sign in sign up
<<
Home , Abjad numerals, Arabic numerals, Greek and Coptic

ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY

Mutsuo KAWATOKO*

I. Introduction

According to the researches, it is assumed that the culture of the early Islamic period in Egypt was very similar to the contemporary Coptic (Qibti)/ Byzantine (Rumi) culture. This is most evident in their language, especially in writing. It was mainly Greek and Coptic which adopted the letters deriving from Greek and . Thus, it was normal in those days for the official documents to be written in Greek, and, the others written in Coptic.(1) Gold, silver and copper coins were also minted imitating Byzantine Solidus (gold coin) and Follis (copper coin) and Sassanian Drahm (silver coin), and they were sometimes decorated with the representation of the religious legends, such as "Allahu", engraved in a blank space. In spite of such situation, around A. . 79 (698), Caliph 'Abd al-Malik . Marwan implemented the coinage reformation to promote Arabisation of coins, and in A. H. 87 (706), 'Abd Allahi b. 'Abd al-Malik, the governor- general of Egypt, pursued Arabisation of official documentation under a decree by Caliph Walid b. 'Abd al-Malik.(2) As a result, the letters came into the immediate use for the coin inscriptions and gradually for the official documents. However, when the figures were involved, the Greek or the Coptic numerals were used together with the Arabic letters.(3) The were also created by assigning the numerical values to the Arabic alphabetic (abjad) letters just like the , but they did not spread very much.(4) It was in the latter half of the 8th century that the Indian numerals, generally regarded as the forerunners of the Arabic numerals, were introduced to the Islamic world. About 770, the Sanskrit- figures, derived from the Gvalior figures, were introduced to Baghdad. Muhammad b. Musa al-Khwarizmi (ca. 780-846) recognized the advantage of such numerals and

* Chief Researcher, The Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan

58 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY tried to spread their use among the scientists, but the dominance of abjad continued.(5) Later, the Arabic numerals were created from the Indian prototypes and then, they were divided into the East and the West Arabic numerals.(6) Although the former did not come into the popular use, the latter, which came to be known as Ghubar or the dust numerals, became very popular in Maghrib and Spain. By 850, the West Arabic numerals were introduced to Christian Europe via Islamic Spain and became the direct ancestor of our current Arabic numerals.(7)

II. Examples for Use of Numerals

During the early Islamic period, the Greek and the Coptic numerals were often found in the documents of papyrus and parchments. Especially, the Coptic numerals are more commonly found, as the Coptic documents are the overwhelming majority among all the remaining written documents during the early Islamic period. Although the use of the Greek numerals was allowed under the decree, ,mentioned before, which enforced the use of the Arabic letters in official documents, it appears that the Greek numerals were soon replaced by the Coptic numerals. This can be implicitly observed in that the Coptic numerals, not the Greek numerals, were written on the glass weights from the 'Abbasid period. On these weights, the Coptic numerals were chosen to indicate weights(8) instead of the Arabic letters. Even in the 10th century, there are many examples in which the years and other numeric information were given with the Coptic numerals in the Arabic documents. Upon the ostracon excavated from Edofu, dated A. H. 289 (A. . 902), the quantity of jars known as qadus and the year were indicated by the Coptic numerals, and in the case of the ostracon dated A. H. 320 (A. D. 932), the year was also given with the Coptic numerals.(9) By contrast, the Arabic and the were not too generally used. When the needs arose to indicate , such as the year, in Arabic, then the Arabic letters were used. According to the Geniza Documents, the Hebrew or the Coptic numerals were used to indicate numbers in the 11th century.(10) And the use of the Coptic numerals in commercial transactions continued for a long time despite the fact that they were not practical for calculation. This may well be due to the highly active role played by the Copts in the commercial activities,

Vol. XXVIII 1992 59 as been pointed out by Goitein.(11) In Ibn Bassam' book on al-Hisba, "Nihayat al-Rutba" written before A. H. 844 (A. D. 1440), it is stated that "the scale on a beam balance must be indicated in Arabic (numerals) on one side and in Coptic (numerals) on the other side."(12) In , the Arabic document Fragment 4, excavated at the Akoris site and assumed to be of the Mamluk period, proves the continuation of the use of the Coptic nume- rals.(13) There are various opinions about the use of Coptic as a spoken language. However, as a written language it seems to have died around the 11th century.(14) Nevertheless, the use of the Coptic numerals for indicating years, pages and chapters of the manuscripts and the cryptograms, etc. continued for a long time.(15) Although I have not yet examined all the Arabic documnts, it seems that the Coptic numerals were not used in the documents after A. H. 900 (ca. A. D. 1500). However, in a lecture given by G. Maspero, the Director- general of Dar al-Athar, it was pointed out that the Coptic language had been read, spoken and written in Upper Egypt up until the early period of the Ottoman rule in the beginning of the 16th century, and that some documents (kitabat) from this period still exist.(16) Although I have not had the opportunity to read such documents, they indeed appear to be written with the Coptic letters but may be highly exceptional. It is not known whether or not these documents contained the Coptic numerals. Apart from these Coptic documents, it is generally accepted that, from that time on, the numbers came to be written only in the Arabic letters, Arabic numerals, or the Siyaqat letters(17) of Turkey.

III. The al-Tur Documents

As a result of nine seasons of the excavations at the al-Tur site on the Sinai Peninsula,(18) we discovered approximately 1,400 pieces of documents including small fragments. The greater part of these documents dates from the first half of the 16th century and is written in Arabic, with a small of exception written in Greek, Coptic or Ottoman Turkish. Most documents are concerned with commercial affairs, such as the letters of traders and the accounts, and others are poems and the fragments of Koranic or Biblical manuscripts. Of these documents the commercial letters and statements of accounts

60 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY are written with the Arabic scripts and some odd symbols which resemble the Greek or the Siyaqat scripts. It took me some time to realize that these odd symbols were the Coptic numerals.(19) And then, I successfully discover- ed that, in the al-Tur Document No. 145, there was the number "25" written with both the Arabic letters and the Coptic cursive numerals (abuqti) on the same spot for the same commodity. This made me more confident that the odd symbols are the Coptic numerals.

TM-145 Private commercial letter, Paper, 9.7cm×19.8cm. (Pl. 1)

TM-145 (Recto)

TM-145 (Verso) Fig. 1

[Transliteration of TM-145] (Recto)

Vol. XXVIII 1992 61 1-lam-mim(20) 2-al-Hamdu li-llahi Rabbi al-'Alamin 3-alladhi yu'allam bihi al-'amm al-'aziz Nimr sallamahu Allahu ta'ala wa alladhi 'arrifuka bihi'arrafaka/ 4-Allahu ta,ala kull khayr i'raf al-'amm anna ya Abu Nasr Allahi tu'ti Sutita/5 -illa ashrafayni(21) dhahab wa ta'khudh lil-'iyal khamsa (himms(22)) ma't wa khamsin nisf(23)/ 6-wa khirqat(24) bi hawashi(25) min kull bud tursilhum ma' kull man hadar wa innaka/ 7-ta'khudh min Yuhanna fulus khamsat wa 'ishrin nisf al-hisab/ 8-25 9-baynana wa baynaka wa tusallim 'ala al-Hajj Khidr(26) wa arsalna lahu/ 10-qa'imat wa tuhasibuhu bi ma'rifatika fa inna ma(27) tawakkuli/ 11-aslan 'ala Allahi wa 'alayka fi al-hisab wa tursil/ 12-tu'arrifna wa tutayyb khatiruhu wa in sha' Allahu yiji 'Isa/ 13-wa yuqabil Qibali wa tusallim 'ala al-Sharif(28) Nasr/ 14-wa 'alayka kathir al-salam/ mim 'indi Sulayman 15-bin Kharifa (Verso) yusallam li yad al-'amm al-'aziz Nimr wa Jirjis sallmahu Allahu(29)/

[Translation of TM-145] (Recto) Praise be to , Lord of human beings! This is (a letter) to inform (my) dear uncle Nimr, -may the great Allah save him!-, and also to inform you may the great Allah tell you all good things!-, to inform the uncle, oh! abu Nasr Allahi, "Give two Gold Ashrafi coins to Sutita (Sutayta) and take 550 half coins for children." And, in any case, send young sheep (khirfa) in my enclosures by anyone who will come (to me). You get money of 25 nisf (half) from Yuhanna, then we will settle accounts with you. And salute al-Hajj Khidr, and (tell him that) we sent the list to him, then you can settle accounts in your way, for, my trust in accounts is originally on Allah and you. And you send (a letter) in order to let us know (what you do), and

62 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTICNUMERALS IN EGYPTIN THE 16 TH CENTURY set his (al-Hajj Khidr) mind at rest (in accounts). I hope that 'Isa will come and meet Qibali. Salute al-Sharif Nasr and upon you be plentiful peace! From Sulayman bin Kharifa (Verso) Delivered to the hands of (my) dear uncle Nimr and Jirjis-may (the great) Allah save them!

Thus, these accounts can be deciphered, although they have not long been done so. As an example Al-Tur document No. 24 is shown below. (See Figure 3)

TM-24 Account. Paper, 8.0cm×14.0cm. (Pl. 2)

TM-24 TM-24 (Verso) (Recto) Fig. 2

Vol. XXVIII 1992 63 [Transliteration of TM-24] (Recto) 1-mim・sad-(30) 2-Masruf Muhammad 3-Samn(31) Ful Khubz Jubn Shih - 70 70 1 1000 70 70 4-Daqiq Hut(32) 'Asal Khall Samn 3000 1 1000 1 1 5- ? Tamr 'Ajwa Lahma Shih 3000 1 1 1

6-mim・sad-

7-Masruf 'Ali 8- ? Milh Samn Samn …… 2? 2 2 9- ? Jubn 'Asal Zabib Zayt 1000 1 1000 70 70 10- ? ? Tamr 'Ajwa 'Ajwa 12-(Masru) Naj'(33) ? 13-Arkab Ful Qamhi(34) Hut 1 1 70 70 1 14-Samn Samn Samn Jubn Ful 1 1 1 1 1 15-Khubz Khall Lawz Zabib Zayt 1 - 1 - 1 (Verso) 1-Masruf al-Sadr

2-mim・sad- 3-Ful Samn Shih Jubn 70 70 1 1 1000 4-'Asal Khubz Daqiq Qamhi Samn 3000 1 1000 1 1 5-Arkab Hut Zabib Zayt Khall 3000 1000 1 - 1 6-Khall Arkab Daqiq ? ? 1000 1000 1000

64 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY

7-Himmis Arkab Samn ? ? 70 - 1 8-Masruf?

9-mim・sad- 11-Jubn Khubz Hut Basal Ful Zayt 1 1 1000 1000 1 -

[Translation of TM-24] (Recto) 1-mim・sad- 2-Expenditure of Muhammad 3-Cooking Butter/Broad Bean/Bread/Cheese/Santonica - 70 70 1 1000 70 70 4-Flour/Fish/Honey/Vinegar/Cooking Butter 3000 1 1000 1 1 5-? / Dried Dates/Pressed Dates/Meat/Santonica 3000 1 1 1

6-mim・sad- 7-Expenditure of 'Ali

8-? /Salt/Cooking Butter/Cooking Butter/…… 2? 2 2 9-? / Cheese/Honey/Dried grapes/Oil 1000 1 1000 70 70 10-? /?/Dried Dates/Pressed Dates/Pressed Dates 1 3 1

11-mim・sad- 12-(Expenditure) of Naj'? 14-Cooking Butter/Cooking Butter/Cooking Butter/Cheese/Broad Bean 1 1 1 1 1 15-Bread/Vinegar/Almond/Dried grapes/Oil 1 - 1 - 1 (Verso) 1-Expenditure of al-Sadr

2-mim・sad- 3-Broad Bean/Cooking Butter/Santonica/Cheese 70 70 1 1 1000 Vol. XXVIII 1992 65 4-Honey/Bread/Flour/Wheat/Cooking Butter 3000 1 1000 1 1 5-Oil from al-Sham/Fish/Dried grapes/Oil/Vinegar 3000 1000 1 - 1 6-Vinegar/Oil from al-Sham/Flour/?/? 1000 1000 1000 7-Chick-pea/Oil from al-Sham/Cooking Butter/?/? 70 - 1 8-Expenditure of ?

9-mim・sad- 10-Cooking Butter/Flour/Vinegar/Dried grapes/Oil 1 1000 1000 - 1000 11-Cheese/Bread/Fish/Onion/Broad Bean/Oil

IV. Conclusion

From the above analyses, there is no doubt that the Coptic cursive numerals were commonly used in al-Tur around the first half of the 16th century.(35) However, those al-Tur documents do not give us any clues as to whether the use of the Coptic numerals was limited to the persons con- cerned with the commercial affairs or had also spread among people of other professions, because up until the most recent excavation, a majority of the al-Tur documents in which Coptic numerals were used were commercial letters and statements of accounts. We assume that they were used only in the commercial transactions, although we are not certain whether the Coptic numerals were in common use among the merchants of various religious beliefs. They may have been used as a kind of cryptograms among the merchants, as pointed out in the book of al-Qalqashandi and as seen in Geniza documents. In any case, it is noteworthy that the Coptic numerals were widely used at al-Tur during the period when the numbers were generally written with the Arabic letters, the Siyaqat or the Arabic numerals. The reason for the use of the Coptic numerals is not clear. However, it is possible to surmise that a large population of the Copts or the Christians living at al-Tur inherited the Coptic language or the Coptic numerals through generations. This assumption can be proved by the following reasons. 66 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY

Many names in the al-Tur documents are Coptic or Christian ones. And the culture of the al-Tur port was closely related to that of the al-Qusayr port, which served as a gateway to and from Upper Egypt, and was the major settlement for the Copts. Adding to these facts, al-Tur served as the port for pilgrims to St. Catherin's Monastery, a holy place of the Greek Orthodox and other Churches. The Document No. 180 has the latest date among the al-Tur documents, which is A. H. 965 (November 15, 1557). The document is written with the Turkish Diwan scripts, and the year is given with the Turkish-style Arabic numerals. This may indicate that the use of the Coptic numerals in al-Tur has ceased by the time. (I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Hafiz Muhammad Fathi, an able assistant, for his kind help in decipherment of the Arabic documents, in particular, when I told him that the strange figures were the Coptic numerals, re-checked all the al-Tur documents and proved my view.)

Notes (1) There are cases in which the Arabic phrase such as a confession of faith or a religious expression, was inserted. See H. I. Bell, "Two Official Letters of the Arab Period," JEA, Vol. 12, 1926, pp. 265-81, . A. Worp, "Hegira Years in Greek-Coptic and Greek-Arabic Papyri," Aegyptus, LXV, 1985, pp. 107-15. (2) O. Ikeda has summarized the history of the Arabic language in Egypt, consider- ing the relationships between the and the Copts and between the Arabic and the Coptic languages. See Osamu Ikeda, "The History of The Arabic Language in Egypt (in Japanese)," The World of Islam, 23・24, 1985, pp. 1-15; Karl Menninger, Number Words and Number Symbols, The . I. T. Press, 1969, pp. 410-21; Encyclopedia of Islam, under "Dinar", "Dirham" and "Fals." (3) K. Menninger has pointed out that this played an important role in fact implicitly shows that the Indian numerals, which the invention of the Arabic numerals, had not yet been introduced to Damascus in 706. Thus, it is assumed that they had not reached Egypt either. See K. Menninger, ibid. p. 410, A. Grohmann, Arabic Papyri from Hirbet el-Mird, Louvain, 1963, pp. 4-5, 41-42. (4) The use of the to indicate numbers, such as in the case of Greek and Coptic, follows a long tradition of the . The earliest example discovered so far is the Ugarit numerals of Ras Shamra in the 14th century B. C. The word "" is composed of the Semitic "alef" and "" or the Greek "" and "", and the word "abjad" also composed of the Arabic words of "alif," "ba," "jim" and "dal." Although the abjad was not in wide use, it could still be found in , , divinatory devices and talismans, pagination, etc. See K. Menninger, ibid. pp. 276, 410; Encyclopedia of Islam, under "Abdjad" and "Hisab al-Ghubar."

Vol. XXVIII 1992 67 (5) See Mubammad b. Musa al-Khwarizmi, Kitab Surat al-Ard, Wien, 1926, K. Menninger, ibid. p. 410; Encyclopedia of Islam, under "Abdjad"; S. H. Nasr, Islamic Science. An Illustrated Study, Westerham, 1976, pp. 78-9; A. A, al-Daffa', The Muslim Contribution to Mathematics (Japanese translation), Tokyo, 1980, pp. 28-36; G. G. . Wright, The Writing of Arabic Numerals, London, 1952, pp. 117-19. (6) The earliest use of the Arabic numerals ever found, is upon the papyrus document from Egypt dated A. H. 260 (873/4). The early abjad Arabic numerals or the numerical indication using the Arabic letters were written generally from right to left. So the higher digit figures were always on the right side and the lower digit figures on the left side. This was especially true in the case of two digit numbers. But in Greek and Coptic, the higher digit symbols are on the left, and the lower digits are on the right. In Arabic, the sentence runs opposite to that of Greek. Since the symbols of numerals were borrowed from Greek, naturally the higher digits should be on the left end just as in the case of medieval and modern Arabic. However, in Arabic of the early Islamic period, the higher digits are on the right end, following the actual phonetic sounds of the numbers. See K. Menninger, ibid. pp. 417-21, A. A, al-Daffa', ibid. p. 35, A. Mingana, "Arabic Numerals," JRAS, 1937, pp. 315-16, N. Abbott, "Arabic Numerals," JRAS, 1938, pp. 277-80. (7) See K. Menninger, Ibid. pp. 121-22, G. G. Wright, Ibid., G. S. Colin, De 'Origine Grecque des "Chiffres de Fes" et de Nos "Chiffres Arabes", Journal Asiatique, 1933, pp. 193-215, . A. S. Perez, Sobre las Cifras Rumies, Al-Andalus, III, 1935, pp. 97-125, G. L. Della Vida, Appunti e Quesiti di Storia Letteraria Araba, Rivista degli Studi Orientali, 14, 1933, pp. 249-83, G. Sarton, Introduction to the , New York, 1975, pp. 663-64. (8) All are written with the Arabic letters except for the numerals. It was by Salama in 760s that the Coptic numerals were first used on the glass weights, and they were continuously used during the 'Abbasid period in Egypt. Nos. 457, 458, 459, 495, 566, 599, 757, 758, 759, 808 (P. Balog, Umayyad, 'Abbasid and Tulunid Glass Wegights and Vessel Stamps, New York, 1976.), Nos. 249, 250-53, 278-80, 328, 388, 390, 391, 403, 436 (A. H. Morton, A catalogue of Early Islamic Glass Stamps in the British Museum, London, 1985), Nos. 189, 190, 192 (. M. F. Petrie, Glass Stamps and Weights, London, 1926). (9) See D. Remondon, Cinq Documents Arabes d'Edfou, Melanges Islamologiques, II, 1954, pp. 103-112, A. Grohmann, Arabic Papyri in the Egyptian Library, vol. 1. Cairo, 1934, p. 88, 110. (10) See S. D. Goitein, The Mediterranean Society, Vol. I, Berkeley, 1967, p. 209, Vol. II, Berkeley, 1971, p. 178. (11) According to Goitein, on the upper left corner of a bank cheque, the amount to be paid was written with the Coptic numerals, not with the . See S. D. Goitein, Ibid. Vol. I, p. 241, Vol. II, p. 178. (12) Shayzari's book on al-Hisba, which was the model of Ibn Bassam's book, and the book on al-Hisba written by Ibn Ukhuwwa, who died in 1338, mentioned the Coptic beam balance, but did not refer to any Coptic letters or numerals. See Ibn Bassam, Nihayat al-Rutbat fi Talab al-Hisba, Baghdad, 1968, p. 186, Shayzari, Nihayat al-Rutbat fi Talab al-Hisba, Cairo, 1946, p. 19, Ibn Ukhwwa, Ma'alim al-Qurba fi Ahkam al-Hisba, London, 1938, p. 84. (13) The figures on Fragment 4 can clearly be read as 25 right and 10 left. The

68 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY

figures in other documents look like the Coptic numerals, but I cannot be certain as I have only examined them in photographs. See H. Kawanishi and S. Tsujimura, Preliminary Report Seventh Season of the Excavations at the Site of Akoris, Egypt, 1987, Kyoto, 1988, pp. 58-62, H. Kawanishi and S. Tsujimura, Preliminary Report Seventh Season of the Excavations at the Site of Akoris, Egypt, 1989, Kyoto, 1990, p. 30, Pls. 12-13. (14) See Encyclopedia of Islam, "Kibt", De Lacy O'Leary, J. D. Prince, The Modern Pronounciation of Coptic in the Mass., JAOS 23, 1902, pp. 289-306, W. B. Bishai, Notes on the Coptic Substratum in , JAOS 80, 1960, pp. 225-29, W. B. Bishai, Coptic Lexical Influence on Egyptian Arabic, JNES 23, 1964, pp. 39-47, G. Sobhy, Common Words in the spoken Arabic of Egypt, of Greek or Coptic Origin, Cairo, 1989. (15) See H. Ritter, Griechisch-Koptische Ziffern in Arabischen Manuskripten, Rivista degli Studi Orientali, 16, 1935-36, pp. 212-13, S. Bartina, Cifras Coptas Cultura Arabe, Stvdia Papyrologica, VII, 1968, pp. 99-110, C. E. Bosworth, The Section on Codes and their Decipherment in Qalqashandi's Subh al-A'sha, Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. 8, 1963, pp. 17-33, D. S. Richards, Fragments of a Slave Dealer's Day-book from Fustat, Documents de l'Islam Medieval novvelles Perspectives de Recherche, le Caire, 1991, pp. 89-96, S. D. Goitein, Ibid. Vol. II., p. 303, S. M. Stern, Documents from Islamic Chanceries, Oxford, 1965, S. M. Stern, Fatimid Decrees, London, 1964, I. E. ΜΕΙΜΑΡΗ, ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΝΕΩΝ ΑΡΒΙΚΩΝ ΧΕΙΡΟΓΡΑΦΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΣ ΜΟΝΗΣ ΑΓΙΑΣ ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΟΡΟΥΣ ΣΙΝΑ, Φωτ. 44, 66, 78, 79, 96, 116, ΑΘΗΝΑΙ, 1985. (16) Dr. Gewdat Gabra, General Director of the Coptic Museum in Cairo, denied the existence of the documents described by Maspero in the conversation with the author, and he also said that Abuqti had been used until the 19th century though he did not present the evidence. On the Coptic numerals, Goitein said that they had been used up to the modern times without giving any examples in evidence. See Jam'iyat al-Athar al-Qibtiya, Safhat min Tarikh al-Qibt, al-Iskandariya, 1954, p. 50, G. Frantz-Murphy, Arabic Papyrology and Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies Association Bulletin, Vol. 19, 1985, pp. 34-48, D. P. Little, Coptic Conversion to Islam under the Bahri Mamluks, 692-755/1293-1354, Bulletin of SOAS, Vol. XXXIX, Part 3, 1976, pp. 552-69, M. Martin, Note sur la Communaute Copte entre 1650 et 1850, Annales Islamologiques, XVIII, 1982, pp. 193-215, D. S. Whitcomb and J. H. Johnson, Quseir Al-Qadim 1978 Preliminary Report, Cairo, 1979, pp. 247-49. G. Frantz- Murphy, The Red Sea Port of Quseir: Arabic Documents and Narrative Sources, Quseir al-Qadim 1980 Preliminary Report (ed. by D. S. Whitcomb and J. H. Johnson), Malibu, 1982, pp. 267-283, W. Kubiak and G. T. Scanlon, Fustat Expedition Final Report, Vol. 2: Fustat-C, Winona Lake, 1989, pp. 64-80, . Sellheim, Materialien zur Arabischen Literaturgeschite, Teil I and II, Wiesbaden, 1976, 1987. (17) See U. Heyd, Ottoman Documents on Palestine 1552-1615, Oxford, 1960, N. Beldiceanu, Code de Lois Coutumieres de Mehmed II, Wiesbaden, 1967, J-L. Bacque- Grammont, Documents Ottomans sur Quelques Mamlouks Rallies ou Captures au Debut de 1517, Annales Islamologiques, XX, 1984, pp. 115-41, I. el-Mouelhy, Nouveaux Documents sur le Fallah et le Regime des Terres sous les Ottomans, Annales Islamolo- giques, , 1972, pp. 253-61, M. Hinds and H. Sakkout, Arabic Documents from the Ottoman Period from Qasr Ibrim, London, 1986, M. Hinds and V. Menage, Qasr Ibrim in the Ottoman Period: Turkish and Further Arabic Documents, London, 1991, R. Y. Edied and M. J. L. Young, Some Arabic Legal Documents of the Ottoman

Vol. XXVIII 1992 69 Period from the Leeds Manuscripe Collection, Leiden, 1975, S. J. Shaw, The Budget of Ottoman Egype 1005-1006/1596-1597, The Hague, 1968, M. M. Amin, Catalogue des Documents d Archives du Caire de 239/853 a 922/1516, la Caire, 1981. (18) Since 1985, the excavations have been conducted once or twice a year by the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan. And the paleographical documents were unearthed from 1988 until 1992. (19) The author found out, in the summer of 1989, that they might be the Coptic numerals. Then he visited Professor S. Badilius, a Egyptian scholar of the Coptic language, and got his book. A chart of handwritten numerals is shown in Figure 3. See S. Basilius, Mawsu'at al-Lughat al-Qibtiya, al-Qahira, 1987, p. 93, A. S. Atiya (ed.) The Captic Encyclopedia, New York, 1991, p. 1821, M. Simaika Pasha, Catalogve of the Coptic and Arabic Manuscripts in the Coptic Museum, Cairo, 1942, p. 509. Accordingly, there were some mistranslations in my previous paper concerning al-Tur document no. 181 (Some Documents of the Early Othman Period found at the al-Tur Site, Journal of East-West Maritime Relations, Vol. 1, Tokyo, 1989, pp. 199-220), and they are corrected here. P.206 L. 2 (985) 925 →tis'ma'a 54 P.210 L. 22 9→7 L. 22 2→400 L. 23 three→eight L. 24 8→5 P. 211 L. 4 eight→five L. 17 8→6 (20) There are many examples that lam-mim is written just above baslama. As far as the al-Tur Documents are concerned, lam-mim is found in the nos. 328, 406, 452, 454, 461, 623; however, its meaning is unknown. (21) Ashrafi is a gold or a silver coin used during the 15th and the early 16th centuries, and appeared after the use of Venetian coins, dirham Bundqi and dinar Bundqi, were prohibited in 829/1426 and 831/1428. Ashrafi was named after al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din, the name of the Mamluk Sultans. See Ibn Taj al-'Arifin b. 'Ali al-Minnawi, al-Nuqud wa al-Makawil wa al-Mawazin, Baghdad, 1981, pp. 118-19, al-Maqrizi, Shuzur al-'Uqud fi Dhikr al-Nuqud, al-Najaf, 1967, pp. 4, 86, 120. (22) Khamsa is five, and Himmis is a chick-pea. (23) Nisf means half, and it should be half dirham Ashrafi or half dinar Ashrafi. (24) Or Khurfa meaning fruits. (25) Correctly, this should be bi-Ahwashi. (26) The name of Khidr was taken after Shaykh Khidr, who was famous for ac- companying Prophet Moses. (Aya 60-82 of Sura 18, the Holy Koran) (27) Fa-inna ma should be written as Fa-innama. (28) Usually, this title was conferred on the descendants of Prophet Muhammad, and in Ottoman times the Governor of Makka also bore it. (29) The last two letters, lam and ha, are missing. (30) Probablly, these are the first two letters of the word "masruf". (31) 70 and 70 are written side by side. The value of this number is not clear, and it is not even sure whether this is quantity or amount. (32) The last letter "tha" is mistaken for "ta". (33) It is obscure. (34) The third letter "ha" is mistakenly written for "ha". (35) 1257 pieces of documents have been excavated by the eighth excavation

70 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY

Fig. 3

Vol. XXVIII 1992 71 season which ended in December, 1991. Among them are four kinds of documents in which the Coptic numerals are written. Although all of them have not been deciphered, the round numbers are noted here. There are kinds of documents; 330 accounts in which the names of persons and commodities are in Arabic and the number or amount in Coptic cursive numerals; 60 private Arabic commercial letters in which the Coptic numerals are used for the years or the numbers of commodities, and so on ; 20 Arabic letters, the blank space of which is used for the accounting; a handful of documents in Coptic only.

72 ORIENT ON THE USE OF COPTIC NUMERALS IN EGYPT IN THE 16 TH CENTURY

Vol. XXVIII 1992 73 74 ORIENT