Does anyone recognize these mysterious characters? Spotted on the back of an early modern page of business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
ALT string of mysterious characters on an old piece of paper
Anyone able to read anything from this manuscript? These fragments seem to join but are extremely difficult to decipher. Likely from 11th-13th century Egypt.
"The boy ʿAṭiyya has been weaned. . . please send sugar and halva. . . he wants to eat sweets all the time, and he is used to being pampered" - late medieval Judaeo-Arabic family letter 👶🍭🍭🍭
geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
ALT medieval manuscript (letter) with Judaeo-Arabic writing
For the first time since the Princeton Geniza Project began in 1986, we have published our metadata collated from over 30,000 Geniza documents and the People, Places, and histories of the Middle East and premodern Jewish communities found therein!
zenodo.org/records/15839056
Special thanks to director Prof. Marina Rustow, co-director Prof. Eve Krakowski, project managers Rachel Richman, Ksenia Ryzhova, Pratima Gopalakrishnan, and Amel Bensalim, as well as research software engineer Mohamed Abdellatif, the CDH's Rebecca Koeser, & all our researchers
Given the expanded capabilities of the new PGP site (v4), we're finally retiring PGPv3. We chose April 3, 2025 as its final date, S. D. Goitein's 125th birthday. Many thanks to Ben Johnston of @mcgrawect for building the site & running it. You can find the archived content here:
A gorgeous prayerbook (maḥzor) for the high holidays copied in Mallorca(!) in 1332 CE, recently spotted by PGP researcher Tani Robinson.
geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
ALT page from a Hebrew manuscript with beautiful capitals ornamented with red and blue designs
ALT screenshot from a Hebrew manuscript with the word מיורקא
Princeton Geniza Lab has joined Bluesky! We hope you will connect with us at our profile over there! 🦋→ bsky.app/profile/genizalab.b…
ALT Screenshot of the Princeton Geniza Lab's profile on Bluesky containing the lab's logo, a banner image of Geniza fragments, and a short description of the lab and its websites.
New Syriac AI translator!
The results are surprisingly accurate and good for AI translation. There’s still room to improve, but this tool is already a major step forward.
It won’t be long before Syriac can be translated as seamlessly as other languages—a huge development for the future of Syriac preservation and accessibility.
oromoyo.ai
"When I parted from you, I intended to sail to the island of Cyprus, but a strong storm diverted the boat to Tarsus. I was very much afraid that the king would take hold of me and detain me. . . ."
Letter from Alexandria to Cairo, ~1212 CE
geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
ALT medieval manuscript covered with Hebrew script (letter in Judaeo-Arabic)
A very sweet letter reminiscing on a visit to the house of Maimonides, who is depicted here enjoying lemon drops and playing with a cute toddler.
"I kissed his noble hand, and he received us with a most cordial welcome. He said to me, 'Come and sit...'"
geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
ALT medieval manuscript page covered with Hebrew script (Judaeo-Arabic)
ALT medieval manuscript page covered with Hebrew script (Judaeo-Arabic) (the recto of the other image)
Goitein's index card ("Dr. Paul Fenton to publish together with me as Maimonides en pantoufles") with accompanying AI illustration of Maimonides en pantoufles
ALT Goitein's index card: "Dr. Paul Fenton to publish together with me as Maimonides en pantoufles"
ALT AI-generated image of Maimonides en pantoufles
Not to be missed! A landmark new book in Arabic documentary legal studies by Mathieu Tillier and Naïm Vanthieghem. Includes many previously unidentified Cairo Geniza fragments.
pictured: geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
ALT The cover of the new book "Mariages et séparations en Égypte au Moyen Âge"
ALT two fragments of a medieval Arabic manuscript joined together
A Judaeo-Arabic text about Alexander the Great with the text of a letter from the Persian king Darius ("king of kings and master of the nations of the world") commanding Alexander to submit to him
geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
ALT medieval manuscript with two columns of Hebrew writing
It is still September, and we have September's Fragment of the Month for you. Yehuda Seewald looks at the blurring of lines between Saadya's biblical exegesis and polemic:
lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/de…