V

H. Salamah

Prefect or Finance Director, sometime ca. 144–157 A.H.: 762–774 A.D.

COIN WEIGHTS

40. 30 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 147–149.

Green, 28, 5.82 (B. 9758)

41. 26 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 150.

Pale green, 30, fragmentary, one half lacking (B. 9753)

I. 'Umar [b. Yaḥyâ]

Prefect or Finance Director, sometime ca. 152–157 (?) A.H.: 769–774 (?) A.D.

COIN WEIGHTS

42–43. 32 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 155–159.

42. Green, 32, 6.22 (B. 9479) Plate V

43. Green, 31, fragmentary (B. 9494)

For the proposed identification of 'Umar with 'Umar b. Yaḥyâ. and his probable dates, see CAM I, p. 62.

J. Muḥammad b. Sa'īd

Governor, 152–157 (?) A.H.: 769–774 (?) A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

44. One-third dīnār.

امر الا
مير محمد
بن سعيد
مثقال ثلث

Green, 19, 1.48 (B. 9503) Plate V

Similar to University College, 186, which has a stamp on the reverse with an effaced prefect's name and that of the artisan Severus.1 My notes record no reverse stamp on the Benaki Museum weight, but I may have failed to examine the reverse.

End Notes
1
See CAM I, pp. 63–64, where this name is discussed.

DISK-WEIGHTS

45–46. Wuqīyah. With 'Umar b. Yaḥyâ.

Stamp A (center):

بسم الله
امر الامير
محمد بن سعيد
وقية واف
image

In the name of Allāh: order of the amīr Muḥammad b. Sa'īd, wuqīyah, full weight.

Stamp B (at bottom):

على يدى
عمر بن
يحيى

At the hands of 'Umar b. Yaḥyâ.

On No. 45 the two stamps are impressed on the same axis; on no. 46, stamp B is upside-down with reference to stamp A.

45. Light green with gray patina, 59 × 53; thickness, 9; 36.50 (intact)

Stamp A: 32 Stamp B: 21 (B. 9469) Plate VI

46. Green, 52 × 27, about ½ lacking; thickness, 8; 16.65+

Stamp A: 28+ Stamp B: 21 (B. 9477)

Unpublished. The symbol at the bottom of stamp A is discussed in CAM I, p. 65. H. W. Glidden in his review of CAM I (American Journal of Archaeology 63, 1959, p. 323) suggests that this symbol might be the initial of Salamah since it occurs on a weight bearing his name (CAM I, 166, and cf. no. 47, below), but the present weight would not support this hypothesis, nor do I know of any instance in early Islamic numismatics or metrology of the use of an initial to represent a name.

RING-WEIGHTS

47. Raṭl. With Salamah.

Similar to CAM I, 166.

Dark green, 62 × 45 × 55 (top and one side preserved)

Stamp A: 35 Stamp B: 22 (B. 9440) Plate VI

48. Raṭl.

Similar to no. 47, above, but small stamp not preserved.

Dark green, 48 × 35 × 32 (part of top and left side preserved)

Stamp: 33 (B. 9444) Plate VI

49. One-half raṭl.

بسم الله
امر[الا]سعيد
محمد بن سعيد
نص[ف]رطل وا
[ف]

Dark green, 52 × 39 × 21 (top only preserved) (B. 9441) Plate VI

Similar to University College, 181; A. Kmietowicz, "Dénéraux et poids musulmans en verre conservés dans les musées de Pologne," in Folia Orientalia, Kraków, 1959, p. 137, no. 3; and perhaps Fouquet Collection, 52–53.

K. Muḥammad b. Sulaymān

Governor, 159–161 A.H.: 775–778 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHT

50. Wuqīyah.

[بسم الل[ه امر؟
[الامير مح[مد بن
[سليمن اك[رمه
[الله و[قية
واف

In the name of Allā[h: order of?] the amīr Muḥa[mmad b.] Sulaymān, may be gen[erous to him] Allāh, wu[qīyah], full weight.

Dark green, 52, fragmentary, about ¼ lacking; thickness, 9; 24.30+

Stamp: 32 (B. 9474) Plate VI

Unpublished.

L. Ṣāliḥ b. Muslim

Prefect, ca. 171–180 (?) A.H.: 787–796 (?) A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

51. One-third dīnār.

Obverse, center:

على يدى
صلح
بن مسلم

At the hands of Ṣāliḥ b. Muslim

Circular legend within border of dots:

[بسم الله(؟)مثقال ثلث[دينرواف....؟

In the name of Allāh (?): weight of a third [dīnār, full weight (?)].

Reverse, center:

مسلم

Muslim

Circular legend: ......ي]دى ص].....

....hands of Ṣā.........

Pale greenish blue, 19, 1.43 (B. 9498) Plate VI

Unpublished.

M. Al-Ḥusayn b. al-Baḥbāḥ

Governor, 193–194 A.H.: 808–810 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

52. Dīnār.

Similar to CAM I, 189, but marginal legend mostly illegible. Pale bluish green, 29, 4.27 (B. 9487)

Cf. also EAG, 131, wrongly catalogued in the anonymous class; it should be assigned to this governor.


III. UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIALS

A. Name Effaced

COIN WEIGHT

53. One-half dīnār.

Obverse, center: 8-point star surrounded by 8 pellets, within linear circle.

Marginal legend: بسم الله مثقال نصف دينر

In the name of Allāh: weight of a half dīnār.

Reverse: traces of legend.

Pale purplish brown, 22, 2.14 (B. 9506) Plate VI

This is probably similar to Fouquet Collection, p. 377, no. 9, where no mention is made of a legend on the reverse. It may possibly be an issue of Muḥammad b. Sulaymān: EAG, 95.

B. Qutaybah (?)

DISK-WEIGHT

54. Uncertain weight.

Stamp A (center):

........

......

........

Stamp B (below):

على بدى
(قتيبة(؟

At the hands of Qutaybah (?).

Dark green, fragment 45 × 40; thickness, 20

Stamp A: 20+ Stamp B: 18 (B. 9473) Plate VII

The name is very probably the same as that on a vessel stamp, EAG, 121.

C. ........ b. al-Raḥīm (?)

VESSEL STAMP

55. Qisṭ.

........
الرح......
يم قسط
واف

........ ... al-Raḥīm, qisṭ, full measure.

Green, 28 (B. 9457) Plate VII

D. Uncertain Amīr

VESSEL STAMP

56. Uncertain measure.

بسم الله مما
.....امر به الامير
(؟).......

In the name of Allāh: among those things ordered by the amīr ........ ............ (?)

Pale green, 20 (B. 9465)


IV. ANONYMOUS COIN WEIGHTS

A. Pious Phrase Only

57. One-third dīnār?

Retrograde:

...بسم
[محمد؟]

Green, 14, 1.42 (no inventory number)

B. Standard Anonymous Weights

58–60. Fals of 25 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 221.

58. Green, 31, 5.18 (B. 9483)

59. Green, 30, 5.17 (B. 9482)

60. Green, 31, 5.16 (B. 9478)

61. Fals of 24 kharrūbah.

Within a dotted square enclosed by a dotted circle (annulet outside the square at mid-point on each side):

بسم الله
مثقال فلس و
اف وزن ار
بعة وعشر
ين خروبة

Brownish green, 31, 4.76 (B. 9481) Plate VII

Similar to Launois 322–323 = Fahmy, 349–350.

62. Fals of 23 kharrūbah.

Within a linear square enclosed by a linear circle:

مثقال فلس
ثلثة وعشر
ين خروبة
* image *

Weight of a fals of three and twenty kharrūbah.

Very dark claret, 31, 4.53 (B. 9485) Plate VII

Unpublished. Cf. Fahmy, 353, without the square and the ornaments.

63. Fals of 23 kharrūbah.

Square imprint:

مثقال فلس
ثلثة وعشر
ين خروبة

Green, 29, 4.59 (B. 9496) Plate VII

Similar to Fahmy, 353.

64. Fals of 20 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 230.

Green, 29, 4.14 (B. 9495) Plate VII


V. ANONYMOUS DISK-WEIGHT

65. Uncertain weight.

بركة
من الله
[واف؟]

Blessing from Allāh: [full weight?].

Pale yellowish green, 24, 4.99 (B. 9492) Plate VII

Unpublished.


VI. ANONYMOUS RING-WEIGHTS

66-67. Great wuqīyah.

Similar to CAM I, 258–259. Inscription of no. 67 only partially preserved.

66. Silvery gray patina, basic color uncertain, 47 × 21 × 40; 64.30 (intact, but chipped and worn); stamp, 19 (B. 9471)

67. Silvery white patina, basic color uncertain, probably green, 40 × 21 × 38; 59.70 (intact, slightly chipped); stamp, 19 (B. 9470)

68. One-quarter raṭl?

Uninscribed. Exceptional shape, a simple ring with a pinched configuration on the outer surface at the "top".

Reddish brown with black streaks, 61 × 32 × 14; 89.70 (intact) (B. 9472)


VII. ANONYMOUS AND UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL STAMPS

69. One-half of one-quarter qisṭ.

نصف
ربع
القسط

Dark green, 31 (B. 9455) Plate VII

Similar to EAG, 176–178, and many others. CAM I, 266–267, transcribed قسط rather than القسط probably also had the definite article but off the flan.

70. Measure of pure lupine (turmus nafīs).

[مك[يلة
ت]رمس]
نفيس

Mea[sure] of [t]urmus, pure.

Green, 23 (B. 9460) Plate VII

Unpublished. For turmus, lupine, see EAG Suppl., pp. 14–15.

71. Measure of white sesame-seed (juljulān abyaḍ).

Similar to CAM I, 270.

Green, 26 (B. 9461) Plate VII

72. Measure of shelled lentils ('adas muqashshar).

[م]كيل[ة]
[ع]س مق[شر]

Green, 22 (B. 9464) Plate VII

Similar to Launois, 272, Fouquet Collection, 65–71. For the pharmaceutical uses of Lens esculenta, see EAG Suppl., pp. 45–46.

73. Measure of lentils (?).

.......
(عدس(؟

Green, 27 × 30, with large section of thin (2 mm.) wall of the measuring cup (B. 9450) Plate VII

Unpublished?

74. Measure of beans (fūl).

مكيلة
الفول

Measure of al-fūl.

Green, 35 (B. 9454) Plate VII

Cf. Fouquet Collection, p. 366, no. 90, "lecture rendue douteuse par l'irisation du verre," but there can be no doubt of the reading here. This would be the common garden or broad bean, Vicia faba L.1

75–76. Pious expression.

الوفا
لله

Full measure, to Allāh.

75. Green, 28 (B. 9459)

76. Green, 24 (B. 9462) Plate VII

Similar to EAG, 187–188; and cf. CAM I, 277–280, with a crescent beneath the legend. In CAM I, p. 115, I suggested that the crescent was "off the piece" on EAG, 187, but I now believe it is lacking (i.e., not on the die), as here.

77. Illegible.

Three line inscription.

Green, 20 (B. 9463) Plate VII

End Notes

1
Cf. Lane, p. 2463; Bedevian, no. 3590.

VIII. PRIVATE WEIGHT

78. Ḥamzah b. al-Mughīrah.

حمزةبن
(المغير(؟
لله

Ḥamzah b. al-Mughīrah (?), to Allāh.

Yellowish green, iridescent patina, 22, 2.81 (B. 9508)

My notes record المسيرة for the father's name, but I suspect that I misread the name and that it is للمغيرة as on two unpublished "private weights" which I have noted: one in the collection of Kemal Osman Ghalib in Cairo, and another in the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Both these read unmistakably حمزة|بن المغيرة and differ from the present piece (if my revised reading is correct) only in having لله above the name (rather than below) and a star beneath. The weights of these pieces are 3.65 and 5.79 grams respectively. Unfortunately I lack a photograph of the piece in the Benaki Museum. The epigraphy, it seems to me, is suggestive of the 2nd/8th century and I doubt therefore that the individual is to be identified with a person by this name mentioned by al-Kindi, pp. 199–200, 463–464.


THE PETER RUTHVEN COLLECTION
I. UMAYYAD OFFICIALS

A. Usāmah b. Zayd

Finance Director, 96–99 A.H.: 714–717 A.D.

Interim Governor, 102 A.H.: 720–721 A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

1. One-half qisṭ.

Similar to CAM I, 8–9.

Green, 39 × 37 (R. 640)

B. Ḥayyān b. Shurayḥ

Finance Director, ca. 99–101 A.H.: ca. 717–720 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

2. One-half dīnār.

*
امر حيان
بن شريح
ميزن نصف
واف

Pale blue-green, 23, 2.13 (R. 525) Plate VIII

Similar to Fahmy, 8, with ابن in the text, but to judge by the plate the alif is not present.

RING-WEIGHT

3. Two raṭls of meat (laḥm).

Stamp A (right):

امر حيان
بن شريح ر
طلين اللحم
واف

Order of Hayyān b. Shurayḥ: raṭlayn of laḥm, full weight.

Stamp B (left):

الو
فالله

Full weight to Allāh.

Green, fragmentary (top and part of one side only), 80 × 59 × 40+ Stamp A: 26 Stamp B: 14 (R. 1695)

Unpublished. Cf. Fouquet Collection, 47, a weight for a raṭl of meat.

VESSEL STAMPS

4. Qisṭ of figs (tīn).

Similar to CAM I, 12.

Green, 31 (R. 736) Plate VIII

5. One-quarter qisṭ of olive oil (zayt).

امر حيان بن
شريح ريع
قسط للزيت
واف

Green, 34 (R. 1742) Plate VIII

Similar to University College, 92, and Viré, 3. Despite the curious form of the next to the last letter in the third line (Petrie's curious reading is surely incorrect), I believe the words are li'l-zayt.

C. Bishr b. Ṣafwān

Governor, 101–102 A.H.: 720–721 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

6. (Fals) of 2(4) qīrāṭ.

[امرا[لا
.....مير بشر
[وعشر[ين
[قير[ط

Order of [the a-] mīr Bishr:..... and twen[ty] qīrā[ṭ].

Pale blue-green, 28, about 2/5 lacking, 2.68+ (R. 876) Plate VIII

Unpublished. It is a great pity that this weight is fragmentary, for it is unique in several respects. There can be little doubt about the correctness of the reading and the identification of Bishr with Bishr b. Ṣafwān, the fine, clear epigraphy being characteristic of the date. The missing digit in the denomination is probably "four"; the frequency peak of weights of 24 qīrāṭ is 4.64 grams, and the weight of this piece, if it were intact, would probably be in this neighbourhood. Weights in qīrāṭs of two officials earlier than Bishr are known: a piece of 26 qīrāṭ of Qurrah b. Sharīk,1 and one of 14 qīrāṭ of Usāmah b. Zayd.2

This is the first known metrological object of Bishr b. Ṣafwān. He entered into office as Governor of Egypt ('alâ'l-ṣalāt) on 17 Ramaḍān 101 (1 April 720) and was relieved in Shawwāl 102 (April 721).3

End Notes
1
Unpublished, in the Cabinet des Médailles.
2
E.g., CAM I, 6.
3
Al-Kindi, pp. 69–72; cf. al-Maqrīzī, al-Khiṭaṭ V1 (ed. Gaston Wiet, Mémoires, Institut français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire, Vol. 53, Cairo, 1927), pp. 87–88; F. Wüstenfeld, Die Statthalter, I, p. 42; Grohmann, Corpus III, I2, p. 94.

D. 'Ubaydullāh b. al-Ḥabḥāb

Finance Director, 102–106 A.H.: 720–734 A.D.

RING-WEIGHT

7. One-quarter raṭl of grapes ('inab).

مما؟]امر]
به؟]عبيد الله]
بن]الحبحاب ر]
بع ر]طل عنب]
و]اف]

[Among those things] ordered [by] 'Ubaydullāh [b.] al-Ḥabḥāb, quar[ter ra]ṭl of 'inab, [full] weight.

Green, fragment of top only (approximately ¾ of surface preserved), 46; thickness, 13+ (broken at top); 20.40+ (R. 976) Plate VIII

Unpublished. This is the first occurrence, so far as I know, of 'inab, grapes, on a glass object. Another reading 'ubab (Physalis alkekengi) is of course possible, but especially in view of the weight indicated, the reading suggested here is perhaps more likely.1

VESSEL STAMPS

8. One-quarter qisṭ.

Similar to CAM I, 38–41, EAG, 20, etc., etc.

Green, 33 (R. 1071)

9. One-quarter qisṭ of olive oil.

Similar to CAM I, 42–43, EAG, 21, EAG Suppl., 4, etc., etc. The disposition of the alif of Allāh and the final of al-Ḥabḥāb varies in the transcriptions. Here it must have been at the beginning of the fourth line.

Green, 35 × 31 (R. 1600) Plate VIII

10. One-quarter qisṭ. With Junādhah b. Maysarah. Dated 111 A.H.: 729/30 A.D.

بسم الله
ا]مر عبيد الله]
بن الح]بحاب ربع]
[قسط]على يدى جن[اذ]
[ة بن م]يسرة س[نة]
احدى عش]رة]
[ومئة]

Green, fragmentary, 42 (R. 683)

Similar to EAG, 19, BM, 392. The name of the prefect was finally read on CAM I, 37 (a half-qisṭ); the reading Khurrah in the transcription of EAG, 19, should be corrected.

11. Measure of fruit of the gingerbread tree (dawm).

بسم الله
امر عبيدا
لله بن الحبحاب
مكيلة
وم وا
فية

In the name of Allāh: order of 'Ubaydullāh b. al-Ḥabḥāb, measure of al-dawm, full measure.

Green, 37 × 34 (R. 724) Plate VIII

Unpublished. An unpublished anonymous stamp for the same fruit was seen by the writer in the collection of the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo in 1953.

Dawm (or dūm) is the fruit of Hyphaene thebaica, the doum (or doom) palm, or gingerbread tree, a large African fan palm characteristic of Upper Egypt, Nubia, Sudan and the southern Sahara, but also found as far north as the oasis of Siwa and the Sinai Peninsula. The fruit contains a fibrous pulp of the flavor of gingerbread. The supposed resin or gum of the doum palm was formerly used as a diuretic and diaphoretic medicine, and the nuts are sold today in Egyptian drug bazaars.1

It is interesting to note that this fruit was sometimes confused with nabq or jujube, for which there also exist glass measure stamps (see CAM I, 63–64, where the medicinal properties are described).

12. Half (?) measure of lupine (turmus)?

امر عبيد
لله بن الحبحا
ب مكيلة ا
(لتر؟]مس بنصف(؟]
واف....

Order of 'Ubaydullāh b. al-Ḥabḥāb: measure of a[l-tur]mus (?), one-half (?), .... full measure.

Green, 32 (R. 398) Plate VIII

This imperfectly deciphered stamp is similar to an unpublished one in the Llewllyn-Phillips collection in the British Museum and is probably the same as Fouquet Collection, 122. The proposed reading of the fourth line is offered without much confidence.

End Notes
1
Viré (p. 24) reads 'ubab on an unpublished stamp in the Louvre. For 'ubab, in addition to the passage in Ibn al-Bayṭār cited by Viré, see Lane I, p. 1931.

E. Al-Qāsim b. 'Ubaydullāh

Finance Director, 116–124 A.H.: 734–742 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

13. One-third dīnār. With Dā'ūd b. Nimr. (Dated 123? A.H.: 740/1? A.D.).

بسم الله
امر القاسم
* بن عبيد الله
ثلث على (sic?) ممثقل
يدى داود
بن نمر سنة
........

In the name of Allāh: order of al-Qāsim b. 'Ubaydullāh, weight of one-third; at the hands of Dā'ūd b. Nimr, year .............

Pale green, 20, 1.41 (R. 874) Plate VIII

Unpublished. Other issues of this prefect are known, although the name has usually been misread or undeciphered: Fahmy (52 = Launois, 94; where Nimr is taken to be 'Umar) read the name correctly on a dirhem weight dated 123 A.H. (with probably the same error in the spelling of the word mithqāl), and on a similar piece in the University College collection (117) Petrie did not attempt to decipher the father's name; a one-half qisṭ, also dated 123 (Launois, 85, read Dā'ūd b. 'Umar); a raṭl of meat, also dated 123 (EAG, 34, Nimr misread Ja'far (?)); a one-half raṭl of meat, probably dated 123 (EAG Suppl., no. 9, name read ...... b. Ayman (?)); a measure of black lentils (EAG, 38, father's name effaced); a measure of field cress (no. 15, below); also, unpublished, a measure of woad dated 123 in the Ray W. Smith collection, and an uncertain weight or stamp, also dated 123, in the Harold W. Glidden collection.

One reason for the difficulty in reading the name of the father is the descending tail of the final of yaday in the line above, well illustrated in the present example. Also an alif very distinctly precedes Nimr on no. 15, below.

Unfortunately I have not been able to identify Dā'ūd b. Nimr.

End Notes
1
Al-Ghāfiqi, I, fasc. III, pp. 493–496, with full commentary; cf. Lane I, p. 937; Bedevian, no. 1894; Muschler, p. 189.

VESSEL STAMP

14. Measure of black cumin (al-kammūn). With Muslim b. al-'Arrāf. Dated 11(8?) A.H.: 736(?) A.D.

بسم الله امر
ا]لله بالوفا وامر]
بصنعة مكيلة الكمون
اسود القاسم نب
عبيد الله على يدى مسلم
(بن العراف سنة ثمان(؟
عشرين ومئة

In the name of Allāh: ordered [A]llāh full measure; and ordered the making of a measure of al-kammūn aswad, al-Qāsim b.

'Ubaydullāh, at the hands of Muslim b. al-'Arrāf, year eight(?)- teen and one hundred.

Brownish green, 46 (fragment lacking at bottom) (R. 682) Plate VIII

Unpublished. The various sorts of cumin are discussed in EAG Suppl., pp. 15–17. For the curious name of the prefect, see CAM I, p. 19, and EAG Suppl., pp. 11–12. The date on the present specimen is very obscure, but 118 is quite possible, because we have other weights and stamps bearing the name of this prefect dated 117(?), 119 (quite common) and 121.

15. Measure of field cress (al-ṣināb). With Dā'ūd b. Nimr. Dated 123 A.H.: 740/1 A.D.

بسم الله ا
مرا]لله بالوفا وا]
مر]بصنعة مكيلة ا]
لصناب القاسم بن
[عبيد الله على يدى د[ا
سنه(sic)ودبن انمر
ث]لث وعشرين]
ومئة

In the name of Allāh: or- [dered A]llāh full measure, and or- [dered] the making of a measure of a- l-sināb, al-Qāsim b.

'Ubaydullāh, at the hands of D[ā]'- ūd b. a-Nimr (sic), year [th]ree and twenty and one hundred.

Green, 40 (R. 639) Plate VIII

Unpublished. The name of the prefect, Dā'ūd b. Nimr, has been discussed above under no. 13. Here there can be no doubt whatever about the presence of ا before نمر One can only guess at the explanation. Did the die-engraver intend to write al-Nimr and forget the lām? Or was an apprentice copying from one of the other weights or stamps on which the final on the line above appears to be an alif before the name?

The reading ṣināb appears to be correct but is offered not without reservations. It happens that there is a measure stamp probably for ṣubbār, tamarind,1 issued by al-Qāsim b. 'Ubaydullāh and Yazīd b. abi-Yazīd.2 Ṣubbār is well documented as a pharmaceutical in both mediaeval and modern times. However, the final letter of the word on this stamp looks distinctly like , whereas on the present piece it appears to be the second, third or fourth letter of the alphabet. Ṣināb is defined by Lane1 as "a sauce made of mustard and raisins," but according to the botanists ṣināb barri is Lepidium campestre, field cress, wild bastard cress or pepperwort.2 Pepperwort is defined as pepper grass, or any cress of the genus Lepidium, bearing round flattened pods "of pungent flavor." Dioscorides (II, 205, Gunther, p. 216) says that the leaves of Lepidion (Lepidium latifolium) are useful for siatica and leprosy, and, to quote the old English translation, "the root hanged about ye neck takes away paines of ye teeth." However, I do not find ṣināb in Ibn al-Bayṭār or Lepidium campestre (etc.) in the modern works on medicinal herbs, and I am therefore in some slight doubt as to the correctness of my reading of the stamp.

End Notes
1
This could also be read ṣinnār, Platanus orientalis, whose fruit had medicinal properties (Ibn al-Bayṭār, Vol. 251, pp. 90 and 385).
2
Unpublished, in the collection of Harold W. Glidden. Cf. EGPM, p. 386.

F. Yazīd b. abi-Yazīd

Prefect, ca. 116–127 A.H.: ca. 734–745 A.D.

Finance Director (?), ca. 127 A.H.: 745 A.D.

VESSEL STAMPS

16. One-half qisṭ of olive oil.

Similar to CAM I, no. 70.

Green, 35 (R. 1743)

17. Executive stamp.

Similar to CAM I, 74–75.

Green, 27 (R. 419)

End Notes
1
I, p. 1730. More probably "mustard and oil" (زبيب misread for زيت), as my friend Dr. Glidden points out, referring to the Munjid.
2
Bedevian, no. 2073. Lepidium L. is a large genus of nearly 120 species, the Egyptian species being highly variable and difficult of discrimination (Muschler, p. 425). Lepidium sativum L. is equated by Schweinfurth (p. 28) with ḥabb rashād.

G. 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwān

Finance Director, 131–132 A.H.: 749 A.D.

Governor, 132–133 A.H.: 750 A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

18. Measure of privet or box (al-katam).

بسم الله امر
الله بالوفا وامر
الامير عبد الملك
بن]مرون بصنعة]
مكيلة الكتم
وافية

In the name of Allāh: ordered Allāh full measure, and ordered the amīr 'Abd al-Malik [b.] Marwān the making of a measure of al-katam, full measure.

Green, 43 (R. 1404) Plate IX

Unpublished. There is a similar unpublished specimen in the Llewellyn-Phillips collection in the British Museum. Katam also appears on two unpublished stamps in the collection of Ray W. Smith: one of Ḥayyān b. Shurayḥ and Yazīd II, and the other anonymous.

Katam is perhaps Buxus dioica, privet.1 According to the Arab pharmacologists, the ground-up dried leaves of katam were mixed with henna as a hair die. Taken internally the substance promoted violent vomiting and was employed as an emetic in cases of bite by rabid dogs. A decoction of the root was used in the preparation of ink.2 On the other hand I suspect a confusion in identification with baqs, or box (Buxus sempervirens), for which also there may exist measure stamps.1 The Dispensatory 2 states that various parts of the Buxus sempervirens were used in the "days of therapeutic superstition" for rheumatism, malarial fevers, epilepsy and syphilis. In some countries the wood has been considered diaphoretic. In full doses it is narcotic and sedative, and in over-doses, emetico-cathartic and convulsant. The leaves have sudorific and cathartic properties. Various perfumes and extracts were formerly made from the leaves and bark.3

End Notes
1
Dozy, Supplément, II, p. 444 (French troëne); Ahmed Issa, p. 34.
1
See, for example, Fouquet Collection, 93, read as naqsh. This is doubtless the same substance as CAM I, 85, 117–119, 273, which I read, I now believe erroneously, as mishsh.
2
Ibn al-Bayṭār, Vol. 261, pp. 144–145, no. 1886.
2
P. 1608.
3
Grieve, I, pp. 121–122.

II. 'ABBĀSID OFFICIALS

A. 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ

Prefect, ca. 133–141 A.H.: 751–758 A.D. ca. 165–169 A.H.: 781–786 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

19. Fals of 30 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 107.

Yellowish green, 31, 5.84 (R. 894)

VESSEL STAMP

20. Executive stamp.

على يدى
عاصم
بن]حفص]

At the hands of 'Āṣim [b.] Ḥafṣ.

Green, 21 (R. 691) Plate IX

This stamp is probably similar to Fouquet Collection, 188–189, neither of which is illustrated.

B. Muḥammad b. al-Ash'ath

Governor, 141–143 A.H.: 759–760 A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

21. Measure of white sesame seed (juljulān abyaḍ). With 'Abdullāh b. Rāshid.

Similar to CAM I, no. 134, which is poorly preserved.

Green, 41 (R. 1694) Plate IX

C. Ḥumayd b. Qaḥṭabah

Governor, 143–144 A.H.: 760–762 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

22. One-third dīnār. With Muḥammad b. Shuraḥbīl. Artisan: Kāmil.

Obverse:

بسم الله امر
الامير حميد بن
قحطبة مثقا
ل ثلث دينر و
imageاف

Reverse center:

صنعة
كامل

Traces of marginal legend.

Green, 20, 1.41 (R. 1753) Plate IX

Similar to Fahmy, 140 (= Launois, 187). The name of the prefect is illegible on the present specimen but is preserved in part on the Cairo Museum piece and on a half-dīnār weight in that collection (Fahmy, 139). Some details of Ḥumayd's career are given in Fahmy, pp. 109–110. AlKindi (pp. 110–111) is specific about the dates of his office: 5 Ramaḍān 143 to 23 Dhu'l- Qa'dah 144.1

End Notes
1
These dates differ slightly from those given in Wüstenfeld, Die Statthalter, II, pp. 6–7.

D. Salamah

Prefect or Finance Director, sometime ca. 144–157 A.H.: ca. 762–774 A.D.

COIN WEIGHTS

23. (Fals) of 26 (kharrūbah).

Similar to CAM I, 150, where other references are given. Fahmy describes three specimens (199–201), one of which must be Launois, 381.

Green, 30, 5.03 (R. 502)

For the Coptic figures, see CAM I, pp. 42, 59. Salamah's dates are discussed in CAM I, pp. 57–58 (cf. Fahmy, pp. 137–138, who repeats the attribution proposed in EAG, pp. 127–128).

24. Fals of 24 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 151–152, where other references are given.

Green, 28 × 29, 4.63 (R. 1617)

DISK-WEIGHT

25. One-half wuqīyah.

Square imprint:

على يدى
[سلمة؟]
[نصف؟]

At the hands of [Salamah?]: [half?].

Pale amber, splash of cobalt, 30; thickness, 11; stamp, 14; 14.63 (R. 743)

Unpublished.

E. 'Umar b. Yaḥyâ

Prefect or Finance Director, sometime ca. 152–157 (?) A.H.: ca. 769–774 (?) A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

26. Executive stamp.

Similar to CAM I, 161.

Green, 27 (R. 1465)

For the approximate dates of 'Umar b. Yaḥyâ, see CAM I, p. 62.

F. Muḥammad b. Sa'īd

Governor, 152–157 (?) A.H.: 769–774 (?) A.D.

COIN WEIGHTS

27. Dīnār. With Sa'īd b. al-Musayyib. Artisan: Souerous.

Obverse:

بسم الله
امر الامير
محمد بن سعبد
ثمقال دينر

Reverse (within linear circle):

صنعة

سويرس

Margin (within linear circle):

بسم الله يدى[سع]يد بن المسيب

Green, 28, 3.95 (reverse chipped) (R. 409) Plate IX

Similar to BM, 19, University College, 185, and probably Fahmy, 155. See also a half-dīnār, CAM I, 163. For Souerous (Severos), see CAM I, pp. 63–64.

G. The Caliph al-Mahdi

158–169 A.H: 775–785 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

28. Half-dīnār.

Obverse:

بسم الله
المهدى امير
المؤمنين مثقا
نصف و(sic
اف

In the name of Allāh: al-Mahdi, Commander of the Believers: weight of a half, full weight.

Reverse: legends effaced.

Pale green, 22, 2.11 (R. 826)

Because of the illegibility of the reverse no specific reference can be given for this half-dīnār weight. My files record 17 half-dīnārs of al-Mahdi with the names of 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ, Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ, Ismā'īl b. Ibrāhīm, Maṭar, Muḥammad b. Sulaymān, al-Muhājir, Wāḍiḥ, and ..... b. Ziyād (?).

DISK-WEIGHT

29. Fraction of wuqīyah?.

Circular imprint:

[بسم الل[ه
[المهدى ام[ير
المؤمنين
........

In the name of Allā[h]: al-Mahdi, Com[mander] of the Believers, ....................

Small segments of two other circular imprints are preserved.

Green, fragmentary, 37 + × 27+; thickness, 9; 8.47 +; imprint, 15 (R.831)

Unpublished. This is, I believe, the first recorded diskweight of al-Mahdi.

H. Maṭar.

Governor, 157–159 A.H.: 773–776 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHTS

30. Wuqīyah.

....ب
....مطر
....اللمؤم
....الله وقية

This is probably to be reconstructed as follows:

بسم الله امر
مطر مولى امير
المؤمنين اكرمه
الله وقية واف

In the name of Allāh: order of Maṭar, mawlâ of the Commander of the Faithful, may be generous to him Allāh, wuqīyah, full weight.

Green, fragmentary, about ½, 52; thickness, 9; 16.67+ (R. 496) Plate IX

Unpublished. This is the first recorded disk-weight of Maṭar. For a ring-weight of his probably with the same legend (except raṭl instead of wuqīyah), see EAG, 94.

31. Great wuqīyah.

A. Square imprint:

وقية
كبير
ف]ب.....]

Wuqīyah, great, [full weigh]t.

B. Fragment of rectangular imprint above A:

......
طر....

........... [Ma]ṭar(?).

Brownish green, fragmentary, 38+ × 27+; thickness, 13; 15.05+

Stamp A: 19×12+ Stamp B: 11+ × 10+ (R. 1642)

This may not be Maṭar's; the reconstruction is hypothetical. For other "great wuqīyahs," see EAG, 116 ('Abd alRaḥmān b. Maysarah) and CAM I, 258–259 (anonymous).

I. Muḥammad b. Sulaymān (?)

Governor, 159–161 A.H.: 775–778 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

32. One-third dīnār.

Obverse: In center, within linear circle, 8-point star

Margin: بسم الله مثقال ثلث دينر

Reverse: Very faint traces of 3-line(?) legend, perhaps:

على يدى
محمد
نب سليمن

At the hands of Muḥammad b. Sulaymān (?).

Very pale blue-green, 18, 1.42 (R. 822)

Probably similar to EAG, 95–96, with the reverse legend reconstructed, probably correctly.

J. Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ

Governor, 165–167, A.H.: 781–784 A.D.

Finance Director, 174 A.H.: 790/1 A.D.

Governor, 176 A.H.: 792 A.D.

RING-WEIGHTS

33. Great raṭl. With 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ.

A. Square imprint, center:

رطل
كبير
واف

Raṭl, great, full weight.

B. Square imprint, left:

امر الا
مير ابر
هيم
بن صالح

Order of the amīr Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ.

C. Square imprint, right:

على يدى
عاصم
بن حفص

At the hands of 'Āṣim b.Ḥafṣ.

Green, intact except for small chip at top right, 74×83×44; 492.6

Stamp A: 23×17+ Stamp B: 21×21 Stamp C: 21×21 (R. 728) Plates IX & X

The existence of this remarkably well preserved ringweight has been recorded by Richard Ettinghausen in connection with an Umayyad raṭl weight in the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore (The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery, II, 1939, p. 76, footnote 16). Other recorded heavy weights of Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ are: a great raṭl (with stamps A and B, but not C), Fouquet Collection, p. 390, no. 44; raṭls, University College, 207, and BM, 25G; one-quarter great raṭl, University College, 208; uncertain weight, EAG, 105.

For 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ, see EAG, p. 107.

34. Great raṭl. With Yazīd b. Ziyād.

A. Identical with stamp A of no. 33, above.

B. Identical with stamp B of no. 33, above, partially effaced by stamp A.

C. Square imprint, right:

على يدى
بزيد بن
زياد

At the hands of Yazīd b. Ziyād.

Green, fragmentary, top and one side only, 70×70+ ×45

Stamp A: 23 × 21 Stamp B: 22 × 17+ Stamp C: 21×17+ (R. 893) Plate X

Unpublished. The name of Yazīd b. Ziyād appears on a disk-weight in the Fouquet Collection, p. 386, no. 16.

K. Al-Faḍl b. Ṣāliḥ

Governor and Finance Director, 168–169 A.H.; 785–786 A.D.

COIN WEIGHT

35. Dīnār. With 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ.

Obverse:

مما امربه الا
مير]الفضل بن]
صالح ا]كرمه الله]
مثقال دينر]واف]

Reverse: area effaced

[حفص]

*

Margin:

ع[لى يدى عا ]صم بن

Yellowish green, fragmentary (⅓ missing), 29, 2.58+ (R. 977) Plate X

The inscriptions have been completed by comparison with two identical specimens: BM, 26, and University College, 206. These are, so far as I know, the only preserved weights of al-Faḍl b. Ṣāliḥ b. 'Ali al-'Abbāsi. He was appointed Governor and Finance Director of Egypt on 13 Dhu'l- Qa'dah 168, but did not actually assume his duties until the end of Muḥarram 169 (August 785). He was succeeded by 'Ali b. Sulaymān in Shawwāl 169 (April/May, 786).1

End Notes
1
Grohmann, Corpus, III, I2, p. 134; al-Kindi, pp. 128–131; cf. Wüstenfeld, Die Statthalter, II, pp. 14–15.

L. Ṣāliḥ b. Muslim

Prefect, ca. 171–180 (?) A.H.: ca. 787–796 (?) A.D.

VESSEL STAMP

36. Executive stamp.

يدى على
صلح
بن مسلم

At the hands of Ṣāliḥ b. Muslim.

Pale green, 16, fragment of rim (20 mm. long) (R. 1913)

No vessel stamp of Ṣāliḥ b. Muslim alone has hitherto been published, but a number of weights bear his name (cf. Fahmy, 224–228, Launois, 240–241, University College, 250), as well as weights and stamps in conjunction with Mūsâ b. Sābiq (cf. CAM I, 183–185).

M. Abu-Ja'far Ashinās (?)

Viceroy, 219–230 A.H.: 834–844 A.D.

DISK-WEIGHT

37. Great wuqīyah.

A. Circular imprint:

وقية
كبير
وا]ف]

Wuqīyah, great, [full] weight.

B. Rectangular imprint:

....مما امر به الا
....شنا...
........

Among those things ordered by the a-......shinās (?), ...............

Green, fragmentary, 42 × 33 +; thickness, 9; 13.24+

Stamp A: 19 Stamp B: 24+ ×15+ (R. 1417) Plate X

Unpublished. The corpus of Ashinās' glass weights and measures consists of: a disk-weight (BM, 27G), a ring-weight (EAG, 110), an unpublished ring-weight with the Caliph al-Mu'taṣim, another ring-weight (see below), a vessel stamp (Launois, Cabinet des Médailles, 13), and (perhaps) with Mūsâ b. abi-'l-'Abbās, another vessel stamp (EAG Suppl., 30).

RING-WEIGHT

38. One-third raṭl (?). Dated 230 A.H.: 844/6 A.D.

[اشنا؟]....
س بعمله على يدى
[محمد بن [بسطام؟
وزن ثلث
سنة ثلثين ومائتين

....... [Ashinā-(?)] s, the making of it, at the hands of Muḥammad b. [Bisṭām (?)], the weight of a third, year thirty and two hundred.

Pale green, fragmentary, top and part of sides, 74 × 40+ × 43; 169.94+

Stamp: 47 × 44+ (R. 1456?) Plate XI

The name of the father of the prefect Muḥammad is unfortunately very uncertain. It is quite illegible here and the reconstruction is based almost entirely on two other weights of Ashinās', on both of which the name is very dubious: BM, 27G, where Lane-Poole read Bisṭām with a query, and EAG, 110, where I thinkطام.....can be read. As for the reconstruction of the name of Ashinās, I believe this can be considered secure, although only the letter sīn is preserved. The weight, a "third" (or "three"?) is enigmatic. We do not know how much of the piece is missing. If it had the usual shape it would probably have weighed a good deal more than a third of most pounds, and too little for three pounds; and far too much for three ounces.

N. Yazīd b. 'Abdullāh

Governor, 242–253 A.H.: 856–867 A.D.

RING-WEIGHT

39. [Raṭl?].

Similar to CAM I, 197, but with the last two lines not obliterated on the die as they had been on that and other specimens referred to in CAM I, pp. 83–84.

Green, fragmentary, part of top and one side only, finger-nail prints at sides of stamp; 42+ × 33+ × 54; 139.10+; stamp: 27 ×27 (R. 854)

Plate X

I have not succeeded in deciphering the last two lines, except for the final word, which appears to be المخسرين which suggests Qur'ān XXVI, 181 (cf. EAG, pp. 98–99, etc.) and would confirm Jungfleisch's remarks (Bull. Inst. d'Egypte, XXX, 1947–8, p. 3, footnote 1, and CAM I, p. 84) about "la malédiction contre les prévaricateurs."


III. UNIDENTIFIED OFFICIALS

A. Mu'āwiyah b. Rāshid

COIN WEIGHT

40. Fals.

امر معوية
بن راشد مثقا
فلس واف(sic

Order of Mu'āwiyah b. Rāshid, weight of a fals, full weight.

Pale blue-green, 31, 5.75 (R. 1315) Plate X

Unpublished. The style of epigraphy is Umayyad or early 'Abbāsid. The weight would correspond to that of 30 kharrūbah.

B. Al-Mufaḍḍal b. Sulaymān

DISK-WEIGHT

41. Great [wuqīyah].

A. Circular imprint, at bottom:

على يدى
المفضل
بن سليمن

At the hands of al-Mufaḍḍal b. Sulaymān.

B. Circular imprint, at right: same as A (fragmentary).

C. Circular imprint, center:

.......
[كب[ير
واف

......... grea[t], full weight.

D. Circular imprint, at left: chipped, fragmentary, effaced.

Green, fragment, 50 ×33+; thickness, 11; 18.96+

Stamp A:18 Stamp B: (18) Stamp C: 10+ Stamp D:? (R. 1603)

Plate XI

Unpublished.

C. ......and 'Isâ, Sons of Yaḥyâ?

42. Coin weight.

كرى (؟)وعيسى....
image
(ابنى (؟)يحيى(؟

...... and 'Isâ, sons of (?) Yaḥyâ (?).

Pale blue-green, 32 (fragment lacking), 7.10+ (R. 501) Plate XI

This curious piece is comparable to one of Idrīs and Mūsâ, sons of (?) Mahdi, published in CAM I, 203; and is apparently identical with the Llewellyn-Phillips piece cited there, and with University College, 249. Although the resemblance of these pieces to certain Byzantine-Arab lead bullae may be fortuitous, the similarity is sufficiently striking to merit attention. See, for example, one with the legend "Ḥasan and Salāma the sons of Sa'īd," recently illustrated in The British Museum Quarterly.1

End Notes

1
Vol. XXV, 1962, p. 17, pl. IV: G. Bonner, G. M. Meredith-Owens and J. Walker, "A Byzantino-Arabic bulla." Other examples are cited there. The authors date the epigraphy no earlier than the 13th c., but it is my impression that it might be as early as the 10th.

IV. ANONYMOUS WEIGHTS

43. Fals of 25 kharrūbah.

Similar to CAM I, 221; EAG, 134–137; EAG Suppl., 38.

Green, 30, 5.14 (R. 1316) Plate XI

44. Uncertain weight. Pious expression?

....(الله ص(؟
.....طر
و

Pale green, 30, irregular thickness, 6.97 (R. 605)

Possibly a pious expression. The piece is anomalous.

45. One-half dīnār. Barbarous legend.

Brownish green, 20, 2.12 (R. 459)

See no. 46, below, for an illustration of the same "legend."

46. One-third dīnār. Barbarous legend.

Pale green, 18, 1.39 (R. 450) Plate XI

47. Great wuqīyah.

Similar to CAM I, 258–259.

Green, 48×41×20, chipped, fragments lacking, 59.44+; Stamp: 18 (R. 1463) Plate XI


V. ANONYMOUS VESSEL STAMPS

48. One-half of one-quarter qisṭ.

Similar to EAG, 176–178, and CAM I, 266–267. The latter appear to lack the definite article, but perhaps ال was present on the die but off the flan.

Bluish green, 29, fragment of rim (R. 1464)

49. Measure of shelled pomegranate (jullanār muqashshar).

مكيلة
[جلنار مق[شر

Green, 22, fragment of rim (R. 493)

Similar to Launois, 305, University College, 223, and Fouquet Collection, 72, 72 bis, variously read and interpreted. For dessicated pomegranate, حلنار محشوش see CAM I, 269, and for the uses of pomegranate cf. CAM I, pp. 110–112.

50. Pious exhortation.

الوفا لله
ولا تبخسوا
المكيال

Full measure to Allāh; and do not diminish the measures.

Green, 30 (R. 1416) Plate XI

This is an adaptation of the Qur'ānic injunction against giving short weights and measures (Qur'ān, XI, 85–86; XXVI, 181–183). The stamp is probably the same as that on EAG, 129, a disk-weight bearing two stamps, one being that of an official whose name is only partly preserved. On that piece I reconstructed the last line as الناس أشيآءهم on the basis of the Qur'ānic passages, but no doubt it was المكيال as here.

51. Pious exhortation.

Similar to no. 50, but legend fragmentarily preserved.

Pale blue-green, 18 (R. 494)

52. Pious expression.

الوفا
لله

Green, 20 (R. 495)

Similar to EAG, 187–188 and many others.


VI. UNIDENTIFIED WEIGHTS

COIN WEIGHT

53. Uncertain official. dīnār.

..........
..........
...بن...ا
...(مثقال(؟
ينر واف

Green, 29, irregular shape and thickness, 4.25 (R. 515)

DISK-WEIGHTS

54. [Two wuqīyah].

Traces of 3-line legend in square imprint.

Very pale green with 5 cobalt splashes, flattened sphere, 43; thickness, 20; imprint, 17; 58.92 (intact, but slightly pitted) (R. 340) Plate XI

55. Wuqīyah.

[بسم الل[ه
[امر الا[مير
....محمد
....وقية

In the name of Allā[h]: order of the a[mīr] Muḥammad.......... wuqīyah.........

Green, fragment (about ½), 52, 16.17+ (R. 975)

56. Wuqīyah.

مما امر به الا
...والحو...
.......

Among those things ordered by the a- .................. ..................

Green, fragment (about ⅔), 45; thickness, 12; circular stamp, 23; 19.28+. Five preserved finger-nail prints around top periphery (R. 1418)

57. Wuqīyah.

Traces of 5(?)-line legend in circular imprint.

Bluish green, 43, chip lacking; thickness, 12; stamp, 20; 30.18+ (R. 742)

58. One-half wuqīyah.

Traces of 3-line legend in square imprint.

Bluish green, 31; thickness, 10; stamp, 15; 14.83 (intact) (R. 1627)

59. One-fifth (?) wuqīyah.

Traces of 3-line legend in square imprint.

Pale amber, 24; thickness, 6; stamp, 14; 5.89 (intact but worn) (R.475)

RING-WEIGHTS

60–62. Three heavily oxidized and worn ring-weights with iridescent patina; no traces of legends, and of no metrological value.

(R. 336, 424, 721)


VII. UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL STAMPS

63. Nimr?

....بسم ال
....اللهم اع
(نمر (؟)بصنع...(؟
....مر لسا....

In the name of Al[lāh]: O God .............. Nimr (?), the mak[ing] ..................

Brownish yellow, 40 (R. 737) Plate XI

The epigraphy is large and crude, and the piece is altogether anomalous.

64. One-half qisṭ (?).

..........
.........
.........
(نصف(؟
سط و...
ف..

Green, 44×36 (R. 1061)

The legend is largely obliterated by swirls.

65. Qisṭ.

قسط
...دفس..

Green, 21; fragment of rim (R. 771)

66–70. Illegible.

Five obliterated or illegible green vessel stamps, ranging in diameter from 18 to 38 mm.

(R. 266, 506, 1062, 1063, 1064)


BACK

INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

  • 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwān 9, 37
  • 'Abd al-Malik b. Yazīd 10, 11
  • 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Maysarah 44
  • 'Abd al-Raḥmān b. Yazīd 10, 15
  • 'Abdullāh b. Rāshid 14, 39
  • Ali b. Sulaymān 47
  • Ashinās, abu-Ja'far 48–9
  • 'Āṣim b. Ḥafṣ 11, 39, 43, 45–7
  • Bishr b. Ṣafwān 30
  • Dā'ūd b. Nimr 33–5
  • Dā'ūd b. 'Umar 34
  • al-Faḍl b. Ṣāliḥ 47
  • Ḥafṣ b. al-Wālid 5–6
  • Ḥamzah b. al-Mughīrah 27
  • Ḥasan b. Sa'īd 52
  • Ḥayyān b. Shurayḥ 2, 28–9, 37
  • Ḥumayd b. Qaḥṭabah 40
  • al-Ḥusayn b. al-Baḥbāḥ 20
  • Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ 43, 45–6
  • Idrīs b. Mahdi 52
  • 'Īsâ b. abi-'Aṭā 7–8
  • 'Īsâ b. Yaḥyâ 52
  • Ismā'īl b. Ibrāhīm 43
  • Jumādhah b. Maysarah 32
  • Kāmil 40
  • al-Mahdi (Caliph) 43
  • al-Manṣūr (Caliph) 12–3
  • Maṭar 43–4
  • Mu'āwiyah b. Rāshid 51
  • al-Mufaḍḍal b. Sulaymān 51
  • al-Muhājir 43
  • Muḥammad b. al-Ash'ath 14, 39
  • Muḥammad b. Bisṭām 49
  • Muḥammad b. Sa'īd 17–9, 42
  • Muḥammad b. Shuraḥbīl 10–1, 16, 40
  • Muḥammad b. Sulaymān 19, 21, 43, 45
  • Muḥammad.......56
  • Mūsâ b. abi'l-'Abbās 49
  • Mūsâ b. Mahdi 52
  • Mūsâ b. Sābiq 48
  • Muslim b. al-'Arrāf 4–5, 34
  • al-Mu'taṣim (Caliph) 49
  • Nimr 34–5, 57
  • al-Qāsim b. 'Ubaydullāh 4–5, 33–5
  • Qurrah b. Sharīk 30
  • Qutaybah 21–2
  • Ṣaffār b. Shabbah 5
  • Sa'īd b. al-Musayyib 42
  • Salamah 16–9, 41
  • Salamah b. Sa'īd 52
  • Ṣāliḥ b. Muslim 20, 48
  • Souerous 42
  • 'Ubaydullāh b. al-Ḥabḥāb 3, 31–3
  • 'Umar b. Yaḥyâ 17–8, 42
  • Usāmah b. Zayd 1–2, 13, 28, 30
  • Wāḍiḥ 43
  • Yazīd II (Caliph) 37
  • Yazīd b. 'Abdullāh 50
  • Yazīd b. abi-Yazīd 7–8, 35–7
  • Yazīd b. Ḥātim 15–6
  • Yazīd b. Ziyād 46
  • .....b. Ayman 34
  • .....b. al-Raḥīm 22
  • .....b. Ziyād 43

    INDEX OF WORDS, DENOMINATIONS, ETC.
  • 'adas 2
  • 'adas (al)-muqashshar 26
  • amīr 6, 14, 16–9, 22, 30, 37, 40, 42, 45, 47, 56
  • baqs 37
  • beans 26
  • box 37
  • Buxus dioica 37
  • Buxus sempervirens 37–8
  • chick-peas 3
  • chick-peas, dessicated 2
  • chick-peas, white 14
  • ckickling vetch 13
  • Cicer arietinum 14
  • cress, field 35–6
  • cress, wild bastard 36
  • cumin 35
  • cumin, black 34
  • dawm 32
  • dīnār 1, 20, 42, 47, 55
  • ½ dīnār 1, 4, 7, 21, 28, 43, 53
  • ⅓ dīnār 3, 4–8, 17, 20, 23, 33, 40, 45, 53
  • doum palm 32
  • dūm 32
  • executive stamps 16, 37, 39, 42, 48
  • fals 1, 3, 4, 10, 23–4, 30, 39, 41, 51, 53
  • figs 29
  • fūl 26
  • gingerbread tree 32
  • grapes 31
  • ḥabb rashād 36
  • henna 13–4, 37
  • henna, pulverized 13–4
  • ḥimmaṣ 3
  • ḥimmaṣ al-abyaḍ 14
  • ḥimmaṣ maḥshūsh 2
  • ḥinnā mard 13
  • Hyphaene thebaica 32
  • 'inab 31
  • jujube 33
  • juljulān abyaḍ 26, 39
  • jullanār (al)-muqashshar 12, 54
  • al-kammūn aswad 34
  • al-katam 37
  • kharrūbah, 18 3
  • 20 24
  • 23 24
  • 24 3, 10, 23, 41
  • 25 23, 53
  • 26 17, 41
  • 30 4, 16, 39
  • 32 17
  • Kupros 14
  • laḥm 7, 29
  • lawsone 14
  • Lawsonia alba 14
  • Lawsonia inermis 14
  • Lens esculenta 26
  • lentils 2, 26
  • lentils, shelled 26
  • Lepidion 36
  • Lepidium 36
  • Lepidium campestre 36
  • Lepidium latifolium 36
  • Lepidium sativum 36
  • lupine 12, 33
  • lupine, pure 25
  • mard 13
  • mawlâ 44
  • measure 2–3, 12–4, 22, 26, 32–5, 37, 39, 54
  • meat 7, 29
  • mishsh 38
  • nabq 33
  • olive oil, 7, 29, 31, 36
  • pepper grass 36
  • pepperwort 36
  • Physalis alkekengi 31
  • Platanus orientalis 35
  • pomegranate, shelled 12–3, 54
  • privet 37
  • qarārīṭ 1
  • qīrāṭ, 10 1–2; 14 30; 24 30; 26 30
  • qisṭ 7, 9, 22, 29, 57
  • ½ qisṭ 5, 12, 28, 36, 57
  • ¼ qisṭ 5, 7, 11, 29, 31–2
  • ½ of ¼ quiṭ 25. 54
  • raṭl 6, 11, 18–9, 46, 50 2
  • raṭl 29
  • great raṭl 45–6
  • ½ great raṭl 8
  • ¼ great raṭl 46
  • ½ raṭl 15, 19
  • raṭl 49
  • ¼ raṭl 25, 31
  • sesame-seed, white 26, 39
  • al-ṣināb 35–6
  • ṣināb barri 36
  • ṣinnār 35
  • ṣubbār 35
  • tamarind 35 tīn 29
  • turmus 12, 33
  • turmus nafīs 25
  • 'ubab 31
  • Vicia faba 26
  • wuqīyah 9, 18–9, 44, 56
  • 2 wuqīyah 55
  • great wuqīyah 11, 25, 44, 48, 51, 53
  • ½ wuqīyah 41, 56
  • 1/5 wuqīyah 56
  • 1/6wuqīyah 10, 15
  • wuqīyah, fraction 43
  • zayt 7, 29

ARABIC INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

  • 18, 42 عمر بن يحيى
  • 7–8عيسى بن ابى عطا
  • 52 عيسى بن يحيى
  • 47 الفضل بن صالح
  • 4–5, 33–5القاسم بن عبيد الله
  • 2 2 قتيبة
  • 10, 40 كامل
  • 14, 39 محمد بن الاشعث
  • 49 محمد بن بسطام
  • 17–9, 42 محمد بن سعيد
  • 19, 45 محمد بن سايمن
  • 10–1, 16محمد بن شرحبيل
  • 56 .....محمد
  • 4–5, 34 مسلم بن العراف
  • 44 مطر
  • 51 معوية بن راشد
  • 51 المفضل بن سليمن
  • 43 المهدى
  • 35, 37 نمر
  • 7–8, 36–يزيد بن ابى يزيد
  • 15–6 يزيد بن حاتم
  • 46 يزيد بن زياد
  • 50 يزيد بن عبد الله
  • 22 الرحيم....
  • 45–6 ابرهيم بن صالح
  • 1–2, 28 اسامة بن زيد
  • 48–9 اشناس
  • 30 بشر بن صفوان
  • 32 جناذة بن ميسرة
  • 20 الحسين بن البحباح
  • 6 حفص بن الوليد
  • 27 حمزة بن المغيرة
  • 40 حميد بن قحطبة
  • 2, 28–9 حيان بن شريح
  • 33, 35 داود بن نمر
  • 42 سعيد بن المسيب
  • 42 سو يرس
  • 16–9, 41 سلمة
  • 5 صفاربن شبة
  • 20, 48 صلح بن مسلم
  • 11, 39, 46–7 عاصم بن حفص
  • 4 العاف
  • 12–3 عبد الله
  • 14, 39 عبد الله بن راشد
  • 1 5 عبد الرحمن بن يزيد
  • 9, 37 عبد الملك بن مرون
  • 10–1 عبد الملك بن يزبد
  • 3, 31–3 عبد الله بن الحبحاب

ARABIC INDX OF WORDS AND PHRASES

  • 13 الراس
  • 25, 29, 31–2 ربع
  • 6, 11, 15, 19, 31 رطل
  • 8, 45 رطل كبير
  • 29 رطلين
  • 29 الزيت
  • 10 سدس
  • 35 الصناب
  • 4 صنعه
  • 3–4, 6, 8–9, 11–4, 34–5, 37, 40, 42, 57 صنعة
  • 2, 26 عدس
  • 8- 11, 14–6, 18, 20, 22, 32, 34–5, 39, 41–2, 45–9, 51 على يدى
  • 49 عمله
  • 31 منب
  • 23–4, 51 فلس
  • 1 الفلس
  • 26 الفول
  • 1 قراريط
  • 7, 9, 12, 22, 29, 32, 57 قسط
  • 25 القسط
  • 5 قسطان
  • 3 0 قيرط
  • 37 الكتم
  • 34 الكمون
  • 52 ابنى
  • 14 الابيض
  • 34 اسود
  • 9, 16 اصلحه الله
  • 19, 44, 47 اكرمه الله
  • 57 اللهم
  • passim امر
  • 9, 34–5, 37 امر الله باوفا
  • 6, 14–9, 22, 30, 37, 40, 42, 45, 47, 56 الامير
  • 12–3, 43–4 الامير المؤمنين
  • 12 etc اوفوا الكيل
  • 24 بركة من الله
  • passim بسم الله
  • 12, 25 ترمس
  • 33 الترمس
  • 3, 6, 8, 17, 20, 33, 40, 45, 49 ثلث
  • 13 جلبان
  • 12–3, 54 خلنار
  • 2–3, 14 حمص
  • 13 حنا
  • 23–4 خروبة
  • 32 الدوم
  • 1, 6, 20–1, 40, 42, 45, 47, 55 دينر
  • 1 ميزان
  • 28 ميزن
  • 4, 8, 12, 15, 19, 21, 25, 28, 33, 41, 43. 57 نصف
  • 2 5 نفيس
  • 54 ولا تبخسوا المكيال
  • passim واف
  • 32, 37 وافية
  • 23, 49 وزن
  • 8–9, 26, 29, 54–5 الوفا لله
  • 9- 10, 18–9, 44, 56 وقية
  • 11, 44, 48, 51 وقية كبير
  • 7, 29 لحم
  • 27 لله
  • 3–4, 6, 8, 17, 20–1, 23–4, 33, 40, 42–3, 45, 47, 51, 55 مثقال
  • 2 محشوش
  • 12, 50 المخسرين
  • 13 المر
  • 13 المرا
  • 13 مرد
  • 12–3, 26, 54 مقشر
  • 54 المكيال
  • 2–3, 12–4, 25–6, 32–5, 37, 54 مكيلة
  • 3, 12, 22, 31, 47–8, 56 مما امر به
  • 44 مولى

THE BENAKI MUSEUM COLLECTION

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IV

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VII

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VIII

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XI

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