ORIENTALIA LOVANIENSIA

ANALECTA
- - - 266 - - -

SCRIBAL PRACTICES AND THE SOCIAL

CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE

in Antiquity, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam

edited by

MYRIAM WISSA
foreword by

SEBASTIAN BROCK

preface by

PASCAL VERNUS

PEETERS
LEUVEN - PARIS - BRISTOL, CT
2017
60 M. WEEDEN

2011b: Chapter 28. Adapting to New Contexts: Cuneiform in Anatolia. In K. Rad-

ner and E. Robson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture. Oxford:
OUP. 597-617. SCRIBAL TRADITION AND THE TRANSMISSION OF
WINITZER, A. 2006: The Generative Paradigm in Old Babylonian Divination. PhD Dis-
sertation. Harvard University. SYRIAC LITERATURE IN LATE ANTIQUITY AND EARLY ISLAM

Sebastian P. BROCK
Wolfson College and Oriental Institute (University of Oxford)

Syriac is uniquely rich in the number of literary manuscripts which survive

from the fifth to the end of the ninth century. This can best be seen from the
figures for the number of dated manuscripts that are available: 1

Dated Syriac manuscripts, 5111-91" century

Fifth century: 6 Eighth century: 22
Sixth century: 45 Ninth century: 46
Seventh century: 15

Needless to say, there are many more undated manuscripts which, on palaeo-
graphical grounds, can also be dated within this time frame.
The vast majority of these manuscripts have been preserved in one or other of
two monasteries in Egypt, Dayr al-Suryan, between Alexandria and Cairo, and
St Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. Whereas only very few Syriac manu-
scripts earlier than about the year 1000 have been preserved elsewhere in the
Middle East, it is largely thanks to the dry climate of Egypt that such a large
number of early manuscripts have been preserved in these two monasteries. In
the case of Dayr al-Suryan much credit is also due to the early tenth-century
abbot Moses of Nisibis, who brought back 250 manuscripts on his return from
Baghdad,2 where he had to spend several years dealing with taxation business.
It is fortunate that these two monasteries represent two different ecclesiastical
traditions, Syrian Orthodox in the case of Dayr al-Suryan, and Melkite (Rum/
Byzantine Orthodox) in that of St Catherine's. This factor of course governs the
nature of the texts that these monastic communities chose to preserve. Since it
so happens that Moses' 250 manuscripts included several which belong to the

1
For details, see S.P. BROCK, A tentative checklist of dated Syriac manuscripts up to 1300, in
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 15 (2012), p. 21-48.
2
For these (many of which are now in the Vatican and British Libraries), see H. EVELYN
WHITE, The Monasteries of the Wadi '11 Natrun, II, New York, 1926-1933, II, p. 439-458.
and on Moses, S.P. BROCK, Abbot Mushe of Nisibis, collector of Syriac manuscripts, in C. BAF-
FI0NI, R.B. FINAZZI, A. PASSION! DELL' ACQUA, E. VERGANI (eds), G/i Studi Orientalistici in Ambro-
siana nella cornice de/ 1V centenaro (1609-2009) (Academia Ambrosiana, Orientalia Ambrosiana 1),
Milan, 2012, p. 15-32, with references to earlier literature.
62 S.P. BROCK
scribal tradition of the Church of the East, that tradition is also represented to a
lesser extent; as will be seen below, these manuscripts of East Syriac prove-
nance happen to include two which were written in the Sasanian Empire, during
the latter part of the reign of Khosroes II.
THE EVIDENCE OF THE COLOPHONS
The practice of having a colophon at the end of a literary text goes back to
ancient Mesopotamia. In early Syriac manuscripts the amount of information
given by the scribe will vary, but in general the main items to be found are: the
name of the scribe, the person who has commissioned the manuscript, the place
where it was written (sometimes together with the circumstances), and the date.
It will be convenient to discuss briefly each of these in tum.
(a) the scribe
It would appear that Syriac scribes enjoyed a higher status than did their Greek
counterparts; this can be inferred from the fact that in the legal and other
documents from early third-century Osrhoene, preserved in both Greek and
Syriac, the scribe's name is never mentioned in the Greek documents,3 whereas
in the three Syriac ones the scribe specifically identifies himself, 'I, N, the scribe,
son of N, wrote this document' .4 In one case, the father is also described as a
scribe, thus indicating that, at least sometimes, the profession ran in families.
This practice of the scribe identifying himself is likewise found in most literary
manuscripts; thus we know that the oldest dated Christian literary manuscript
in any language was copied by a certain Jacob in November 411 in Edessa. In
six of the manuscripts dated before 600, the copyist describes himself as an
'Edessene scribe' (sapra urhaya), though surprisingly only one of these was
actually writing in Edessa. It seems unlikely that this simply meant that the
scribe came from Edessa, since scribes did not normally (at least at this early
period) indicate their place of origin; accordingly it would be preferable to see
the adjective 'Edessene' as indicating a particular professional status. Not sur-
prisingly, since most of the surviving manuscripts are of a religious content of
some sort, the majority of scribes are members of the lower clergy, deacons,
priests, and/or monks.
3 Edited by D. FEISSEL, J. GASCOU and J. TEIXIDOR in the Journal des Savants 1995, 1997, and
2000.
4 Thus P. Mesopotamia 3. The three Syriac parchment documents, dated 240, 242 and 243,
can most readily be found in H.J.W. DRJJVERS and J.F. HEALEY, The Old Syriac Inscriptions of
Edessa and Osrhoene, Leiden, 1999, Appendix I, p. 231-248. · p. 8-34, esp. 9-20.
SCRIBAL TRADITION AND THE TRANSMISSION OF SYRIAC LITERATURE 63
(b) the commissioner
When the person who commissioned the manuscript is mentioned, it is usually
a member of the lower clergy. The case of Vatican Syr. 140, copied in Kallinikos
in 528, is exceptional in that, not only was the commissioner a bishop, but he
is also known from a mosaic inscription. 5 In some cases the destination of the
manuscript is also given. The case of a Melkite manuscript, copied in Edessa
in 837 for an Abba Sergi(os) is particularly interesting, for the colophon then
states that he donated the manuscript to 'Beth Mar Moshe which is on the holy
mountain of Sinai'; 6 this is in fact the earliest dated manuscript to have been
donated to St Catherine's Monastery.
(c) place
Mention of the place where the manuscript was written is normal. Among dated
manuscripts prior to 900, no less than thirteen were copied in Edessa; 7 in the
fifth- and most of the sixth-century manuscripts Edessa is described as 'the
capital of Mesopotamia' (mdi(n)ta d-bet nahrin), but later on this is replaced by
'the blessed city', under the influence of the Abgar legend; the earliest example
of this is dated 565 (Add. 17,157).
Many of the dated manuscripts were written in monasteries, of which there
were a great number by the sixth century, for the most part located west of the
Euphrates. Of the two East Syriac manuscripts written within the Sasanian
Empire, that of 599/600 was copied in a village in Beth Nuhadra, to the east
of the Tigris (in North Iraq), while the other, dated 614/5, comes from Nisibis.
Later manuscripts of East Syriac provenance include ones from the famous
monastery of Sabrisho', or Beth Qoqe (767 /8; Add. 7157), and the monastery
of Mar Gabriel in Harran (899; Add. 12138). 8
Although it is not until the ninth century that manuscripts are to be found
which were actually written at Dayr al-Suryan, Sketis was already in the sixth
century a location where Syriac manuscripts were produced, as is witnessed by
Vatican Syr. 142, dated 576. Mention should also be made of Or. 8732, with
5
Another episcopal commission is Dayr al-Suryan Syr. 28.IV, of 723, destined for the mon-
astery of Gubba Barraya.
6
The manuscript is now divided between Strasbourg, Milan and Birmingham, apart from some
folios remaining in the Monastery which have come to light among the 'New Finds' (M45N); see I
P. GEHIN, Manuscrits sinai'tiques disperses, II, in Oriens Christianus 91 (2007), p. 19-20, and
S.P. BROCK, New fragments of Sahdona's Book of Pe,fection at St Catherine 's Monaste1y, Mount · I
Sinai, in Orientalia Christiana Periodica 75 (2009), p. 175-178.
7
See further S.P. BROCK, Syriac manuscripts copied in Edessa, in P. BRUNS and 0. LUTHE,
Orientalia Christiana. Festschrift fiir H. Kaufhold, Wiesbaden, 2013, p. 109-127.
8
The colophons of these manuscripts are translated in S.P. BROCK, Early dated manuscripts
of the Church of the East, 7'"-13'" centwy, in Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 21 :2 (2007),
64 S.P. BROCK
the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which was copied in 770 in the still
existing Monastery of Mar Gabriel (Qartmin) in south east Turkey.
(d) date
A scribe will usually give the date of completion of his manuscript in one, or
both, of two basic forms: firstly, 'in the days of N', who will be the local bishop,
or (from the early ninth century onwards, the patriarch9); and secondly 'by the
reckoning of the Greeks', in other words, the Seleucid era, which in Syriac
usage began on l8 1 October, 311 BC. Use of the Seleucid era has continued as
the norm in Syriac manuscripts right into the twentieth century, though in the
late nineteenth and twentieth century it was in competition with the Christian
era. It so happens that in the sixth century the Seleucid era is more frequently
referred to as that 'of Alexander', rather than 'of the Greeks', and this designa-
tion continues on later, to be found every now and then. It should be noted that
all the dated Melkite manuscripts of the period under consideration employ the
Seleucid era; the use of the Byzantine World era ('years of Adam') is first found
in a manuscript of 1057 (Sinai M5N), 10 well into the period of the Byzantine
reconquest of NW Syria (969-1085).
Other methods of dating are occasionally found:
- In the sixth century a few manuscripts are dated by a local city era: of Apameia
(Add. 14,571, of AD 518), and of Bostra (Add. 17,176 of AD 532).
- The year of the Indiction cycle. This features first in a manuscript of 563
(Vatican Syr. 143), and is also attested in a mosaic. It is occasionally found
even after the Arab conquests, as (for example) a Gospel manuscript copied
in the region of Damascus in 633 (Wolfenblittel, Cod.Aug. 31.300), and the
writings of Patriarch Cyriacus in a manuscript of 806 copied in the monastery
'of the column' in Kallinikos. 11
- The regnal year. This is never found in manuscripts copied within the Byz-
antine Empire; it features, however, in the dated East Syriac manuscripts
from the late Sasanian Empire, for both are dated by the regnal year of Khos-
roes II; the earlier of the two also provides the Seleucid era date as well. A
single manuscript from the early Arab period, dated 699/700, states that it
was written 'in the reign/kingdom of the House of Marwan' (Add. 14,448).
9
An earlier Syrian Orthodox example is a biblical manuscript written in the winter of 719/20
(Paris Syr. 27) where the patriarch as well as the local bishop are specified; an early East Syriac
example is Pierpont Morgan ms 236, a New Testament of 759/60.
10
Prior to the publication of the catalogue of the Syriac 'New Finds' the earliest known
was over a decade later (Sinai Syr. 20 of 1068/9); in due course it became the norm in Melkite
manuscripts.
11 Now Jerusalem, St Mark's Monastery, ms 129. (November) 806 is said to be in the 7 th year
of the Indiction (in fact within the Byzantine Empire it was the 14th ); the text of the colophon is
printed in M. OEZ, Cyriacus ofTagrit and his Book on Divine Providence, Piscataway NJ, 2012, II,
p. 420-423.
SCRIBAL TRADITION AND THE TRANSMISSION OF SYRIAC LITERATURE 65
- The Hijra era. 12 Eleven out of the sixty six dated manuscripts earlier than
AD 900 are dated by the Hijra era, usually as well as by the Seleucid; the
earliest is an East Syriac New Testament, written 'in the year nine hundred
and ninety three by (the era) of the Greeks, which is, by that of the Mhagg-
raye, sons of Ish[mael], son of Hagar, the son of Abraham, the year sixty
three ' (that is, AD 682). The terminology for denoting the Hijra era varies,
especially in the seventh and eighth centuries, when the era may be that of
'the sons oflshmael', or 'the sons of Hagar', or 'the Mhaggraye', as well as
'of the Tayyaye', 13 which became the later norm, but is first attested in the
manuscript of 699/700, mentioned above.
In some cases the scribe has added the day of the month, and occasionally also
the day of the week. Specification of the month is of course important for greater
precision in converting the Seleucid date to that of the Christian era (AD).
CODICOLOGY
Only some main features are mentioned here. The material used during the period
covered is almost always parchment. Evidently papyrus was also sometimes used,
at least in Egypt, but only a few fragments of literary manuscripts have survived.
The earliest Syriac manuscripts written on paper date from the tenth century.
Though a few undated Melkite liturgical scrolls may belong to the very the
end of the period, all other manuscripts are in codex format. Normally quires
are quinions (that is, five bifolios to a quire), rather than quaternions, which
is the norm in Greek manuscripts. The so-called 'Gregory's rule' , normally
observed in Greek manuscripts (with hair side of the skin facing hair, and flesh
side facing flesh), is generally not followed in Syriac manuscripts. One or two
columns are the norm, though several sixth-century examples of three columns
are known. The writing is within a frame, with faint lead outlining; line ruling
is not found until later (and remained rare).
Quires are normally numbered, either at the beginning and end of each quire,
or at the beginning only. In the sixth century especially, quite a number of scribes
employed the old Aramaic number symbols, but these dropped out of use by the
eighth century, being replaced by alphabetic numbering. The quire numbering is
regularly placed below the text (in contrast to Greek practice, which uses the top
outer margin); in some early East Syriac manuscripts the numbers feature written
vertically in the inner margin.
12
Further details can be found in S .P. BROCK, The use of Hijra dating in Syriac manuscripts:
a pre/imina1y investigation, in J.J. VAN GINKEL, H.L. MURRE-VAN DEN BERG, T.M. VAN LINT (eds),
Redefining Christian Identity: Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam
(Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 134), Leuven, 2005, p. 275-290.
13
Here clearly in the sense of ' Muslims', although originally the term referred to the tribe,
without any religious connotation .
66 S.P. BROCK
THE NATURE OF THE TEXTS TRANSMITTED
If one divides up the general subjects that feature in the dated manuscripts, the
following distribution is to be found:
Fifth and sixth centuries: out of a total of 51 dated manuscripts, 15 are Bibli-
cal (Old Testament 8, New Testament 7)14, 14 contain specifically Syriac Fathers,
19 have Greek ones, four are hagiographical, and two are canon law. Historical,
scientific, medical and philosophical topics are absent, and so is liturgy.
Seventh and eighth centuries: out of a total of 37 dated manuscripts, 19 are
Biblical (Old Testament 8, New Testament 11), Syriac Fathers 2, Greek Fathers 9,
Greek and Syriac Fathers 2, Hagiography 3, Liturgy 1, Medicine 1.
Ninth century: out of a total of 46 dated manuscripts, 11 are Biblical (Old Tes-
tament 2, New Testament 6, Lectionaries 3), Syriac Fathers 5, Greek Fathers 11,
Greek and Syriac Fathers 10, Hagiography 3, Liturgy 5, Philosophy 1.
In the case of Biblical books, it should be noted that for the Old Testament these
manuscripts are of single books, while for the New Testament, they may contain
the whole Syriac New Testament, or (more frequently) just the Gospels, or the
Epistles (including Acts). Old Testament books are sometimes incorporated into
manuscripts which otherwise have Syriac and/or translations of Greek Fathers.
What is noticeable from these figures is the drop in the number of manuscripts
containing books of the Old Testament in the ninth century, coinciding with the
appearance of specifically Lectionary manuscripts. The preponderance of Greek
Fathers over Syriac ones from the seventh century onwards is also a striking
feature, and indicative of the great prestige that the main Greek patristic author-
ities enjoyed, especially from the sixth century onwards.
When asking the question of how representative these figures are, it is impor-
tant to take into consideration a number of different and important factors:
Above all, it needs to be remembered that the majority of these manuscripts
has been transmitted by the two monasteries, Dayr al-Suryan and St Cathe-
rine' s Monastery; thus the preponderance of theological texts of one sort or
another is not surprising; the same factor also explains the poor showing of
non-theological texts, such as history, philosophy and medicine.
Another important consideration lies in the observation that after about the
seventh century complete works of many older authors ceased to be copied in
full; instead, if they were preserved at all, they would be excerpted and incor-
porated in the florilegia. This development can be seen most dramatically in
the case of the great fourth-century poet, Ephrem: his poems only survive in
their complete form in sixth-century manuscripts; what is preserved of these
14 The Gospel manuscripts include the famous illustrated 'Rabbula Gospels', dated 586.
SCRIBAL TRADITION AND THE TRANSMISSION OF SYRIAC LITERATURE 67
poems in later manuscripts is simply individual stanzas incorporated into later
liturgical poems. 15 The reasons for this development, which are complex, are
not of direct relevance here. 16
It is also important to take into consideration the evidence provided by quota-
tions of older writers to be found in authors of the eighth and ninth centuries,
for these indicate the continued availability of texts that may not otherwise
be represented any longer in the manuscript tradition.
Keeping these factors in mind, one can say with confidence that the lack of
surviving examples of a particular genre or subject does not necessarily mean
that it was absent during the period under consideration. This can perhaps best
be illustrated from the situation with medical texts in Syriac. The medical
school of Gundishapur, well known from the early Abbasid period, went back
to late Sasanian times, 17 with Syriac as its literary language (possibly alongside
Middle Persian). As it happens, we have a single dated Syriac medical manu-
script from the early eighth century which very probably belongs to this milieu;
the contents have recently been identified as a lemmatic commentary, based on
that of Gesius, on the Hippocratic Epidemics, book VI, while the terminus ante
quem for the manuscript, which is preserved in the Library of the Syrian Ortho-
dox Patriarchate, Damascus (ms 12/25), is 705. 18 The survival of this manuscript
is particularly fortunate, since in due course Arabic took over as the language
of medical writing, and so there was little or no incentive to preserve and trans-
mit medical texts any longer in Syriac. 19 That there had once been considerably
more than the few Syriac medical manuscripts that do survive is indicated by
the growing number of medical texts that have been identified as constituting
the undertexts in palimpsest manuscripts. 20 A particularly interesting example
15
S.P. BROC K, The transmission of Ephrem 's madrashe in the Syriac liturgical tradition , in
Studia Patristica 33 (I 997), p. 490-505, and more generally, Withow Mu she of Nisibis where would
we be? Some reflectio11s 011 the transmission of Syriac literature, in Journal of Eastern Christian
Stud ies 56 (2004), p. 15-24.
16
Bes ides the development of a cholastic mentality during thi period (by no means confi ned
to the area of Syriac), there are economic and practical aspects 100 : parchmelll became rarer and
more expensive (hence its frequent re-use in palimpsest ) and from the eighth cemury onwards
the old E trangelo cript was replaced by the more cursive Serto (comparable 10 the change in
Greek script from the uncial to the minu cule).
17
Althoug h this has sometime been doubted, see now the evidence provided by G. REIN INK,
Theology and Medicine in J11ndishap11r. C11lt11ra/ exchange in the Nestoria11 School traditio11, in
A.A. MACDONALD, M.W. TWOMEY, G.J. REININK (eds), Learned Antiquity: Scholarship in the
Near East, the Greco-Roman World and the Early Medieval World, Leuven, 2003, p. 163- 174 .
18
G. KESSEL, Th e Syriac Epidemics and the problem of its ide111ificatio11 [on Dam.Pair. 12/25),
in P. E. POORMAN (ed.), Epidemics in Context. Greek Commentaries 011 Hippocrates i11 the Arabic
Tradition (Scie nti a Graeco-Arabica 8), Berlin , 20 12, p. 93- 123.
19 For those that do surv ive, see R. DEGEN, £i11 Coq ms Medicorum Syriacorum, in Medizin
historisches Journal 7 (1 972), p. 114- 122.
20
Syriac translations of Galen and Gesius are to be found as the undertexts in three Lection-
aries, British Library, Add. 14,490, Add. 17,127, and probably the fills in Add. 14,486, ff. 3, 8,
68 S.P. BROCK
is provided by a Melkite liturgical manuscript that once belonged to St Cathe-
rine' s Monastery, Sinai, but most of which is now in a private collection in North
America, but on deposit at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore, where digital
images of the undertext have been made, 21 benefiting from the technology devel-
oped there for reading the Greek Archimedes palimpsest. 22 The palimpsest nature
of this manuscript, and the identification of the underwriting as a medical text
had already been made Anton Baumstark in his catalogue notes for the sale of
manuscripts that included a number which must definitely have once belonged
to St Catherine 's Monastery. 23 Much more recently part of the undertext has been
identified as being from the Syriac translation of Galen's Book of Simple Drugs;
subsequently further identifications have been made.
These new advances in technology, enabling the enhancement of the under-
texts of palimpsest manuscripts in remarkable ways, is likely to bring to light a
number of texts and genres which had simply dropped out of circulation. Just as
in the case of the discovery of Greek papyri this has revealed large numbers of
Greek texts and authors who had not otherwise survived in the manuscript tradi-
tion, so too, with these new techniques for reading undertexts of palimpsests,
there is the exciting prospect that it seems quite likely that similar sorts of dis-
coveries will be made, this time for Syriac as well as for Greek writings that have
otherwise been lost. 24
and Add. 14,487, ff.1-2, 7-8, 1-, 14-15, 30: W. WRIGHT, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the
British Museum Acquired since the Year 1838, I-III, London, 1870-1872, p. 150, 152, 159-161,
1020-1021; for similarities between these undertexts and Damascus Patr. 12/25, see KESSEL, Th e
Syriac Epidemics, p. 97-98. Another medical undertext is to be found in the fills in Dayr al-Suryan
Syriac ms. 41, ff. 141-160; see S.P. BROCK and L. VAN ROMPAY, Catalogue of the Syriac Manu-
scripts and Fragments in th e Library of Deir al-Surian, Wadi al-Natrun (Egypt) (Orientalia
Lovaniensia Analecta 227), Leuven, 2014, p. 308.
2 1 See S. BHAYRO and S.P. BROCK, The Syriac Galen palimpsest and the role of Syriac in the
transmission of Greek medicine in the Orient, in R. DAVID (ed.), Ancient Medical and Healin g
Systems: their Legacy to Western Medicine (Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library Man-
chester 89 Supplement), 2012/2013, p. 25-43 ; S. BHAYRO, R. HAWLEY, G. KESSEL, P.E. PORMANN,
Collaborative research on the digital Syriac Galen manuscript, in Semitica et Classica 5 (2012),
p. 261-264; S. BHAYRO, The Syriac Galen palimpsest: progress, prospects and problems, in Jour-
nal of Semitic Studies 58 (2013), p. 131-148.
22 R. NETZ and W. NOEL, The Archimedes Codex, Philadelphia, 2007.
23 In K.W. HIERSEMANN, Katalog 500. Orientalische Manuskripte, Leipzig, 1922, p. 14.
24 See note 21. G. KESSEL has also identified various folia dispersa from the manuscript in
different libraries, including one among the 'New Finds' at St Catherine's Monastery.
ARABIC DOCUMENTS FROM THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD
Geoffrey KHAN
University of Cambridge
THE PROVENANCE OF ARABIC DOCUMENTS FROM THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD
The vast majority of extant original documents from the early Islamic period
have been found in Egypt. These date from the very beginning of the Arab set-
tlement in Egypt in the first century A.H. and continue to be ·attested through
the following centuries. In the first three Islamic centuries the documents are
written on papyrus, the ancient writing material of Egypt. From the fourth cen-
tury onwards papyrus was replaced as the common writing material in Egypt by
paper, which had been originally introduced into the Islamic world in the eastern
provinces. Although thousands of Arabic papyrus documents have been pre-
served from the first three centuries A.H., they are not evenly distributed across
this period. By far the largest proportion of the extant papyri from Egypt are
datable to the third century A.H. This reflects to some extent increasing conver-
sion and arabicization of Egypt at this period. Another factor was a general
increase in literacy and a literarization of culture that began to develop in the
Abbasid period (second half of the 2nd century A.H./8 th century C.E.). 1 One of
the driving forces for this increase in written culture is likely to be the develop-
ment of a centralized bureaucracy by the Abbasid administration, which required
the production of large quantities of written documents.2
A small number of Arabic documents on papyrus have been discovered at sites
outside of Egypt in the Levant and Iraq. These include papyri from Damascus,3
Nessana ('Awja' al-1:lafir) near Be' ersheva, 4 Khirbet al-Mird in the Judaean
desert, 5 and al-Samarra'. 6 Some papyms documents that have been discovered at
sites in Egypt may, indeed, have originally been written elsewhere. This is the
case, for example, with P.Khalili I 6, which is an account of expenditure of a
Christian monastic community in Northern Syria or Iraq.
1
Schoeler (2006).
2
For the documentary culture of the Abbas id administration see Khan (2007a). Administrative
bureacracy is likely to have stimulated the development an increasingly written culture also in
medieval Europe; cf. Clanchy (2013).
3
Abbot (1938).
4
Kraemer (1938).
5 Grohmann (1963).
6
Herzfeld (1912, pl. xxxvib).