On Emotions in Early Muslim Administration The Chancery of Qurra

Transcription

Imperium and Officium Working Papers (IOWP)
On Emotions in Early Muslim Administration
The Chancery of Qurra ibn Šarīk, Governor of Egypt
Version 01
March 2012
Lucian Reinfandt (University of Vienna, Department of Oriental Studies)
Abstract: The following is an analysis of the emotional content of the language in Arabic
administrative letters. For this purpose the letters sent in the early 8th c AD from the governor
of Egypt, Qurra ibn Šarīk, to his subordinate pagarch of Aphroditō, are examined. First those
elements will be worked out that either were destined to express emotions on the part of the
sender, or to evoke emotions on the part of the addressee. Thereupon patterns of use of these
emotional elements in the letters will be reconstructed, until some final conclusions will be
drawn about the rational-bureaucratic character of emotional epistolography in an
environment of largely traditional rule and patrimonial relationship between governor and
pagarch.
© Lucian Reinfandt 2012
[email protected]
1
Lucian Reinfandt
The Chancery of Qurra ibn Šarīk, Governor of Egypt
Since the governor Qurra bin Šarīk al-ʿAbsī (r. 709–715 CE) is a well known figure not only in
Arabic, but also in Greek and Coptic Papyrology, it might be of some interest to take up once again his
letters to the pagarch of Aphroditō, here from the Arabist’s point of view. In view of the common
undertaking this book, which is the role of emotions in Ancient social history, Qurra’s Arabic letters
shall be examined as to whether emotions in any regard played a role in the administrative procedures
of this particular governor and in official epistolography in general. It is my sincere hope that the
following remarks on the texts may be of some use also for the colleagues of Greek and Coptic
Papyrology and thus help to pave the way for more interdisciplinary research on the Near East in Late
Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.1
1. The emotional factor in administrative practice
One should not expect emotions to play a role in the complex and highly formalised procedures of
administration in Byzantine and Early Islamic Egypt. Official writings on papyrus certainly create an
impression of a down-to-earth machinery with a centuries-old experience of compartmentalized dayto-day business. One needed expert knowledge (Fachwissen as Max Weber would have called it, the
German term being semantically related to compartmentalization) and appropriate model documents
to produce a writing that accomplished the desired administrative concern.2 Accordingly one should
expect a task-oriented communication between members of the bureaucracy at least on middle and
low levels, and with letters showing a clear tendency of reducing personal commitment in favour of
concise matter-of-fact treatment. However, this was not the case.

Research for this article was conducted under the auspices of the project “The Language of Power II: Official
Epistolography in Islamic Egypt (642–969)” funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund. The project is part of the National
Research Network (NFN) “Imperium and Officium: Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom”
http://imperiumofficium.univie.ac.at. ‒ Papyrus editions are cited according to the Checklist of Editions of Greek, Latin,
Demotic, and Coptic Papyri, Ostraca and Tablets (http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/papyrus/texts/clist.html),
the Checklist of Arabic Documents (http://www.ori.uzh.ch/isap/isapchecklist.html), and, for reasons of convenience, the
Arabic Papyrology Bibliography (http://www.ori.uzh.ch/research/papyrology/bibliography.html) [all 29 February 2012]. ‒ I
am once more indebted to Andreas Kaplony (Munich) and his team of the Arabic Papyrology Database
(www.ori.uzh.ch/apd) for making available this incredibly helpful tool.
1
This sort of indtroduction is undoubtedly plagiarized from Bell 1928:278. It is not meant as an insolence, though, but as an
expression of veneration for this pioneer of transdisciplinary papyrology.
2
Weber 51980:128‒29.
NFN Imperium and Officium. Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom
2
The letters sent from Qurra ibn Šarīk to his subordinate head of district (pagarch) Basileios of
Aphroditō (Kaw Išqawh) are famous for their ‘strong language’, their narratio being loaded with
outspoken threats and insults.3 Their discovery in Egypt in the late 19th century has even brought about
an entire reassessment of Qurra’s role in history: while Arabic literary sources traditionally depict an
incompetent and corrupt example of Umayyad misrule over Egypt,4 the original letters in contrast
show an administrator willing to take care for the upkeep of public order, the control of local
productivity and the protection of the country population against abuses by their own indigenous
elites.5 The authoritarian language of the letters was even taken as indicaton of centralizing tendencies
already during the first 150 years of Muslim rule over Egypt.6 This interpretation of Qurra ibn Šarīk’s
rule as one of both willingness and ability to tighten control has recently been raised to question by
Arietta Papaconstantinou. By a careful analysis of the Greek letters sent by Qurra to his pagarch
Basileios in Aphroditō, she came to the disturbing result that the ‘strong language’ of the letters is by
no means an evidence of actual power but rather a mere rhetoric of a Muslim ruler struggling without
success against powerful local Christian elites personified by the pagarch of Aphroditō.7 Since the
interplay between the governor in al-Fusṭāṭ and his circa 60 pagarchs in the hinterland formed the
backbone of the Umayyad administration of Egypt,8 such a reassessment of the governor’s actual
power, if correct, would have considerable consequences for our understanding of early Muslim rule
in general. Once more becomes apparent how central the language of the letters is for an appropriate
understanding of social settings of power, conflict, and conflict resolution in the concrete case.
We have already mentioned the discrepancy between the largely formalized administrative procedures
of the heirs of Byzantine administration on the one hand and the very personal and harsh tone of the
letters sent from the state chancellery in al-Fusṭāṭ on the other. It seems at least in the case of the
pagarch of Aphroditō that emotionality, on the level of language use, had been part and parcel of
official epistolography in that period. 9 It might therefore be useful to evaluate the language of Qurra’s
letters in regards of elements expressing or evoking emotionality and their patterns of use.
3
Qurra ibn Šarīk became governor of Egypt on 3 or 13 Rabīʿ I 90 / 10 or 20 January 709 or shortly afterwards and remained
in office until Ṣafar 96 / October–November 714 or 23 Rabīʿ I 96 / 6 December 714, when he died of the plague (Becker
1906:17–18 discusses the discrepancies of chronology on the basis of literary sources). Sketches of Qurra’s biography are
Abbott 1938:57‒69; Becker 1906:15‒19; Cadell 1967:138–159; Bosworth 1981. Qurra ibn Šarīk as a historical personallity
is extensively treated, in Arabic, by Abū Ṣafiyya 1425/2004.
4
A detailed overview over the literary sources is Becker 1906:15‒19.
5
Becker 1906:18‒19; Bell 1910:xxiv‒xxv; Bell 1928:280‒81; Abbott 1938:65‒69.
6
Ibid. Cf., however, Sijpesteijn 2009 with strong arguments for a longer survival in power of indigenous Christian
landholding élites during the 8th c CE.
7
Papaconstantinou 2012.
8
Richter 2010:193.
9
Not taken into regard here are other communicative aspects of letters, like the choice of material and script, or the ways of
delivering and reading out, that surely deserve a treatment on their own.
3
Lucian Reinfandt
Emotions in Arabic administrative documents have never been a topic of research so far. This is
similar to the situation in other historical disciplines and is due to the ‘soft’ nature of the term, its
idealist smack, and its hitherto lack of conceptual stringency. 10 The letters of Qurra ibn Šarīk to his
pagarch Basileios, however, are a convenient starting point for any research on emotionality because
of their ‘strong language’. And there is good reason for the suitability of research on emotionality as a
tool for a better understanding of Muslim rule in the emerging Caliphal empire. One important aspect
is the more or less unexpected occurrence of emotionality in administrative procedures, which opens
up a set of Weberian questions as to whether emotionality can be taken as an indicator of
patrimonialism in early Muslim dominion. Another argument is the fact that it is a sort of indirect, or
second hand, emotionality that becomes perceivable in Qurra’s letters.
Both aspects need clarification. There are, as a rule, two kinds of emotionality to be distinguished in
Qurra’s letters as are in many other Arabic and Greek official letters from that period. The first one is
a sort of affective emotionality displayed on the side of the authors (or scribes) of letters, thus
allowing a glance into the inner disposition of human beings that stood behind the letters as well as
into the nature of the matters treated. In this case one might expect sentiments of joy, relief,
contentment, pride, and even amusement as well as, on the other hand, negative emotions like anger,
wrath, frustration. The other kind of emotionality is of a very different nature and appeals to the
emotions among the addressee’s side. Here one could expect mutual affection with the sender as well
as feelings of shame and guilt and even open fear. Likewise, one could expect appeals to the
addressee’s sense of responsibility, in other words, reminders to the underlying references frame of
authority and value: this can be an appeal to mundane authorities (“I am your superior; you have to
obey!”) or alternatively, and supposable in an Islamic context, the appeal to the transcendent power
(“God shall be merciful to you; God will be unhappy with you!”).
What makes the Qurra letters so relevant for the study of emotions is the fact that the ‘strong
language’ used in the letters, the temper looming up, is at first sight a manifestation of the emotions
among the letter writer himself. It looks as if the governor expresses his own feelings of anger and
frustration towards the addressee. Given the fact, however, that the letters were not written by the
governor himself but by his secretarial staff, this impression becomes unfounded. We do not know
much about the procedures of letter production in early Islamic chancelleries, but we have to reckon
with delegations, with time shifts between dictation, conceptualisation and clean copy in different
rooms and with different specialists involved. Official letters from the governor were a product of
team-work, their words nurtured as much by the governor’s concern as by general constraints of the
matter at hand and, not least, bureaucratic habitus and procedural rules. They were official documents
10
A pioneering study, however, being Febvre 1941.
4
rather than personal communication and thus filtered by and adjusted to the needs of convention and
rationality.
This consideration brings us very close to the concept pursued by this book. The study of emotions in
administrative writings opens a window to even the functioning of dominion. Far away from being
mere expressions of individuality, emotions are also culture-bound phenomena ‒ and thus reflections
of social constructs. Individuals reacted in conformity with the expectations of their environment.
Accordingly, the language of official letters, with all facets of emotionality or non-emotionality, is not
so much the language of their originators (here: the governor of Egypt) but to a greater degree the
language of a supra-individual setting into which the single individual was bound and in which the
individual was acting according to set norms. Writings had to be formulated, shaped, and presented in
a way that achieved a maximum of impact on the addressees. This was ensured by rhetoric and reason
on the one hand, and by consideration for the addressees’ affectivity and expectations on the other.
Language phenomena, like the use of emtional or non-emotional speech, are therefore representatives
of social and cultural milieus and underly a culture-bound logic. They can be understood as
manifestations of social relations within which the protagonists pursued their strategies.
Given these circumstances, the search for emotions in administrative letters has a significant actionoriented if not micro-historical dimension. According to this perspective, social formations and
bureaucratic institutions were not given conditions, but were constantly to be negotiated and shaped by
all individuals involved, be they of high or low rank. 11 This was accomplished by politics of everyday
life, the essence of which being the strategic use of social principles.12 Crucial in this regard is the
strategic component, by which all social interaction appears, with Pierre Bourdieu, as samples of
strategic choice among various offers at disposal. 13 Under these premises, a reconstruction of the
specific language use in Arabic official letters should lay open the interactions of individual social
strategies among members of the bureaucracy. By this becomes possible an understanding of the
functioning of the larger body, in our case the early Muslim administration in Egypt, also at a higher,
precisely macro-historical, level. 14 The evaluation of emotions therewith leaves behind the tentative
everyday history and evades the notorious stigma of practicing a mere anecdotal history of events.
11
Cf. Schlumbohm 2000:22: “Sie sozialen Gruppen und Institutionen treten den Menschen – selbst den Bauern in einem
entlegenen Dorf – nicht als objektive Gegebenheiten gegenüber, sondern sie werden von den ‚kleinen Leuten’ mitgestaltet in
Verhandlungen und Konflikten.“
12
Ibid., quoting Giovanni Levi, Das immaterielle Erbe. Eine bäuerliche Welt an der Schwelle zur Moderne, Berlin 1986 (ital.
Torino 1985), p. 9.
13
Bourdieu 1986:119: “… groups, and particularly units with a genealogical basis, existed both in the objective reality of
instituted regularities and constraints, and in their representations and all the strategies of bargaining, negotiation, bluff, etc.,
whose purpose is to modify reality by modifying the representations.”
14
Schlumbohm 2000:22 with reference to Carlo Ginzburg, Mikro-Historie. Zwei oder drei Dinge, die ich von ihr weiß,
Historische Anthropologie 1 (1993), p. 191.
5
Lucian Reinfandt
Rather, it evolves into an appropriate approach to trace more structural peculiarities of early Muslim
rule.
The following is an analysis of the emotional content of the language in Arabic administrative letters.
First those elements will be worked out that either were destined to express emotions on the part of the
sender, or to evoke emotions on the part of the addressee (part 2). Thereupon patterns of use of these
emotional elements in the letters will be reconstructed (part 3), until some final conclusions will be
drawn (part 4). The letters of Qurra ibn Šarīk to his pagarch Basileios of Aphroditō are well-suited for
our purpose, since they deal with different matters between the same correspondents over an extended
period, in other words: they have a ‘story to tell’. They belong to one of the few preserved archives
from early Muslim Egypt and thus benefit from the added value inherent in this kind of corpora when
compared to the largely atomized documentation in the very scattered majority of papyri.15 Moreover,
they are part of a larger documentary corpus written in no less than three languages (Arabic, Coptic,
and Greek) and thus exhibit a considerable comparative potential concerning epistolary practice and
language use in different language traditions.16 The majority of the letters, Arabic and Greek alike,
addresses the payment of taxes and the provision of manpower and material by the pagarch in
Aphroditō. Other subjects are the return of tax fugitives to their original residences and the settlement
of legal conflicts. All in all the letters construct, within the relatively narrow time frame of 24 months,
a little drama between two protagonists representing the central power in al-Fusṭāṭ on the one hand
and the local elites in the periphery on the other.17 The Qurra correspondence has been scrutinized by
generations of scholarship as a source for the institutional history of Early Islamic Egypt. However,
evaluating the share of emotions on an action-oriented basis seems new and promising and shall be
undertaken in the following.
2. Emotions in administrative letters of Qurra ibn Šarīk
A typical example of the grand pattern of Qurra’s Arabic letters is P.Cair.Arab. III 151r (with
emendations by Diem 1984:258). It was written between April 6 and May 4, 710 CE and contains an
order to the pagarch of Aphroditō, Basileios, to return some tax fugitives that had been found living in
Aphroditō, to their natural pagarchy:
15
On archives and dossiers from Egypt in the Muslim period cf. now in detail Sijpesteijn 2010.
16
The pioneering studies of language use in the Arabic Qurra letters are Becker 1906:27‒35 and Abbott 1938:39‒41. The
subject has only recently been tackeled again by Abū Ṣafiyya 1425/2004 and Richter 2010.
17
Most of the datable Greek, Arabic, or Coptic letters come from the years 90–91 H / 709–710 CE; cf. Richter 2010:196.
Comprehensive overviews of the editions of the Greek, Coptic and Arabic papyri from the dossier of Basileios are Cadell
1967; Diem 1984; Richter 2010.
6
[1] In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful! [2] From Qorra b. Sharīk to
Basil, [3] administrator of Ishqawh. I praise [4] God, besides [whom] there is no [5] god.
[6] As to the matter at hand:
Hishām b. ʿUmar [7] has written to me mentioning [8] fugitives of his in thy district [9]
And I had already given order to [10] the administrators and had written to them (to tell
them) [11] not to give refuge to a fugitive. Therefore, when [12] this my letter reaches
thee [13] give back to him what [14] fugitives are his in thy district, [15] and I do not
wish to hear again that thou sendest back [16] his messengers, or that he write [17] his
complaints about thee to me.
And hail [18] to him who follows the guidance. And Yazīd [19] has written (it) in Jumādā
II [20] of the year ninety-one.
The letter consists of the following main parts: (1) a prescript [lines 1–6], containing the basmala (“in
the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful” bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi), the salutatio
(“from Qurra ibn Sharīk to Basil, administrator of Ishqawh” min qurrata bni šarīka ʾilā basīla ṣāḥibi
ʾišqawha), a religious formula (“I praise God, than whom there is no other god” fa-ʾinnī ʾaḥmadu
llāha llaḏī lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa), and a transitional marker (“now to proceed” ʾammā baʿdu); (2) the
narratio or body of the letter [lines 6–17], containing a mutable text conforming to the occasion at
hand; (3) the finishing part [17–20], containing a religious final clause (“peace be with those who
follow the guidance” wa-s-salāmu ʿalā mani ttabaʿa l-hudā), the name of the scribe and the date of
issue (“Yazīd has written (it) in the month of Rabīʿ I of the year 90” wa-kataba yazīdu fī šahri rabīʿa
l-ʾawwali min sanati tisʿīna).
While the first and last parts of the letter determined the outer administrative setting (hierarchy,
correspondence partners, person and time of drafting), it is the middle passage with its narratio that
contains scribal skills and the craft of letting the often complex administrative issue curdle into words.
How to write it down in order to ensure success – in other words, to convince the addressee to obey
the sender’s requests? Apart from regular bureaucratic accuracy on the one hand and the knowledge of
epistolographic conventions on the other, the scribe, or rather his superior, the secretary, had to have
knowledge of additional devices depending on the circumstances and urgency of the case at hand.
Albeit being to a certain extent standardized formulae and therefore likewise conventional in nature,
these additional devices made their impact by their timing and choice according to particular
occasions. Whereas the phrases of the letter’s prescript and final clause transported a religious
discrimination (its humiliating character perhaps only being manifest to modern perception) that was
habitual and depersonalised in character and perhaps was not even perceived by Basileios,18 the
18
Cf. the phrases ʾaḥmadu llāha “I praise God” that was the rule in letters to Christians (instead of ʾaḥmadu ʾilayka llāha “I
praise to you God” reserved for Muslims only) and wa-s-salāmu ʿalā mani ttabaʿa l-hudā “peace be with those who follow
7
Lucian Reinfandt
middle part surely attracted his attention due to its mutability. In this way they were different from
such standardised formulae as the religious phrases mentioned. The narratio was the object of the
secretary’s and scribe’s handling of the particular occasion and the delicate part of the letter. Its
composition was the quality feature of the letter in terms of functionality and effectiveness.
The narratio of Qurra’s letters contained a number of standardized yet variably applicable elements
that were destined, as it seems, to evoke certain emotions among the addressee. They shall be
explained in the following.
2.1 Elements evoking fear, nervousness, or uneasiness
Imperatives [1A]
As a rule, imperative forms [1A] dominate all letters. Like a central theme, they spread an ambiance of
uneasiness that must have been suitable for the governor to remind his subaltern to his duties.
Apparently, the addressee was supposed to be intimidated by an authoritative tone, be it part of the
hierarchic convention or as a strategic device to bring the addressee to do what the sender wanted him
to do. Even more since this is the same wording as was used in the regular governor’s requests (Greek
entagia) to the villagers to pay the taxes. Thus it seems that the pagarch himself was addressed in the
same way as was the peasant population – as a non-Arab subject and as a tax paying object. This may
have been understood as a clear if not intended humiliation of a then proud local elite. Nowhere in
Qurra’s letters, in contrast, is the polite request formula used that is to be found in later Arabic papyri:
“be so kind to do”, sometimes also translated as “if it is your (kind) opinion, then do”.19 Moreover, the
orders and requests may come like a whole chain of imperatives: “collect … and rush”.20
the guidance” (instead of wa-s-salāmu ʿalayka wa-raḥmatu llāhi “peace be upon you and the mercy of God” reserved for
Muslims). Cf. Diem 1983:254.
19
ʾin raʾayta … faʿalta respectively ʾin raʾyuka … faʿalta; cf. Diem 1991:15. Examples of the use of this formula in other
Arabic papyri are the following (all from Egypt): P.Berl.Arab. II 23, r9 (7th c CE); P.Heid.Arab. II 1, r4 = Chrest.Khoury I 96
(8th c CE); P.David-WeillLouvre 23, r8 (8th c CE); P.Jahn 10, 10 (8th c CE); P.SijpesteijnTravel l. 12 (735 CE); P.Jahn 4, 1
(745 CE); CPR XVI 5, b19 (9th c CE); 10, 2 (9th c CE); 15, 4 and 9 and 10 (9th c CE); 23, 11 (9th c CE); 24, 8 (9th c CE);
P.Prag.Arab. IV 59, 2 (9th c CE); P.SijpesteijnArchivalMind 2, 2 (9th c CE); P.GrohmannWirtsch. 1, 3–4 (9th c CE);
P.Marchands V/1 10, r6 (9th c CE); P.RagibLettres 16, 5 (9th c CE); P.Hamb.Arab. II 7, 13 (9th c CE); P.David-WeillLouvre
19, 7 (9th c CE); 28, r5 (7th–10th c CE); P.Heid.Arab. II 10, 14 (9th–10th c CE); 63, 8 (11th c CE); 65, 3 (11th c CE)
20
E. g. P.Qurra 1, 10: wa-lummi … fa-ʿaǧǧil.
8
Forms of energicus [1B]
In almost all cases, this set of orders in imperative form is finally rounded off by closing formulae of
(negative) engergicus constructions [1B] that unmistakably expresses the dead earnest of the situation:
“and do not delay any of that balance”. 21 The same energicus forms are to be found in other contexts
that tend, by their wording, to stereotype phraseology and thus build certain thematic groups. An
important and repeated one is Qurra’s order to Basileios to treat the villagers well, since they are not
only the latter’s subjects but also the governor’s taxpayers: “and do not oppress your slave”22, or, in a
slightly different reading by the editors, “and to thy servant must no wrong be done”. 23 Similar in
intention is the phrase “do not bother any of them”. 24
There arises the question whether the energicus form had maintained its emotional effect on the
addressee, or whether it had become a mere text marker that was easily found, or noticed (in case of
audition), in the letter, indicating that the particular passage was something to obey.25 In other words,
energicus forms might have served purely technical demands of text structuring. In this regard it is
meaningful to look on the time schedule of the letters (cf. fig. 1 below in part 3). By this becomes
apparent that energicus forms have been used in most of Qurra’s Arabic letters, even in the most early
ones.26 It seems that they indeed had lost their emotional effect and served as mere text markers.
Jussive constructions [1C]
Also, the use of (positive) jussive constructions “he shall do” [1C] can be found that might have
spread an ambiance of pressure and uneasiness among the addressee27: “dass sie (sc. the village
inhabitants) eilends abliefern sollen (sc. of the grain tax), was ihnen obliegt, und dass sie sich aus ihrer
21
wa-lā tuʾaḫḫiranna min tilka l-baqiyyati (P.Qurra 1, 12–13). The Arabic grammatical form of energicus expresses the
definite announcement of an imminent event. Cf. Fischer 42006:§ 198.
22
wa-lā taẓlimanna ʿabdaka (P.BeckerPAF 1, 10; 2, 11; P.Qurra 3, 13).
23
wa-lā yuẓlamanna ʿabduka (P.Cair.Arab. III 154, 14; 155, 11; P.Heid.Arab. I 11, 6–7).
24
fa-lā taʿtariḍanna ʾaḥadan minhum (P.Cair.Arab. III 153, 9–10). Other examples from the Qurra corpus of the use of
energicus-forms are the following: P.BeckerPAF 3, 12–13; 4, 12–13; 5, 7–8; 6, 3; P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 10–11; 148, 25; 149,
20–21; 150, 13; 151, 15–17; 156, 3 with addition by the present author; 158, 6 with emendation by Diem 1984:258;
P.DietrichTopkapi 1, 8–11; P.Heid.Arab. I 1, 14 and 20–22; 2, 40; 3, 12–13 and 73–74 and 82–83; 17, 2; P.Qurra 1, 12–13;
2, 12–13; 4, 27–28. The greater part of the passages deals with Qurra’s enhancement of Basileios to deliver the taxes to the
capital – an apple of discord that stood persistently between the two protagonists.
25
Cf. the thorough research on letter structuring boundary markers undertaken for Arabic private letters by Grob 2010, here
especially Grob 2010:31; 124.
26
Letters abstaining from the use of energicus-forms are P.Cair.Arab. III 147; P.RagibQurra 1; 3; P.Heid.Arab. I 4. The
following letters cannot be assessed with certainty due to their fragmentary state: P.Qurra 5; P.RagibQurra 2; P.Cair.Arab. III
152; 159; P.BeckerPAF 11; P.Heid.Arab. I 13; 16; 18‒19; 21.
27
fal(i)-yafʿal. For this construction cf. Fischer 42006:§ 195.
9
Lucian Reinfandt
Mitte einen Qabbāl (sc. tax-collector) wählen sollen”28; “so gib ihnen den Befehl, ihr Getreide zu
verkaufen, und befiehl jedem Kaufmann, er solle bringen die Hälfte seines Vorrates an Getreide …
dann befiehl ihnen, es zu verkaufen … dann wende Deine Aufmerksamkeit der restierenden Hälfte zu,
und sie sollen sie unter den Leuten des Landes verkaufen. Bringt er sie nicht im Lande an den Mann,
so soll er sie nach el-Fusṭāṭ bringen.”29; “ordonne aux gens de ton district d’entreprendre la fabrication
du pain, et qu’ils soignent sa fabrication”30. The positive jussive construction in Qurra’s letters may
follow the phrase fa-ʾiḏā ǧāʾaka kitābī hāḏā fa-, but does not necessarily so.31 Instead, and much more
frequent, the mentioned phrase fa-ʾiḏā ǧāʾaka kitābī hāḏā fa- (a text marker on its own) is followed by
conventional imperatives instead of the positive jussive construction.32
Lexical expressions [1F]
Another device is the use of specific expressions [1F] that transport a meaning of pressure and
uneasiness. Striking is the frequent use of verbs and nouns built out of the Arabic root ʿǧl I and II and
X “to hasten, hurry; to make hasten, hurry”. They all tell the addressee to take the matter at hand
seriously: “hasten to send me what is imposed on your land”33; or: “sie sollen eilends abliefern, was
ihnen obliegt (sc. of tax-money)”34; or: “commanding that you sendest to us with all speed that thou
hast already gathered in, of the gold-tax in thy district”35; or: “und es sollen sich Deine Beamten
beeilen”36; or: “fürwahr Du sollst eilends das Geld zu ihm schicken”37; or: “ich hatte Dir geschrieben,
die Ablieferung des Getreides für den Staatsspeicher zu beschleunigen”38. Eye-catching is also the
occasional doubling of words in order to give point to them, like: “hasten to send me what has been
28
fal-yuʿaǧǧilū ḥamla llaḏī ʿalayhim wal-yaḫtārū qabbālan minhum (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 24–25).
29
fa-murhum fa-lyabīʿū ṭaʿāmahum wa-mur kulla tāǧirin fa-lyaḥmil niṣfa mā ʿindahu mina ṭ-ṭaʿāmi … ṯumma murhum fal-
yabīʿūhu … wa-nẓuri n-niṣfa l-bāqiya fal-yabīʿūhu fī ʾahli l-ʾarḍi fa-ʾin lam yunfiq fī l-ʾarḍi fal-yaḥmilhu ilā l-fusṭāṭi
(P.Heid.Arab. I 2, 15–18 and 22 and 29–33).
30
fa-mur ʾahla ʾarḍika fal-yataqaddamū fī ṣanʿati l-ḫubzi wal-yuḥsinū ṣanʿatahu (P.RagibQurra 1, 12–14).
31
This is the case in P.RagibQurra 1 (only evidence I have found), whereas not in P.Heid.Arab. I 2 and 3.
32
The evidence is P.BeckerPAF 1, 8‒9; 2, 8; 3, 3‒4; 4, 9; 5, 3‒5; P.BeckerNPAF 5, 11‒13; 8, 11‒12; 9, 8‒11; P.Cair.Arab.
III 151, r12–13; P.David-WeillLouvre 12‒13, 11 right side; P.Heid.Arab. I 4, 3‒4; 13, 2‒3; P.Qurra 3, 10‒12; 5, 14;
P.RagibLettres 9a, r7; 12, r4; P.RagibQurra 3, 5‒6; and from contexts other than the Qurra letters:
P.RagibPlusAncienneLettre l. 2; P.Berl.Arab. II 50, 6‒7; P.Ryl.Arab. I XV 59, 3 = P.DiemGouverneur l. 3;
P.DiemFrüheUrkunden 10, 1.
33
fa-ʿaǧǧili llaḏī ʿalā ʾarḍika min ḏālika (P.BeckerPAF 4, 10–11). The remainder evidence of the use of ʿaǧǧil (imperative
ʿǧl I) is: P.BeckerPAF 5, 5–6; P.Cair.Arab. III 147, 4 and 9; 148, 13 and 22; 159, 13–14; P.DietrichTopkapi 1, 10–11;
P.Heid.Arab. I 1, 12; 3, 81–82; 13, 3–4; P.Qurra 1, 10.
34
fa-l-yuʿaǧǧilū ḥamla llaḏī ʿalayhim (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 24).
35
ʾāmuruka ʾan tuʿaǧǧila ʾilaynā bi-mā qad ǧamaʿta min ǧizyati kūratika (P.Cair.Arab. III 149, 8–10).
36
wa-yastaʿǧil man ʿindaka (P.BeckerPAF 3, 7).
37
[wa-]llāhi tastaʿǧilanna bi-ḥamli l-māli ʾilayhi (P.Heid.Arab. I 17, 2).
38
qad kuntu katabtu ʾilayka fī taʿǧīli ḥamli ṭaʿāmi l-huryi (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 6–8).
10
gathered of the tax-money in thy part remittance upon remittance”39; or: “und schicke eilends Sendung
auf Sendung von dem, was Du zusammengebracht hast”40; or: “now send with all speed what has been
gathered”. 41
Oaths [1G]
Yet another device is the use of oaths [1G]. Surprisingly, at least to the present author, their
occurrence is not frequent in Qurra’s letters and exhibits only the following types: “by my life”42; and
“by God”43.
Threats of indirect nature [1D]
Another important feature of emotional influence is the frequent use of threats in Qurra’s letters – be
they of an indirect or even outspoken nature. Threats of an indirect nature [1D] tend to remind
Basileios not to give reason for reproach by his unsatisfying behaviour: “und gib ja keinen Anlass,
Dich zu tadeln!”44; “and I do not wish to have to reproach thee about that!”45; “I should not whish that
anybody should see in thy administration anything of which he disapproves”46; “do not burden thyself
with ignominy nor corrupt thy administration”47. The following two examples are of a more concrete
however still indirect nature: “if any finance officer delays beyond the term which I appointed, or
appears before me having left behind him aught of the revenue, truly, he is but a self-deceiving fool
who has light regard for his life”48; and: “for indeed, by God, there is in my service not one who has
delayed this revenue without being disgraced. Let there be no withholding of what is with you. And
beware of excuses, for I am not of those who believe in excuses or accept them”49. A whole group of
indirect threats even follows the same wording, all using a construction of “I do not wish to learn that
39
40
ʿaǧǧil ʾilayya bi-mā ǧtamaʿa ʿindaka mina l-māli bi-l-ʾawwali fa-l-ʾawwali (P.Cair.Arab. III 148, 16).
wa-ʿaǧǧil bi-l-ʾawwali fa-l-ʾawwali mimmā ǧamaʿta (P.Heid.Arab. I 1, 12–13).
41
fa-ʿaǧǧil ʿaǧǧil bi-mā ǧtamaʿa (P.Cair.Arab. III 148, 22).
42
wa-lā-ʿamrī (P.Cair.Arab. III 149, 6; P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 20; P.Qurra 4, 6) and fa-lā-ʿamrī (P.Qurra 4, 18).
43
wa-llāhi (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 14 and 23; 158, 6; P.Qurra 4, 25).
44
wa-lā taǧʿalanna ʿalā nafsika sabīlan (P.BeckerPAF 4, 12–13).
45
wa-lā ʾalūmannaka fī ḏālika or wa-lā ʾalūmannaka fīhi (P.Cair.Arab. III 148, 25; P.BeckerPAF 6, 3; P.Heid.Arab. I 2, 40;
P.Qurra 2, 12–13).
46
lā ʾuḥibbu ʾan yarā ʾaḥadun fī ʿamalika šāy (sic) yakrahuhu (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 16–18).
47
lā tuʿayyibanna nafsaka wa-lā tusīʾanna ʿamalaka (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 27).
48
ʾinna ʿāmilan min ʿummālin taʾaḫḫara baʿda l-ʾaǧali llaḏī ʾaǧǧaltuhu ʾaw taqaddama ʿalayya wa-qad taraka ḫalfahu
mina l-māli šayʾan la-ʾaḥmaqu muġtarrun hayyinatun ʿalayhi nafsuhu (P.Qurra 4, 6–12).
49
wa-ʾinnahu wa-llāhi mā li-ʾaḥadin ʿindī ʾaḫḫara hāḏā l-māla ʾillā mā qabuḥa waǧhuhu wa-lā yakūnanna li-mā qibalaka
ḥabsun wa-ʾiyyāka wa-l-ʿilala fa-ʾinnī lastu mimman yuṣaddiqu bi-l-ʿilali wa-lā yaʿḏiru bihā (P.Qurra 4, 24–31).
11
Lucian Reinfandt
…”50. This formula can be combined with different matters, as show the following examples: “and I
do not wish to hear again that thou sendest back his messengers, or that he write his complaints about
thee to me”51; “and I do not want to learn that thou art in arrear with that what thou owest” 52; “und
wahrlich nicht will ich wissen, was Du wenig oder viel hiervon verzögerst!”53.
Threats of direct nature [1E]
Outspoken threats [1E] likewise appear, although much less in number. Two passages contain carrotand-stick-expressions, leaving the decision to the addressee as to whether he prefers prize or
punishment and sometimes packed into nifty constructions of rhetorical parallelism: “satisfy me in
this, and I will not blame you in the matter”54; and “If I find with thee what I should like to find
respecting regular remittance and satisfactory consignment, I shall do good unto thee and do thee
favour and strengthen for thee thy business and thy administration, and I hope – please God – that it
may be so. But if I find thy administration otherwise, then – as the man is only rewarded according to
his works – blame only thyself.”55. Undoubtedly brusque, on the other hand, are the following
passages that openly mention the consequences for Basileios if he should be keen enough to maintain
his unsatisfying behaviour: “[wisse, dass] Dich im Falle einer Verzögerung treffen wird, was Dir
selbst [und Deinem Eigentum Schaden bringen wird]”56; “sache que si tu expédies un pain qui n’est
pas bon, il ne sera pas accepté de toi, et t’atteindra pour cela ce que tu réprouves” 57; “bei meinem
Leben, wer versagt, oder seine Pflicht verletzt, der möge von mir erwarten, was ihm nicht angenehm
ist”58; “und wisse: Finde ich, dass einer von den Qabbāls (sc. tax-collectors) das Maß überschreitet
gegenüber dem Landvolk, oder mehr von ihnen nimmt, als was Du ihm angewiesen hast, so soll Dich
von mir treffen, was Dir Dein Land eng werden lassen wird”59; “I will punish him with the severest
punishment and inflict upon him the heaviest fine. And I do not image that this has not come to thy
50
lā ʾaʿrifanna (mā) (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 11; 149, 20–21; 156, 3 with addition by myself; 158, 6 with emendation by Diem
1984:258).
51
wa-lā ʾaʿrifanna mā radadta rusulahu ʾaw kataba ʾilayya yaštakīka (P.Cair.Arab. III 151, 15–17).
52
wa-lā ʾaʿrifanna mā ʾaḫḫarta mā qibalaka (P.Heid.Arab. I 1, 14).
53
wa-lā ʾaʿrifanna mā ʾaḫḫarta minhā qalīlan wa-lā kaṯīran (P.BeckerPAF 3, 12–13).
54
fa-kfinī ḏālika wa-lā ʾalūmannaka fīhi (P.Qurra 2, 12–13).
55
ʾin ʾaǧid ʿindaka llaḏī ʿurīdu mina l-ʾiǧrāʾi wa-ḥusni l-ǧalbi ʾuḥsinu ʾilayka wa-ʾuṣībuka bi-maʿrūfin wa-ʾušaddidu laka
ʾamraka wa-ʿamalaka wa-ʾanā ʾarǧū ʾin šāʾa llāhu ʾan yakūna kaḏālika wa-ʾin ʾaǧid ʿamalaka ʿalā ġayri ḏālika fa-ʾinnamā
yuǧzā l-marʾu bi-ʿamalihi ṯumma lā talum ʾillā nafsaka (watch the clear parallelism!) (P.Cair.Arab. 146, 3–10).
56
[wa-ʿlam ʾan]nī la-ʾin ʾaḫḫarta minhā šayʾan lā yuṣībannaka minnī [mā yuḥzinuka] fī nafsika wa-[mālika] (P.BeckerPAF
5, 11–14).
57
wa-ʿlam ʾannaka ʾin tursil bi-ḫubzin ġayri ṭayyibin lā yuqbal minka wa-yuṣibka fīhi mā takrahu (P.RagibQurra 1, 16–18).
58
wa-la-ʿamrī la-man kāna ʿāǧizan muḍīʿan laqadi staḥalla minnī mā yakrahu (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 20–22).
59
wa-ʿlam ʾannī ʾin ʿaǧid ʿaḥadan mina l-qabbālīna ʿtadā ʿalā ʾahli l-ʾarḍi fī l-kayli ʾaw ʾaḫaḏa minhum fawqa llaḏī
ʾamarta lahu bihi yabluġka minnī mā yuḍayyiqu ʿalayka ʾarḍaka (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 56–62 with emendation by Diem
1984:254).
12
knowledge nor that it has come to the knowledge of the people of thy district.”60; “Und zwinge mich
nicht, Dir (nochmals) hierüber zu schreiben nach diesem meinem Brief. Denn dann müsste ich Dir
etwas mitteilen, was Dir den entsprechenden Lohn (sc. punishment) zukommen lässt.”61. Also a threat
against Basileios’ subjects, the tax-paying villagers, can be found in Qurra’s letters. This may have
been understood as a warning also against Basileios himself because of his responsibility for the
upkeep of taxes and public order: “denn keine Nachsicht gibt es bei mir für einen von dem Landvolk,
der plündert oder irgend etwas von Übertretungen sich zuschulden kommen lässt”.62
Not only the Arabic letters, however, but also the Greek letters show insults of Basileios and even
direct threats against him. Just see the following examples: “if at least you have any understanding and
are in your right mind!” (P.Lond. IV 1346); “if at least you have any good in you!” (P.Lond. IV 1370);
“For you will be aware that if we find any place burdened beyond its powers or on the other hand
assessed more lightly than is just for them (sic) to be rated, or again if a place is unable to pay in
accordance with the rating in the assessment now made by them, we will requite the assessors along
with the overseer with such a punishment as they are not able to bear…” (P.Lond. IV 1356); “And
God knows, we wished to requite you for such disobedience beyond what you expect. On receiving
the present letter, therefore, send with all speed to the Treasury the money assessed on you and the
officials of your district for the aforesaid fine, if at least you have any good in you and understand
what s written to you; for if you delay and we are compelled to write again there will come on you
along with the letter before you are aware such punishment as will destroy you. For indeed you have
no excuse in this matter, seeing that you have already finished the harvest, and the statutory time too
has gone by, and you have no pretext in anything. Therefore if you love your life do not disobey in
this matter.” (P.Lond. IV 1359); “And you will be aware that if, when you come down to us, there is
found even one single artaba of the said wheat in arrear in your district we shall seize you and bind
you until …. you collect and hand over this by God’s command.” (P.Lond. IV 1370).
Allusions to God’s anger (1H)
In order to put pressure, higher authorities had to be involved. God as the highest arbiter of human
behaviour plays a certain role in Qurra’s letters: not only allusions to God’s mercy [2D; see below]
can be found, but also allusions to God’s anger [1H] are used to influence the stubborn subordinate.
Surprisingly, however, only two instances of this device could be found in Qurra’s letters: “und
60
ʿuʿāqibuhu ʾašadda l-ʿuqūbati wa-ʾuġrimuhu ʾaṯqala l-ġarāmati wa-lā ʾaḫālu ḏālika ʾillā qad kāna balaġaka wa-balaġa
ʾahla kūratika (P.Cair.Arab. 149, 1–5).
61
wa-lā tulǧiʾannī ʾilā ʾan ʾaktuba ʾilayka fīhi baʿda kitābī hāḏā fa-ʾinnī ʾiḏan ʾaktubu ʾilayka bi-llaḏī yuǧzīka (with
emendation by Diem 1984:254) (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 82–86).
62
fa-ʾinnahu lā ruḫṣata ʿindī li-ʾaḥadin min ʾahli l-ʾarḍi ntahaka ʾaw ʿamila šayʾan mina l-maʿāṣī (P.Heid.Arab. I 4, 10–13).
13
Lucian Reinfandt
fürchte Gott in Deiner Regierung, denn sie ist ein Dir anvertrautes Gut und Deine religiöse Pflicht” 63;
and “Gott lässt ihm diesbezüglich den entsprechenden Lohn (sc. punishment) zukommen”64.
Expression of Qurra’s anger (1J)
More often, on the contrary, is it the governor himself [1J] who is referred to as the higher authority
that was entitled to blame the pagarch’s administration. The following passages should not be
understood as an expression of Qurra’s own emotions, his rage and fervour, but also, and perhaps
primarily, as a device to influence Basileios’ emotions (badly here). Thus, in some phrases the
behaviour of Basileios’ subordinate officials is criticised. This however may have been also
understood as a critique on Basileios himself, since he was responsible for his administrative body:
“Deshalb hat niemand einen Entschuldigungsgrund in irgendetwas, sondern Schuld hat bloß das
Versagen oder die Pflichtverletzung des Beamten. Bei meinem Leben, wer versagt, oder seine Pflicht
verletzt, der möge von mir erwarten, was ihm nicht angenehm ist.”.65 Not only this passage alone, but
the whole letter P.Heid.Arab. I 3 has the character of a long bill of indictment against the misdoings of
Basileios’ local officials (qabbals = tax-collectors): they by their malpractice, raise discontent among
the villagers (P.Heid.Arab. I 3 line 26), they are susceptible to corruption (ibid. lines 26–30) and
request more grain from the villagers than they have to (ibid. lines 36–40) and tend to use the wrong
standards (ibid. lines 40–52) and generally oppress the villagers (ibid. lines 65–66). The whole letter
reads as an indictment against the officials’ omnipresent corruption and taking gift and bribe. The long
catalogue of things they should not do in fact is a confirmation that Basileios’ officials actually have
done all these misdoings.
More examples for an outspoken critique of Basileios’ administrative personnel [1J] is the following:
“trifft nun das Landvolk Bedrückung und Verderben vonseiten seiner eigenen Obrigkeit, so bedeutet
das seinen Ruin”66; “denn keine Nachsicht gibt es bei mir für einen von dem Landvolk, der plündert
oder irgend etwas von Übertretungen sich zuschulden kommen lässt”67; “by my life, if any finance
officer delays beyond the term which I appointed, or appears before me having left behind him aught
of the revenue, truly, he is but a self-deceiving fool who has light regard for his life”68. Thus, Qurra
63
wa-ttaqi llāha fī mā talī fa-ʾinnamā hiya ʾamānatuka wa-dīnuka (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 63–64).
64
allāhu muǧzīhi fīhi (P.Heid.Arab. I 4, 2 with emendation by Diem 1984:254).
65
fa-laysa li-ʾaḥadin ʿillatun fī šayʾin ʾillā ʾan yaʿǧizu l-ʿāmilu ʾaw yuḍīʿu wa-la-ʿamrī la-man kāna ʿāǧizan muḍīʿan la-qadi
staḥalla minnī mā yakrahu. (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 18–22).
66
wa-ʾiḏā ʾatā ʾahla l-ʾarḍi ẓ-ẓulmu wa-l-ʾiḍāʿatu min qibali man yalī ʾamrahum fa-ʾinna ḏālika ḫarābuhum (P.Heid.Arab. I
3, 68–72).
67
68
wa-la-ʿamrī ʾinna ʿāmilan min ʿummālin taʾaḫḫara baʿda l-ʾaǧali llaḏī ʾaǧǧaltuhu ʾaw taqaddama ʿalayya wa-qad taraka
ḫalfahu mina l-māli šayʾan la-ʾaḥmaqu muġtarrun hayyinatun ʿalayhi nafsuhu (P.Qurra 4, 6–12).
14
clearly sees the oppressive potential that tax officials used to deploy against the simple man in the
villages. The latter, however, was by no means free of guilt. He was part of the world he lived in, and
why should he not have taken the same measures as the more powerful did? He thus repeatedly shows
the tendency to withhold the grain, or in case of delivery, to withhold at least the good grain, as is
Qurra forced to mention in one of his letters: “so befiehl den Leuten jeder Ortschaft Deines Kreises,
dass sie eilends abliefern sollen, was ihnen obliegt”69; and “Ferner befiehl Deinem Landvolk, dass sie
nach dem Staatsspeicher nur unverdorbenes Getreide abliefern; denn ich habe die Beamten des
Staatsspeichers angewiesen, dass sie von dem Landvolk nur solches nehmen dürfen.”70.
There is a number of impressive instances, however, where Basileios is personally attacked by Qurra
[1J]. Some of them do not even shy away from concrete personal insults. They seem to be the most
preponderant single device to influence the addressee’s emotions: “There has already passed of the
time what thou knowest whilst thou art in arrear with the tribute, although the allowance for the troops
is due”. 71 The following example wants to say that Basileios has still not delivered the grain in spite of
Qurra’s repeated orders and has, moreover, shown irregularities respecting the measurement: “Ich
hatte Dir geschrieben, die Ablieferung des Getreides für den Staatsspeicher zu beschleunigen und es in
der Dir übermittelten Weise zu vermessen”. 72 Another passage is taken from a letter that, as a whole,
reads as a single bill of indictment against Basileios’ misbehaviour (in Qurra’s perspective). We have
to take into account that all the misbehaving that Qurra mentions in the letter as possible actually had
happened in Basileios’ activities, otherwise would not have been the need for such a letter!): “Do not
remain in arrears after (the date) which I have named, and I do not wish to learn of thy insufficiency of
unpunctuality nor that thou comest to me leaving any part of the (tax-)money behind. For indeed, by
God, nobody acts thus without learning when he comes to me that what he has done is wrong, and
faulty the discharge of his official duties, and I should not wish that anybody should see in thy
administration anything of which he disapproves: any insufficiency, withholding or annulling. For
when I sent thee to thy post, it was with the expectation that thou shouldest show trustworthiness,
efficiency and promptness in thy office.”73 The next passage expresses, nota bene between the lines
only, the governor’s blatant doubts about his pagarch’s financial integrity regarding the balances:
69
fa-mur ʾahla kulli qaryatin min kūratika fa-l-yuʿaǧǧilū ḥamla llaḏī ʿalayhim (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 22–24).
70
ṯumma mur ʾahla ʾarḍika fa-lā yaḥmilū ʾilā l-huryi ʾillā ṭaʿāman ṭayyiban fa-ʾinnī qad ʾamartu ʾaṣḥāba l-huryi ʾallā
yaqbalū min ʾahli l-ʾarḍi ʾillā ḏālika (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 76–80).
71
fa-ʾinnahu qad ḏahaba mina z-zamāni mā qad ʿalimta wa-qadi staʾḫarta l-ǧizyata wa-ḥaḍara ʿaṭāʾu l-ǧundi (P.Heid.Arab.
I 1, 5–8).
72
fa-ʾinnī qad kuntu katabtu ʾilayka fī taʿǧīli ḥamli ṭaʿāmi l-huryi wa-fī kaylihi bi-mā qad balaġaka (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 6–9).
73
wa-lā tattaḫiranna baʿda llaḏī sammaytu laka mina l-ʾaǧali wa-lā ʾaʿrifanna mā ʿaǧazta wa-lā qaḍarta wa-lā qadimta
ʾilayya wa-ḫalfaka mina l-māli šayʾun fa-ʾinnahu wa-llāhi lā yafʿal ḏālika ʾaḥadun ʾillā ʿarafa ḥīna yaqdamu ʿalayya
ʾannahu biʾsa mā ṣanaʿa wa-biʾsa mā ʿamila wa-ʾinnī lā ʾuḥibbu ʾan yarā ʾaḥadun fī ʿamalika šayʾ (sic) yakrahuhu min
ʿaǧzin wa-lā taʾḫīrin wa-lā ʾibṭāʾin fa-ʾinnī qad baʿaṯtuka ḥīna baʿaṯtuka ʿalā ʿamalika wa-ʾanā ʾarǧū ʾan yakūna ʿindaka
ʾamānatun wa-ʾiǧrāʾun wa-tanfīḏan li-l-ʿamali (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 10–22 with emendations by Diem 1984:256).
15
Lucian Reinfandt
“then send me the (account) book on every dinar which you have paid (on your own) or whoever has
been in charge before you over your district”.74 The following example is of a fragmentary nature.
What it might have dealt with, we do not know anymore. However, its very form tells us that it must
have been something (misdemeanours) that the addressee, the pagarch, must have actually committed
– otherwise the governor would not have deemed it necessary to mention it in his official
correspondence. The phrase is typical for Qurra’s letters as it shows up in many of them: “then do
not…”.75 But things could have been even harsher. The following two passages are impressive
examples of how Qurra bit by bit lost his temper: “Upon my life, the term is now past by more than
two months, and I had written to thee before this my letter commanding that thou sendest to us with all
speed that thou hast already gathered in, of the gold-tax in thy district. And I would fain act leniently
towards them and treat them with indulgence in consideration of what thou hast already received from
them somewhat to the extent of what they usually render every year to the treasury. But I do not think
that, with this letter of mine before thee, thou – if there be any good in thee – wouldest not have
dispatched what thou hadst already gathered in of the gold-tax of thy district.”76; and “Now, by my
life, I really used to think your administration more successful and better than what I have seen. For
you have indeed done what not one of the finance officers has done in the delaying of what is due
from you and in the incompetence of your administration.”77.
2.2 Elements evoking joy or relief
Moral opinions [2A]
Moral opinions [2A], on the contrary, might have had a positive effect on the addressee in such a way
that the latter felt comfort when obeying to his superiors’ orders. There is a good number of moral
opinions to be found in the letters: “drum gib Dir Mühe, dass Du [meinen Befehl] zu meiner
Zufriedenheit erfüllst vor dem Aḍḥā-Fest”78; “for when the land is cultivated, it prospers, God causing
it to bring forth its due yield”79; “ferner ist Gott ihr Helfer in dem, was ihnen obliegt von dem
74
fa-ʾarsil ʾilayya bi-kitābi kulli d^nārin dafaʿtahu ʾanta nafsuka ʾaw man kāna qablaka ʿalā kūratika (P.Qurra 5, 15–18
with emendations by Diem 1984:260).
75
ṯumma lā… (P.Qurra 5, 29).
76
wa-la-ʿamrī ḥala l-ʾaǧalu munḏu ʾakṯara min šahrayni wa-qad katabtu ʾilayka qabla kitābī hāḏā ʾāmuruka ʾan tuʿaǧǧila
ʾilaynā bimā qad ǧamaʿta min ǧizyati kūratika wa-ʾaradtu ʾan ʾarfuqa bihim wa-ʾataǧāwaza ʿanhum bimā qad qabaḍta
minhum ʿalā naḥwi llaḏī kānū yuʾaddūna fī bayti l-māli kulla sanatin fa-lā ʾaẓunnu kitābī hāḏā qādiman ʿalayka ʾin kāna
fīka ḫayrun ʾillā wa-qad baʿaṯta bi-llaḏī qad ǧamaʿta min ǧizyati kūratika (P.Cair.Arab. III 149, 6–19).
77
fa-la-ʿamri laqad kuntu ʾaẓunnu ʾanna ʿamalaka huwa ʾanǧaḥu wa-ḫayran mimmā raʾaytu wa-qad faʿalta mā lam yafʿal
ʾaḥadun mina l-ʿummāli fī taʾḫīri llaḏī ʿalayka wa-fī ʿǧzika fī ʿamalika (P.Qurra 4, 18‒24).
78
wa-bḏil li-tuwaffiyanī mā ʾamartuka bihi qabla l-ʾaḍḥā (P.BeckerPAF 5, 14–15 with emendations by Diem 1984:255).
79
faʾinna l-ʾarḍa ʾiḏā zuriʿat ʿamurat wa-ʾaḫraǧa llāhu llaḏī ʿalayhā mina l-ḥaqqi (P.Qurra 2, 9–12).
16
Anspruch (ḥaqq) des Beherrschers der Gläubigen”80; “Denn keine Nachsicht gibt es bei mir für einen
von dem Landvolk, der plündert oder irgendetwas von Übertretungen sich zuschulden kommen
lässt”81; “Ferner segnete Gott die Ernte des Landvolkes in diesem Jahr. Deshalb hat niemand einen
Entschuldigungsgrund in irgendetwas, sondern Schuld hat bloß das Versagen oder die
Pflichtverletzung des Beamten.”82; “drum befriedige mich in der Dir obliegenden Angelegenheit und
fürchte Gott in Deiner Regierung, denn sie ist ein Dir anvertrautes Gut und Deine religiöse Pflicht”83;
“By God, that you actest well and honestly and art trustworthy and estimable, then I should prefer that,
and it would please me more than if thou wert otherwise. Do not burden thyself with ignominy nor
corrupt thy administration, and ask God’s aid.”84; “For, indeed, if the money has already come to me, I
should already have ordered, please God, that the troops be paid their allowance. But thou shouldest
not be the last of the administrators in respect to the sending of whatsoever is due from him”85.
Rational substantiations [2B]
Perhaps under the category of joy and relief can also be subsumed the many allusions to a higher
authority or simply the public benefit (maṣlaḥa). The addressee is evoked to share in the common
value system, thus feeling personal relief when doing the right and preventing the wrong for
community – and as a useful side effect, also fulfilling the letter writer’s desire. They all have the
character of a rational substantiation [2B] of the letter’s respective request: “Do this quickly for I fear
a rise in the price of corn in al-Fusṭāṭ. For if I do not exact the charges in favour of the merchants they
obtain a good profit. And, if it pleases God, the harvest will take place in forty nights or thereabouts.
Therefore dispatch with all speed what thou hast intended to send thereof and write me how thou hast
managed matters thereafter, and how many vendors in crn there are in thy district.”86; “[…] in ihren
Händen und nichts verkaufen wollen von ihm, weil sie auf die (Notlage der) Leute spekulieren und
eine Preissteigerung erwarten … denn Getreide ist leicht verkäuflich in al-Fusṭāṭ. Niemand bringt
80
ṯumma ʾinna llāha muʿīnuhum ʿalā mā kāna ʿalayhim min ḥaqqi ʾamīri l-muʾminīna (P.Heid.Arab. I 1, 18–20).
81
82
ṯumma qad bāraka llāhu fī ġallati ʾahli l-ʾarḍi l-ʿāma fa-laysa li-ʾaḥadin ʿillatun fī šayʾin ʾillā ʾan yaʿǧizu l-ʿāmilu ʾaw
yuḍīʿu (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 16–20 with emendations by Diem 1984:254).
83
fa-kfinī ʾamra mā qibalaka wa-ttaqi llāha fī mā talī fa-ʾinnamā hiya ʾamānatuka wa-dīnuka (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 62–64).
84
fa-ʾinnī wa-llāhi li-ʾan takūna muḥsinan muǧmilan ʾamīnan muwaqqaran ʾaḥabbu ʾilayya wa-ʾaʿǧabu ʿindī min ʾan
takūna ʿalā ġayri ḏālika lā tuʿayyibanna nafsaka wa-lā tusīʾanna ʿamalaka wa-staʿin bi-llāhi (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 23–28
with emendations by Diem 1984:256).
85
fa-ʾinnahu law qad qadima ʾilayya l-mālu qad ʾamartu li-l-ǧundi bi-ʿaṭāʾihim ʾin šāʾa llāhu fa-lā takūnanna ʾāḫira l-
ʿummāli baʿṯan bimā qibalahu (P.Cair.Arab. III 148, 23–28).
86
wa-ʿaǧǧil ḏālika fa-ʾinnī qad ḫiftu ġalāʾa ṭ-ṭaʿāmi bi-l-fusṭāṭi wa-ʾinnī ʾiḏā waḍaʿtu li-t-tuǧǧāri maksahum ʾaṣābū ribḥan
ḥasanan wa-ʾinnamā l-ḥiṣādu ʾin šāʾa llāhu fī ʾarbaʿīna laylatan ʾaw qarīb min ḏālika fa-ʿaǧǧil mā kunta bāʿiṯ bihi min
ḏālika wa-ktub ʾilayya kayfa faʿalta fī ḏālika wa-mā bi-ʾarḍika mina t-tuǧǧāri llaḏīna yabīʿūna ṭ-ṭaʿāma (P.Cair.Arab. III
147, 4–14 with emendations by Diem 1984:257).
17
Lucian Reinfandt
Getreide, ohne es an den Mann zu bringen.”87; “Ordonne aux gens de ton district d’entreprendre la
fabrication du pain, et ils soignent le fabriquer bien, car seul le bon pain est bon aux troupes. Sache
que si tu expédies un pain qui n’est pas bon, il ne sera pas accepté de toi, et t’atteindra pour cela ce
que tu réprouves.”88; “Ich muss annehmen, dass Du dies (sc. the former letter requesting for the
payment of taxes) erhalten hast … denn wir haben Befehl gegeben, den Truppen ihre Verpflegung zu
erstatten.”89; “Ferner halte Deine Beamten und Dich selbst zurück von der Bedrückung des
Landvolkes; denn das Land kann Bedrückung weder aushalten noch (bei ihr) bestehen. Trifft nun das
Landvolk Bedrückung und Verderben vonseiten seiner eignen Obrigkeit, so bedeutet das seinen
Ruin.”90; “verily thou knowest already what I have written to thee about gathering in the (tax-)money
and (abouth that) which is impending in respect to allowance to the troops and their families and to the
sending off of the men to the campaign … for, indeed, the country folk have had a rest for months
now … for the country folk have already finished the tilling and know what is due from them and their
surplus (of corn) is suitable for sale in so far as they wish (to sell) thereof”91; “Wenn Du das tust, so
[erfüllst Du, was Du durch] Unterschrift [übernommen]. Und Du weißt, wieviel für die Rationen der
Leute nötig ist.”92; “- - - Anspruch des Beherrschers (sc. the caliph in Damascus) – Gott gebe ihm
Wohlsein und schütze ihn”93. In another case, it is neither moral considerations nor Qurra’s personal
interest that thrives him to demand the payment, but rather the interest of a third party: the military
forces. Thus it is a higher interest going beyond the mental state of the correspondents: “Denn die
Leute Deines Landes haben ihre Aussaat beendigt … Drum soll nicht vorkommen in Deiner Sache ein
Manko, noch eine Verzögerung noch eine Zurückhaltung dessen, was bei Dir ist. Wenn ich Geld zur
Hand gehabt hätte, so hätte ich den Truppen ihre Geldgratifikation ausgezahlt.”.94
87
bi-ʾaydīhim fa-lā yabīʿūna minhu šayʾan tarabbuṣan bi-n-nāsi wa-ntiẓāra ġalāʾi s-siʿri … fa-ʾinna ṭ-ṭaʿāma nāfiqun bi-l-
fusṭāṭi laysa yaqdamu ʾaḥadun bi-ṭaʿāmin ʾillā ʾanfaqahu (P.Heid.Arab. I 2, 6–8 and 26–29).
88
fa-mur ʾahlaka fa-l-yataqaddamū fī ṣanʿati l-ḫubzi wa-l-yuḥsinū ṣanʿatahu fa-ʾinnahu lā yuṣliḥu l-ǧuyūša ʾillā l-ḫubzu t-
tayyibu wa-ʿlam ʾannka ʾin tursil bi-ḫubzin ġayri ṭayyibin lā yuqbal minka wa-yuṣibka fīhi mā takrahu (P.RagibQurra 1, 12–
18 with emendations by Diem 1984:266).
89
wa-ʾinnī lam ʾuraka ʾillā qad ʾaḫaḏta ḏālika … fa-ʾinnā qad ʾamarnā li-l-ǧundi bi-ʾarzāqihim (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 10–11
and 13–14).
90
ṯumma ḥǧur ʿummālaka wa-nafsaka ʿan ẓulmi ʾahli l-ʾarḍi fa-ʾinna l-ʾarḍa lā ṣabra lahā ʿalā ḍ-ḍulmi wa-lā baqāʾun wa-
ʾiḏā ʾatā ʾahla l-ʾarḍi ẓ-ẓulmu wa-l-ʾiḍāʿatu min qibali man yalī ʾamrahum fa-ʾinna ḏālika ḫarābuhum (P.Heid.Arab. I 3,
64–72 with emendations by Diem 1983:246).
91
fa-ʾinnaka qad ʿalimta llaḏī katabtu ʾilayka bihi min ǧamʿi l-māli wa-llaḏī qad ḥaḍara min ʿatāʾi l-ǧundi wa-ʿiyālihim wa-
ġazwi n-nāsi … fa-ʾinna ʾahla l-ʾarḍi qad ǧammū munḏu ʾašhurin … fa-ʾinna ʾahla l-ʾarḍi qad faraġū mina l-ḥarṯati waʿalimū mā ʿalayhim wa-ṣalaḥat ʾafrāṭuhum li-bayʿi mā ʾarādū minhā (P.Cair.Arab. III 148, 5–10 and 12–13 and 18–21 with
emendation by Diem 1983:257).
92
ʾinnaka ḥīna tafʿalu ḏālika lʿ[…]ṭ li-ḫaṭṭika wa-qad ʿalimta mā li-ʾarzāqi n-nāsi (P.Heid.Arab. I 13, 5–7).
93
ḥaqqi ʾamīri l-muʾminīna ʾaṣlaḥahu wa-ḥafiẓahu llāhu (P.Heid.Arab. I 17, 1–2).
94
fa-ʾinna ʾahla ʾarḍika qad faraġū min zirāʿihim … fa-lā yakūnanna fī ʾamrika ʿaǧzun wa-lā taʾḫīrun wa-lā taḥabbusan bi-
mā qibalaka fa-yinnahu law qadi ǧtamaʿa ʿindī mālun qad ʾaʿṭaytu l-ǧunda ʿaṭāʾahum (P.Heid.Arab. I 1, 16–17 and 20–25).
18
Encouragements [2C]
Moreover, expressions of encouragment [2C] can be found in Qurra’s letters, even though they are not
numerous: “So erfülle sorgfältig Deine Pflicht und überlass das Dir anvertraute Gut und was Dir
untersteht niemandem außer Dir selber. Wer gut handelt, dem wird geholfen und seine Arbeit
unterstützt bei seinem Tun.”95; “but verily if I find with thee what I should like to find respecting
regular remittance and satisfactory consignement, I shall do good and doo thee favour strengthen for
thee thy business and thy administration”96; “…lieber … gib Dir Mühe”97.
Allusions to God’s mercy [2D]
Even less frequent are allusions to God’s mercy [2D]. I have found only one instance in the texts: “for
if anyone really cares for the well being (of affairs) and shows trustworthiness, God will also help him
and further his work.”98
3. Elements evoking affection or compassion
Expression of satisfaction [3A]
Rhetorical elements that alluded to the governors’ satisfaction [3A] might have evoked love, affection,
or compassion on the addressee’s side. By this, the mutual relation between sender and addressee
might have deepened and therefore the orders better obeyed by the addressee. A typical phrase in this
regard is the following: “Satisfy me in this, and I will not blame you in the matter. For cultivation by
the people of the land is their chief duty, afte their duty to God, and (constitutes) their prosperity and
their welfare.”99 This passage immediately follows the positive moral instruction of l. 9–12. This is no
simple repetition of moral words, however, but a decided graduation: while l. 9–12 was related to
God’s pleasure, the passage in l. 12–16 is devoted to the governor. The pagarch’s well-doing thus
95
wa-taʿahhad ʾamra mā qibalaka wa-lā takilanna ʾamānataka wa-mā talī ʾilā ʾaḥadin siwā nafsika fa-ʾinna l-muḥsina
muʿānun mubārakun fī ʿamalihi (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 72–76 with emendations by Diem 1984:254).
96
fa-ʾinnī ʾin ʾaǧid ʿindaka llaḏī ʾurīdu mina l-ʾiǧāʾi wa-ḥusni l-ǧalbi ʾuḥsinu ʾilayka wa-ʾuṣībuka bi-maʿrūfin wa-ʾušaddidu
laka ʾamraka wa-ʿamalaka (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 2–6).
97
… ʾḥbb … […] laka ´guhd - - - (P.Heid.Arab. I 13, 8–9).
98
fa-ʾinnahu man yutqinu l-ʾiṣlāḥa wa-yuʾaddī l-ʾamānata yuʿinhu llāhu wa-yuṣliḥ lahu ʿamalahu (P.Cair.Arab. III 146, 28–
30 with emendations by Diem 1984:257).
99
fa-kfīnī ḏālika wa-lā ʾalūmannaka fīhi fa-ʾinna zirāʿa ʾahli l-ʾarḍi raʾsu ʾamrihim baʿda ʾamri llāhi wa-ʿumrānuhum wa-
ṣalāḥuhum (P.Qurra 2, 12–16). A mere “satisfy me in this, and I will not blame you in the matter” fa-kfīnī ḏālika wa-lā
ʾalūmannaka fīhi or rather “satisfy me in this, and I will not blame you” fa-kfinī ḏālika wa-lā ʾalūmannaka is found in
P.Heid.Arab. I 2, 39–40 and P.BeckerPAF 6, 2–3 respectively.
19
Lucian Reinfandt
evoked first the pleasure of God, and then the pleasure of his governor. A very similar phrase also
found in the letters is the following one: “Drum befriedige mich in der Dir obliegenden Angelegenheit
und fürchte Gott in Deiner Regierung!”100
Request only after statement of affairs [3B]
The general harsh tone of Qurra’s letters notwithstanding, only three of them start immediately with
the governor’s requests after the conventional introductory phrases [1K].101 All other letters sent by
Qurra to his pagarch Basileios, on the contrary, begin with an objective description of a certain
situation (Sachverhaltsdarstellung) [3B]. It introduces the addressee into the general subject and helps
convincing him on a rational basis: “I praise God, than whom there is no other God. As to the matter
in hand: Men of the military force mentioned to me a (certain) registration practised by their villages
on their behalf constantly for the past forty years … Therefore I cannot tell the truth of this from the
false.102 It serves as an expositio to prepare the addressee to go conform with the following desire of
the lettrer. This desire is accordingly expressed in the second part. These are undoubtedly examples of
‘enhanced administrative culture’, the letters refraining from threat or personal affection and rather
using the feature of common interest and principals of ethical and shared values. However, they could
be only classified as a kind of ‘proto-rationality’, since they still had to be supported by a strategy of
persuasion. A written desire without persuasion strategies was still something improbable. Even if
these letters cannot go without final threats103, these are not the end of the letters but the whole
composition still rounded off with a final allusion to these common ethical principles. 104 These are
‘mild’ letters, their content designed to negotiate with the addressee rather than giving him order. They
provide insight into the fragile authority that Qurra ibn Šarīk possessed against the local Egyptian
elite.105
100
fa-kfinī ʾamra mā qibalaka wa-ttaqi llāha fī mā talī (P.Heid.Arab. I 3, 62‒63).
101
P.DietrichTopkapi 1, 3–6: “Ich preise Gott, außer dem es keinen Gott gibt. Alsdann: Achte auf das, was die Bewohner
Deines Bezirks nicht (länger) schuldig bleiben mögen …” fa-ʾinnī ʾaḥmadu llāha llaḏī lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa ʾammā baʿdu fanẓuri llaḏī lā baqiya ʿalā ʾahli ʾarḍika; P.Qurra 1, 3–7: “I praise God, than whom there is no other God. As to the matter in
hand: Look up the balance due from the bishop of your district …” fa-ʾinnī ʾaḥmadu llāha llaḏī lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa ʾammā
baʿdu fa-nẓuri llaḏī lā baqiya ʿalā ʾusqufi kūratika; “now to proceed: Look up the balance due from the inhabitants of your
land” ʾammā baʿdu fa-nẓuri llaḏī kāna baqiya ʿalā ʾahli ʾarḍika (P.Heid.Arab. I 2, 5). Disregarded are the fragmentary letters
that do not allow for a definite assessment of their contents.
102
fa-ʾinnī ʾaḥmadu llāha llaḏī lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa ʾammā baʿdu fa-ʾinna nāsan mina l-ǧundi ḏakarū lī kitbatan min
qaryatihim kānat taǧrī ʿalayhim munḏu ʾarbaʿīna sanatan … fa-lā ʾadrī mā ṣidqu ḏālika min kiḏbihi (P.Cair.Arab. III 150,
4–11). Other examples are P.Qurra 2, saying that this year’s Nile-flood was favourable, therefore Basileios should not have
rotten this benefit by his own negligence or reluctancy; and P.Qurra 3, 13.
103
Cf. carrot-and-stick-expressions like “satisfy me in this, and I will not blame you in the matter” fa-kfinī ḏālika wa-lā
ʾalūmannaka fīhi (P.Qurra 2, 12–13).
104
E. g. “do not oppress your slave” (i. e. the pagarch’s subjects) wa-lā tuẓlimanna ʿabdaka (P.Qurra 2, 13–16; 3, 13).
105
Papaconstantiniou 2012.
20
3. The functional background of emotional elements in Qurra’s letters to Basileios
The emotional elements listed in the previous section may appear an ideal setting rather than actual
scribal practice. For, in fact, not a single letter features all elements mentioned. Rather are the different
elements employed and combined in Qurra’s letters in varying and seemingly unconventional ways.
This is demonstrated by the following sample of 30 letters chosen from the corpus that can be dated,
i.e. preferably for one single month or even more precisely:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
P.Cair.Arab. III 150
P.Qurra 1
P.DietrichTopkapi 1
P.BeckerPAF 3
P.BeckerPAF 5
P.Qurra 4
P.Qurra 2
P.BeckerPAF 1
P.Qurra 3
P.Heid.Arab. I 1
P.Heid.Arab. I 2
P.RagibQurra 1
P.RagibQurra 3
P.Heid.Arab. I 4
P.BeckerPAF 6
P.BeckerPAF 2
P.Heid.Arab. I 11
P.Heid.Arab. I 3
P.RagibQurra 2
P.BeckerPAF 4
1A
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1B
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1C
1D
1E
1F
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1G
1H
1J
1K
2A
2D
3A
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3B
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2C
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2B
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Fig. 1: Distribution of emotional elements in Qurra’s Arabic letters to Basileios
Explanation of code: 1A–K = Elements evoking fear, nervousness, or uneasiness among the addressee (1A:
imperatives; 1B: energicus forms; 1C: jussive constructions; 1D: indirect threats; 1E: direct threats; 1F:
lexical expressions; 1G: oaths; 1H: allusions to God’s anger; 1J expressions of Qurra’s anger; 1K: request
formulated at the beginning of letter); 2A–D = Elements evoking joy or relief (2A: moral opinions; 2B:
rational substantiations; 2C: encouragements; 2D: allusions to God’s mercy); 3A–B = Elements evoking love,
affection, or compassion (3A: expressions of satisfaction; 3B request only after statement of affairs).
The distribution of emotional elements seems random at first sight. In fact the letters follow a certain
tide of ups and downs that was related to particular historical events during Qurra’s governorship, the
most precarious one happening somewhen in August 710. This becomes evident when correlating the
21
Lucian Reinfandt
quantity of emotional elements with the chronological order of the letters, as is done in the following
figure:
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
P.Cair.Arab. III 150 (Walīd)
P.Cair.Arab. III 152 (Muḥ.)
P.Cair.Arab. III 156 (ʿAbdallāh)
P.Qurra 1 (Yazīd)
P.DietrichTopkapi 1 (Yazīd)
P.BeckerPAF 3 (?)
P.BeckerPAF 5 (Khubaysh)
P.Qurra 4 (Khalīfa)
P.Qurra 2 (Basīl)
P.BeckerPAF 1 (Muslim)
P.Cair.Arab. III 154 (Muslim)
P.Qurra 3 (Muslim)
P.Cair.Arab. III 147 (Jarīr)
P.Heid.Arab. I 1 (Jarīr)
P.Heid.Arab. I 2 (ʿAbdallāh)
P.RagibQurra 1 (Yazīd)
P.RagibQurra 3 (Muslim)
P.Heid.Arab. I 4 (ʿAbdallāh)
P.BeckerPAF 6 (?)
P.Cair.Arab. III 151 (Yazīd)
P.BeckerPAF 2 (aṣ-Ṣalt)
P.Heid.Arab. I 11 (Muslim)
P.Heid.Arab. I 3 (aṣ-Ṣalt)
P.Cair.Arab. III 146 (ʿUmayr)
P.Cair.Arab. III 158 (Yazīd)
P.Cair.Arab. III 159 (Khālid)
P.RagibQurra 2 (?)
P.BeckerPAF 4 (ʿĪsā)
0
3B
3A
2D
2C
2B
2A
1K
1J
1H
1G
1F
1E
1D
1C
1B
1A
Fig. 2: Chronological sequence of emotionality displayed in the letters (direction from left to right)
One should here stress again the fact that the letters have been composed and written by different
secretaries and scribes. Thus becomes evident that the emotional content of the Qurra letters follows a
certain logic that was less bound to the scribes’ individual preferences or their qualification but was
rather bound to administrative requirements at hand. In other words: the composition of administrative
letters was rather a matter of supra-individual demands than of the scribes’ personal considerations.
On the background of this evidence of bureaucratic rationalisation, Qurra’s scriptorium in al-Fusṭāṭ
seems to have been something like a well-oiled machine of administrative document production. The
scribes working in this scriptorium seem to have subjected themselves entirely to the demands of their
institution. They might even have been interchangeable, thus very much fulfilling the demands of
rational bureaucracy in the modern sense of the word.106
106
Weber 51980:553.
22
But who actually were the scribes that have written Qurra’s Arabic letters to Basileios? From the
pagarch’s dossier found in Aphroditō we know the names of a good number of officials working in the
governor’s chancery in al-Fusṭāṭ (scribes of documents other than letters shall be neglected for our
purpose): Walīd;107 Muḥammad ibn ʿUqba;108 ʿAbdallāh ibn Nuʿmān;109 Yazīd;110 Khubaysh ibn
ʿAdī;111 Khalīfa;112 Basīl;113 Muslim ibn Labnān;114 aṣ-Ṣalt ibn Masʿūd;115 Jarīr;116 ʿUmayr (or
ʿUmar);117 Khālid;118 ʿĪsā.119 A simple collation of the emotional elements used in Qurra’s letters and
the names of the respective scribes makes evident that Qurra’s scribes did not have an individual
preference, a specific ‘style’, regarding the choice and intensity of emotional elements in the narrative
parts of their letters. Rather could one and the same scribe in fact apply very different patterns of
emotional elements in differing intensities, as is shown by the examples of ʿAbdallāh ibn Nuʿmān,
Yazīd, Jarīr, aṣ-Ṣalt ibn Masʿūd, and to a lesser extent by Muslim ibn Labnān in the following figure:
107
P.Cair.Arab. III 150.
108
109
P.Cair.Arab. III 156; P.Heid.Arab. I 2; 4.
110
P.Cair.Arab. III 148; 151; 158; P.DietrichTopkapi 1; P.Qurra 1; P.RagibQurra 1.
111
P.BeckerPAF 5.
112
P.Qurra 4.
113
P.Qurra 2.
114
P.BeckerPAF 1; P.Cair.Arab. III 153‒155; P.Heid.Arab. I 11; P.Qurra 3; P.RagibQurra 3.
115
P.BeckerPAF 2; P.Heid.Arab. I 3. Moreover, aṣ-Ṣalt ibn Masʿūd was the copyist of Muslim ibn Labnān (P.BeckerPAF 1,
14‒15: “Es hat dies geschrieben Muslim b. Labnān und abgeschrieben el-Ṣalt b. Masʿūd” wa-kataba muslimu bnu labnāna
wa-nasaḫa ṣ-ṣaltu bnu masʿūdin) and thus appears by name in the letters P.BeckerPAF 1; P.Cair.Arab. III 154‒155; P.Qurra
3; and P.RagibQurra 3. After February 710 CE, i. e. when lastly mentioned in the letters as copyist, he seems to have
advanced to the position of a full-scribe, thus being entitled to formulate letters on his own rather than writing down
someone’s else dictation. He furthermore seems to have been the only scribe so far known who has drafted not only letters
but also demand notes (entagia) to Basileios’ tax-paying village population, if the lacuna in P.BeckerPapyrusstudien l. 8 is to
be filled with his name, as has been proposed by Diem 1984:256. Apart from that, the other demand notes so far known from
the Qurra corpus have been written by particular scribes that were seemingly specialiced in the drafting of entagia or simply
located in the chancellery’s branch that was devoted to this peculiar aspect of administration. The Arab scribes known by
name from the demand notes are Murṯid (P.BeckerPAF 8‒10) and, first and foremost, Rāšid (P.Cair.Arab. III 160–163;
P.Heid.Arab. I 5–6; P.Heid.Arab. I a–l), the latter having drafted most of them, as already has been observed by Diem
1984:264.
116
P.Cair.Arab. III 147; P.Heid.Arab. I 1.
117
118
119
P.BeckerPAF 4.
23
Lucian Reinfandt
Walīd
Muḥammad
ʿAbdallāh
Yaz īd
Khubaysh
Khalīfa
Basīl
Muslim
Jarīr
aṣ-Ṣalt
ʿUmayr
Khālid
ʿĪsā
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Fig. 3: Emotionality applied by the scribes in Qurra’s chancery
The apparent interchangeability of the chancery scribes requires to take into consideration some more
factors possibly affecting the compositional patterns of administrative letters, especially its emotional
elements. These are the thematic subjects of the letters; and the administrative occasions that led to the
draft of the letters. It might be of some interest to work out the contents of emotional elements applied
in different thematic groups. Five standard issues dominated Qurra’s letters to Basileios, Greek or
Arabic alike: taxes and fees120; requisitions (in kind or in labour)121; litigations122; (return of tax-)
120
Arabic: P.BeckerPAF 3; 6; P.Cair.Arab. III 146‒149; 153; 156; P.DietrichTopkapi 1; P.Heid.Arab. I 1; 3; 13; 17; P.Qurra
1‒2; 4‒5. Greek: P.Lond. IV 1335; 1338‒1339; 1349; 1354; 1357; 1359‒1360; 1363; 1365; 1367; 1373; 1379‒1380; 1395;
1397‒1398; 1405?; 1406; 1463; 1467; P.Ross.Georg. IV 10+P.Lond. IV 1387+P.Berol.inv. 25039?; P.Ross.Georg. IV 11;
12+P.Lond. IV 1370; P.Ross.Georg. IV 13; 14+P.Lond. IV 1396; P.Ross.Georg. IV 15; 27 I h; P.Sorb.inv. 2230 b?;
2233+P.Lond IV 1340; SB X 10453; 10456; SB XX 15100; 15102.
121
Arabic: P.BeckerPAF 4; 5‒6; 11; P.Cair.Arab. III 150; 158‒159; P.Heid.Arab. I 14‒16; 18‒19; 21; P.RagibQurra 1; 3.
Greek: P.Lond. IV 1336‒1337; 1341‒1342; 1346; 1348; 1350‒1353; 1355; 1358; 1362; 1366; 1368‒1369; 1371; 1374‒
1376; 1378; 1386; 1388‒1389; 1392; P.Lond. IV 1393+P.BM inv. 2586; P.Lond. IV 1394; 1399‒1404; P.Ross.Georg. IV 5;
6+P.Lond. IV 1391; P.Ross.Georg. IV 7; 8+P.Lond. IV 1377; P.Ross.Georg. IV 9+P.Lond. IV 1390; P.Sorb.inv. 2224–2226;
2232.
122
Arabic: P.BeckerPAF 1‒2; P.Cair.Arab. III 154‒155; P.Heid.Arab. I 11; P.Qurra 3. Greek: P.Lond. IV 1356.
24
fugitives123; general matters of administration and the upkeep of public order 124. For a first analysis,
preliminary as it might be, all of Qurra’s Arabic letters have been taken into the sample, regardless the
fact that not all of them contain dates or the scribes’ names. Only the very fragmentary ones that
contain no information relevant for our purpose have been omitted.125 The distribution is as follows
(the papyri in each thematic group being chronologically arranged top down):
lETTer
P.Qurra 1
P.DietrichTopkapi 1
P.BeckerPAF 3
P.Qurra 4
P.Qurra 2
P.Heid.Arab. I 1
P.BeckerPAF 6
P.Heid.Arab. I 3
P.Qurra 5 (fragm.)
P.Heid.Arab. I 17
P.Heid.Arab. I 13 (fragm.)
Subject
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Taxes
Emo.
4
4
4
5
6
6
4
4
8
5
14
9
3
7
8
4
5
lETTer
P.BeckerPAF 5
P.RagibQurra 1
P.RagibQurra 3
P.BeckerPAF 6
P.BeckerPAF 4
P.BeckerPAF 11 (fragm.)
P.Heid.Arab. I 16 (fragm.)
Subject
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Requisitions
Emo.
3
5
5
2
4
3
5
5
2
2
P.BeckerPAF 1
P.Qurra 3
P.BeckerPAF 2
P.Heid.Arab. I 11
Litigations
Litigations
Litigations
Litigations
Litigations
Litigations
3
4
3
3
3
3
P.Heid.Arab. I 4
P.RagibQurra 2
Fugitives
Fugitives
Fugitives
Fugitives
3
6
4
2
P.Heid.Arab. I 2
General matters
7
Fig. 4: Emotionality applied according to subject matters
Fig. 4 makes evident that the distribution of emotional elements was not a matter of thematic subjects
dealt with in the letters (although the highest rate of emotionality by trend seems to appear in those
letters related to the payment of taxes). Rather could each of the subjects by principle have invoked
similar rates of emotionality. Therefore, the rate of emotionality was not so much affected by personal
preferences of individual chancery scribes, nor was it affected by subjects in general. The irregular
pattern of distribution in fig. 4 above looks considerably different from the continuous curves of the
chronological arrangement in fig. 2 above. It seems as if the latter contains a narrative of
administrative action, expressed by the intensity of efforts put into the writings. We seem to be
witnesses of the heated atmosphere in the rooms of Qurra’s chancery on some days and of more calm
dealings on others. But what were the events that so much commanded the working days and that have
brought about letters with so similar a content yet different a rate of emotionality?
123
Arabic: P.Cair.Arab. III 151‒152; P.Heid.Arab. I 4; P.RagibQurra 2. Greek: P.Lond. IV 1332‒1333; 1343‒1344; 1361;
1372; 1381; 1383‒1385; P.Ross.Georg. IV 1+P.Lond. IV 1382; P.Ross.Georg. IV 2; P.Sorb.inv. 2230 a; SB X 10457.
124
Arabic: P.Heid.Arab. I 2. Greek: CPR XXII 52; P.Lond. IV 1345; 1347; 1465; P.Ross.Georg. IV 16; SB V 7520.
125
These are the letters P.Heid.Arab. I 14‒15; 18‒19; 21.
25
Lucian Reinfandt
From literary sources alone we do not know much about Qurra ibn Šarīk’s term in Egypt. The years
709–710 CE covered by the preserved letters are treated with silence altogether. The historian aṭṬabarī mentions only the dates of Qurra’s appointment and of his continued tenure of the office and
then his death.126 The most precise accounts are given by the local Egyptian chroniclers al-Kindī, alMaqrīzī, and Ibn Taġrībirdī. 127 Important is also another literary source with an explicit Christian
background, the History of the Patriarchs of Sawīrus ibn al-Muqaffaʿ.128 These accounts in fact
mention particular steps taken by the Qurra administration like a tax census, an improvement of tax
returns, the cultivation of waste lands for sugar plantation, and a reorganisation of the administrative
departments.129 They also report a plot undertaken against the governor by a group of oppositionists in
Alexandria that eventually failed. 130 All of them, however, lack a perspective for the details of Muslim
administration in Egypt.
In view of this deficit of information, we come back to the papyri. The emotional paradigm explained
above allows for an identification of crucial processes in the administration otherwise undocumented.
For this purpose, the fig. 2 above is to be consulted once more: the increasingly rising peaks of
emotionality resemble four groups of letters with exceptional high rates of emotionality displayed. It is
our hypothesis that these moments of enhanced emotionality in the letters correspond with days of
enhanced tension or urgency inside Qurra’s chancery in al-Fusṭāṭ. It is also useful to contrast the
Arabic material with the Qurra chancery’s Greek letters produced at about the same time in order to
shed more light on the events. By this may become apparent the major affairs that temporarily made
demands on the Muslim central administration. The following chart lists those moments of enhanced
emotionality in the Arabic letters (with the respective peaks in bold), and contrasts the simultaneous
documentation from the Greek letters (T = taxes; R = requisitions; L = litigations; F = fugitives; G =
general matters):
126
Cited in Bosworth 1981:500.
127
Ibid.
128
Abbott 1938:64–65 outlines the main information given by Sawīrūs ibn al-Muqaffaʿ about Qurra’s term of office.
129
Abbott 1938:62; Becker 1906:18; Kennedy 1998:72.
130
Abbott 1938:62–63; Bosworth 1981:500.
letter (Arabic)
P.BeckerPAF 3
T
date (arabic)
13 Aug.–10 Sep. 709
P.BeckerPAF 5
P.Qurra 4
R
T
11 Sept.–10 Oct. 709
11 Sep.–8 Nov. 709
P.Qurra 2
T
9 Nov.–8 Dec. 709
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
P.Heid.Arab. I 1
P.Heid.Arab. I 2
P.RagibQurra 1
T
T
G
R
3
3
P.BeckerPAF 6
4
4
4
P.Heid.Arab. I 3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
26
letter (greek)
P.Lond. IV 1336
P.Lond. IV 1337
P.Lond. IV 1338
SB XX 15101
P.Ross.Georg. IV 7
P.Lond. IV 1339
SB X 10453
P.Ross.Georg. IV 14+P.Lond. IV 1396
SB X 10454
SB X 10455
P.Lond. IV 1341+1411
P.Lond. IV 1342
R
R
T/F
R
R
T
T
T
R
R
R
R
date (greek)
3 Sep. 709
10 Sep. 709
12 Sep. 709
12 Sep. 709
20 Sep. 709
9 Oct. 709
20 Oct. 709
27 Oct. 709
28 Oct. 709
28 Oct. 709
3 Nov. 709
6 Nov. 709
7 Jan.–5 Feb. 710
7 Jan.–5 Feb. 710
7 Jan.–5 Feb. 710
7 Jan.–5 Feb. 710
SB III 7241
P.Lond. IV 1347
P.Lond. IV 1348
P.Lond. IV 1349
P.Lond. IV 1351
P.Lond. IV 1350
P.Ross.Georg. IV 16
P.Lond. IV 1352
P.Ross.Georg. IV 15
P.Lond. IV 1353
R
G
R
T
R
R
R
R
G
R
T
R
7 Jan. 710
10 Jan. 710
13 Jan. 710
14 Jan. 710
20 Jan. 710
22 Jan. 710
23 Jan. 710
29 Jan. 710
30 Jan. 710
30 Jan. 710
30 Jan. 710
30 Jan. 710
T
6 Feb.–6 Mar. 710
SB V 7520
P.Ross.Georg. IV 4
G
R
26 Jan.–24 Feb. 710
14(?) Feb. 710
T
T
R
2–30 Aug. 710
2–30 Aug. 710
2–30 Aug. 710
P.Lond. IV 1362
R
19 Aug. 710
Fig. 5: Peaks of emotionality in Arabic letters with simultaneous documentation in Greek
From fig. 5 becomes evident that most of the emotional effort was spent on Arabic letters dealing with
taxes and, to a lesser degree, to requisitions. Matters of litigations and fugitives, by contrast, seem to
have been dealt with on a comparably minor emotional level, an exception being the letter
P.Heid.Arab. I 2 that is concerned with general matters of public order and is part of the second peak
in our little sample of moments of enhanced emotionality. This general impression of the priorities of
Qurra’s chancery in al-Fusṭāṭ is in a way corroborated by the parallel documentation of the Greek
letters that very similarly deal with matters of taxes and requisitions during those phases of enhanced
emotionality in the Arabic letters. The concentration of emotionality in letters concerned with taxes
and requisitions meets the general impression that Muslim (and not only Muslim) administration in
Egypt was mainly concerned with fiscal matters and the always delicate collection of the country’s
productive surplus.
27
Lucian Reinfandt
4. Conclusions
Already from this minor sample of 30 Arabic letters from the Muslim state chancellery in al-Fusṭāṭ
becomes evident the part that emotions played in official epistolography. Our investigation surely
cannot claim an analysis in quantification either in regards of data or method. However, a certain trend
becomes evident that there were, on a linguistic level, standardised elements aiming at evoking fear,
nervousness, or uneasiness among the addressee, together with others evoking joy or relief, affection
or compassion, and that these elements seem to have been part of the basic equipment of official
letters (cf. part 2 above). With their help one sought to exercise influence over the addressee, thereby
supporting the very concern of the letter expressed in the particular textual bodies.
The use of emotional elements, however, was not depending on individual chancery scribes and
secretaries, their particular epistolary craft or even personal taste. Everything points to the fact that
they were applied independently from individual scribes’ preferences and according to the necessities
of the situation at hand, the scribes apparently being exchangeable in this regard (cf. fig. 3 in part 3
above). It seems that the scribes in Qurra’s chancery were able to play on the claviature of emotions
according to the requirements of the situation at hand. The outcome was a collective dramaturgy of the
chancery rather than a random throwing of words by individual scribes (cf. fig. 2 in part 3 above). The
degree of emotionality (better: the degree of emotional influence on the addressee) in the letters is not
an outcome of the governor’s temper in a particular affair. Perhaps it is not even the outcome of the
general mood inside the chancery, among the secretaries and scribes, but rather of the affair itself:
there were tricky and less tricky situations to be handled, the trickier ones requiring more emotional
support (cf. figs. 4 and 5 in part 3 above).
A principal question arises whether emotional elements still had a real effect on the addressee, or
whether they had rather lost this function and were used instead as mere ceremonial conventions of
ritualised protocol. In the case of the energicus forms (cf. part 2.1 above) we have seen that they might
have had lost their emotional impact on the addressee and had become mere text markers indicating
orders inside the text. It might be true also with other emotional elements worked out by us. To answer
this question substantially, more empirical data are required that cannot be accomplished in the present
study (like a comparison with letters from Qurra sent to other pagarchs in Egypt; with letters from or
to other governors and pagarchs; with comparable letters from the Greek and Coptic language groups;
with comparable official letters from dossiers and individual items alike).
Be that as it may ‒ emotional elements were still meaningful to the addressee in one form or another:
they were either affecting him mentally, or they were ritualised nuances of deliberate information.
28
They were part of the epistolographic toolkit by which one could attain the desired effect on the
addressee, revealing an administrative culture in which the subject-related model letter alone was not
expedient. Rather had the subject matter to be supported by additional devices on the interpersonal ‒
in our case emotional ‒ level. This comes, at first sight, close to the Weberian ideal type of
patrimonialism. We have pointed, however, to the exchangeability of chancery scribes and their
submission under the logic of particular working days. Playing on the claviature of emotionality when
required is a considerable sign of bureaucratic rationality, perhaps patrimonial bureaucracy.131 It
suggests an administration that was strictly formalistic, following rational rules and, where these
failed, ‘objective’ aspects of functionality.132
Historically, the Qurra letters to Basileios mark a transitional phase in the process of Muslim empire
building. The tightening of control over the land of Egypt and the centralisation of its administration
took the Muslim rulers more than a century to be accomplished.133 The long process of tentative steps
and repeated setbacks only gradually led to an Arabisation of administrative personnel. The
disempowerment of the indigenous Christian landholding élites and their successive replacement by
Arab-Muslim officials was an innovation that initially spread out in the districts close to al-Fusṭāṭ,
whereas more remote districts especially in Upper Egypt continued to be administered by the old
élites. The region of Aphroditō was one of these remote places, its pagarch Basileios not being a part
of the Muslim administrative apparatus in the proper sense but rather a vassal that one constantly had
to negotiate with. Hence the emotional content of the letters sent to him. However, this device turned
out not successful, as Arietta Papaconstantinou has demonstrated, the pagarch apparently not willing
to cooperate with the central Muslim authorities in al-Fusṭāṭ.134 The next step then was an initiative of
bureaucratic rationalisation, namely the replacement of Basileios by an Arab-Muslim pagarch sent
from al-Fusṭāṭ who was unassailable by local matters in Aphrodito. But this is not the subject of the
Qurra letters anymore.
131
Cf. Weber 51980:619.
132
Weber 71988:476.
133
134
Sijpesteijn 2009.
Cf. n. 7 above.
29
Lucian Reinfandt
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On Emotions in Early Muslim Administration The Chancery of Qurra

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