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Palestine during the First Muslim Period (634-1099)
... 1 The labor of various scholars, particularly Professor Moshe Gil (1983Gil ( , 1997 has now placed many trade-related documents in print. ...
... 28). They argue that the only connection to the island is that the recipient, 'Hayyim, was called, 'al-Madīnī', 'from Palermo' (Sicily) and proceed to note, based on Goitein (1967), that a toponym like that often reflects a family's place of origin and that Gil (1983) argues that 'Hayyim was from Alexandria. 28 TS 20.122 and ENA NS 2, f. 30, Gil (1997), doc. ...
... TS 13 J 25.12. First transcribed and translated to Hebrew byGil (1983), vol. 3, doc. ...
Edwards and Ogilvie (2008) dispute the empirical basis for the view (Greif, e.g., 1989, 1994, 2006) that multilateral reputation mechanism mitigated agency problems among the eleventh-century Maghribi traders. They assert that the relations among merchants and agents were law-based. This paper refutes this assertion using quantitative and documentary evidence thereby vindicating the position that the legal system had a marginal role in mitigating agency problems in long-distance trade in this historical era.** Edwards and Ogilvie constantly present legal actions in non-trade related legal cases as evidence for a reliance on the legal system for matters pertaining to long-distance trade. Their criticism of Greif’s documentary analysis also fails scrutiny. The claim that merchants' relations with their overseas agents were law-based is wrong. This paper is based on quantitative analyses of the corpuses containing the hundreds of documents on which the literature relies and a careful review of the documents and the literature Edwards and Ogilvie cite. Their assertion is shown to be based on unrepresentative and irrelevant examples, an inaccurate description of the literature, and a consistent misreading of the few sources they consulted. In particular, their examples for the use of the court are mainly taken from mandatory legal procedures associated with sorting out the assets and liabilities of deceased traders’ estates. Such examples do not support the claim that agency relations were law-based. The quantitative analysis reveals that empirical basis for the multilateral reputation view is stronger than originally perceived. This paper also sheds light on the roles of the legal system and reputation mechanism during this period.
... Other substances of local origin were rare: asphalt (Nissenbaum 1993), Jew's stone (Lev 2001a;Lev and Dolev 2003), galena (Lev 2001a), haematite, andsulphur (al-Muqaddasi 1906). Several substances were imported from neighbouring countries: from Egypt, alum and borax; and from other countries, cinnabar, English salt, lead, magnesia, mercury, pyrite, tartaric acid, vitriol, and zinc (Beugnot 1841(Beugnot -1843Goitein 1967Goitein -1988Gil 1983;Ashtor 1987). Other substances were exoticusually brought from remote countries (Armenian soil); hence, these substances were more expensive. ...
... GN Genizah documents Eleventh century The Cairo Genizah depository contains private and commercial correspondence and legal documents of the mediaeval Jewish communities of the eastern Mediterranean. Several eleventhcentury correspondences of Jewish traders contain important information about the trade in and the use of medicinal materials Goitein (1967Goitein ( -1988; Gil (1983); Isaacs (1994) BN Benevenutus Grassus Twelfth to thirteenth centuries Benevenutus was a Frankish ophthalmologist, who in his book on the subject named some of his prescriptions 'Jerusalemics' Wood (1929); Kedar (1995) MA Rabbi Moshe Ben-Maimon (Maimonides) Twelfth to thirteenth centuries A Jewish physician and religious philosopher from Andalusia who worked mainly in Egypt, where he was the Sultan's personal physician. Maimonides wrote many medical books Gillispie (1974, v. IX, p. 27-32); Ben-Maimon (1940, 1965, 1971 IB Little (1984); Lutfi (1985); Cohen et al. (1996) TB Titus Tobler ...
Various minerals, metals, clays, and rocks were among the natural medicinal substances used by physicians and pharmacists in early times in different cultures, for example, the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Classical physicians such as Hippocrates and Dioscorides mention tens of inorganic medicinal substances in their writings. Many references to minerals and chemicals are also found in the Muslim medical literature of the Eastern and Western Caliphates. The historical research presented in this article focuses on the inorganic substances applied as remedies by the medieval and early Ottoman (7th-17th) inhabitants of the Levant. The article is based upon a literature review covering tens of different historical sources, from the medieval and early Ottoman periods. Relevant information was found in the works of physicians such as al-Tamimi, Benevenutus, Ibn al-Baytar, Daud al-Antaki, and Hayyim Vital. The research revealed evidences of the medicinal uses of fifteen inorganic substances: Alum, Arsenic, Sulphide, Asphalt, Jew's stone, Earth sp., Galena, Haematite, iron, Lead, Pyrite, Salt, Sulphur, Thermal water, Green Vitriol, and Zinc. Inorganic materials comprise 5.2% of the list of medicinal substances. The geographic origin of most of these substances is the Levant, in which two geo-historical centers have been recorded: the Rift Valley and the northern region of the Levant, including upper Galilee, Mount Lebanon and Mount Hermon. A notable tendency to use these substances for treating diseases of the skin, the eyes, the sexual organs, and haemorrhoids was detected.
... A different type of source material has come to us through the Cairo Genizah, which includes a variety of literary materials mostly pertaining to the Jewish community, documents reflecting the activities of the Beit Din (religious court) of the Fustat (ancient Cairo) community, and private correspondence. Especially important for our study are 11th century Jewish commercial documents, which were studied and published by S.D. Goitein (Goitein, 1967Á/1988(Goitein, 1967Á/ , 1980 and M. Gil (Gil, 1983). They contain a wealth of information about the trade in medicinal substances and their use in our area, and in Mediterranean society as a whole (Isaacs, 1994). ...
... Abbreviations of sources (references) and diseases are listed first. (Hasselquist, 1886) GH al-Ghafiqi (Meyerhof andSobhy, 1932 Á/1940) GN Genizah (Gil, 1983;Goitein, 1967Á/1988Goitein, 1967Á/ , 1980Isaacs, 1994) GZ al-Ghazzi (b) HR Haram Documents (al-Asali, 1983(al-Asali, Á/1989Little, 1984) HV Hayyim Vital (Benajahu, 1987) IB Ibn al-Baytar (Ibn al-Baytar, 1874, 1989) IR Ibn Rushd (Ibn Rushd, 1939) IS Ibn Sina (Ibn Sina, 1877) IT Italian Trade (Arbel, 1988;Ashtor, 1976Ashtor, , 1982Ashtor, , 1986) IW Ibn Wahsiyya (Ibn Wahshiya, 1993Á/1995 KA Kohen al-'Attar (Kohen, 1940) KH Nasir al-Khusraw (Nasir-i Khusraw, 1861) LU Lutfi (Lutfi, 1985) MA Maimonides (Ben Maimon, 1940, 1942 (Benajahu, 1985) SU Suriano (Bellorini et al., 1949 ...
This article presents the results of a study of the medicinal uses of natural substances in medieval and Ottoman al-Sham (the Levant). It involved a meticulous survey of a wide range of historical sources spanning approximately 1100 years and including medical and pharmacological literature, travelogues, geographical and agricultural literature, dictionaries, archives, the Genizah and other medieval sources. Our main goal was to arrive at a reconstruction of the unwritten materia medica of the medieval and Ottoman Levant. Of the many and varied medicinal substances on which we were able to extract information, we were able to identify 286. These are presented according to the following classification: 234 species of plants (81.8%); 27 species of animals (9.5%); 15 kinds of minerals (5.2%) and 10 substances of other or mixed origin (3.5%). Analysis of the data showed that the region under study served as the geographic origin of the majority of the substances, only a minority of the materials was imported. The main reason for this is the geographic location of the Levant as a junction between three continents, as a cultural meeting point and as trade center. Finally, our data revealed that the al-Sham region was an independent source of production and marketing of medicinal substances during the medieval and Ottoman periods.
... from 980 (Neubauer 1887, 6-42). The Geniza documents were accessed both online and through published editions (Mann 1922;Friedman 1981;Gil 1983). ...
... However, we beseech God alone, >Who has< no partner, that He complete upon us His bounty and grant us good reward in what He ordains for the sale of the slaves-God's decisions contain only good things. We ask God for succ [e] Gil 1983Gil , 3: no. 602 (483/1090, line 11: fa-lā tadʿunī min al-duʿāʾ, which use of the suffix -nī and the preposition min shows that it is influenced by the common request lā tukhlīnī min al-duʿāʾ, "do not deprive me of (your) prayers", found in documents from the fifth/eleventh century and later.153 ...
This article discusses the commercial, socio-economic and legal dynamics of slave trading in Egypt on the basis of papyri from the AH third-fourth/ninth-tenth centuries CE . Particular focus is given to the activities of slavers, the networks of professional slave traders, the socio-economics of slave acquisition, and commercial dynamics at slave markets. Much of the discussion draws on the contents of five contemporary papyrus documents that are presented, translated and annotated in the appendix.
... 1983, ii, p. 353, I. 21), corrected in the petition (written in Arabic characters: Gil, 1983, ii, p. 355, l. 17) to ya<fracun, in accordance with the rules of classical grammar. In one of the drafts vulgar baqiyu 'they remained' is used, as against grammatical baqu, not only in the final petition, but also in two drafts (Gil, 1983, ii, p. 351, I. 18; p. 355, I. 14; p. 359, l. 21; p. 350, I. IO). In one of the drafts vulgar ca/a ba c<fhum ba c4 'on each other' occurs, corrected not only in the final form but also in one of the drafts according to classical grammar, though in a different form (Gil, 1983, ii, p. 349, 11. 23-24; p. 355, II. ...
... A different type of source material has come to us through the Cairo Genizah, which includes a variety of literary materials mostly pertaining to the Jewish community , documents reflecting the activities of the Beit Din (religious court) of the Fustat (ancient Cairo) community, and private correspondence. Especially important for our study are 11th century Jewish commercial documents, which were studied and published by S.D. Goitein (Goitein, 1967Á/1988Goitein, 1967Á/ , 1980) and M. Gil (Gil, 1983 ). They contain a wealth of information about the trade in medicinal substances and their use in our area, and in Mediterranean society as a whole (Isaacs, 1994). ...
Aerva lanata (L.) Juss. ex Schultes commonly known as 'Sunny khur' is widely used in Indian folk medicine for the treatment of Diabetes mellitus. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of an alcoholic extract of A. lanata (AAL) on blood glucose and other biochemical parameters in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. AAL was found to reduce the increase of blood sugar in alloxan-induced diabetic rats (42% at 375 mg/kg and 48% at 500 mg/kg body weight). Chronic administration of AAL significantly (P<0.001) reduced the blood sugar of alloxan induced diabetic rats for 2 weeks. Also the extract prevented a decrease in body weight and reduced the increased lipid peroxides in alloxan induced diabetic rats. These results suggest that the AAL posseses anti-diabetic activity and is able to ameliorate biochemical damages in alloxan induced diabetic rats.
... • Genizah documents [GN]: The Cairo Genizah (depository) includes private and commercial correspondence and legal documents of the medieval Jewish communities of the Eastern Mediterranean. In this study, I made use of this material, especially the 11th-century correspondence of Jewish traders, most of which was published by Goitein (1967Goitein ( -1988, Gil (1983), and Isaacs (1994). These works contain important information about the trade in and the use of medicinal materials by the people of the Mediterranean in that period. ...
Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. This article reviews the history of healing with animals in the Levant (the Land of Israel and parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, defined by the Muslims in the Middle Ages as Bilad al-Sham) throughout history. Intensive research into the phenomenon of zootherapy in the Levant from early medieval to present-day traditional medicine yielded 99 substances of animal origin which were used medicinally during that long period. Fifty-two animal extracts and products were documented as being used from the early Muslim period (10th century) to the late Ottoman period (19th century). Seventy-seven were recorded as being used in the 20th century. Seven main animal sources have been exploited for medical uses throughout history: honey, wax, adder, beaver testicles, musk oil, coral, and ambergris. The first three are local and relatively easy to obtain; the last four are exotic, therefore, rare and expensive. The use of other materials of animal origin came to an end in the course of history because of change in the moral outlook of modern societies. Among the latter we note mummy, silkworm, stinkbug, scarabees, snail, scorpion, and triton.
Geoffrey Khan’s pioneering scholarship has transformed the study of Semitic languages, literatures, and cultures, leaving an indelible mark on fields ranging from Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic dialectology to medieval manuscript traditions and linguistic typology. This Festschrift, celebrating a distinguished career that culminated in his tenure (2012–2025) as Regius Professor of Hebrew in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge, brings together contributions from a vast and representative array of scholars—retired, established, and up and coming—whose work has been influenced by his vast intellectual legacy.
Reflecting the interconnected traditions that Khan has illuminated throughout his career, this volume presents cutting-edge research on Hebrew and Aramaic linguistics, historical syntax, manuscript studies, and the transmission of textual traditions across centuries and cultures. Contributors engage with topics central to Khan’s scholarship, including the evolution of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system, the intricacies of Masoretic notation, Geniza discoveries, Samaritan and medieval Judaeo-Arabic texts, and computational approaches to linguistic analysis.
As Khan retires from his role as Regius Professor, this collection stands as both a tribute and a continuation of his work, honouring his lifelong dedication to understanding and preserving the linguistic and literary heritage of the Semitic world.
Worlds of Byzantium offers a new understanding of what it means to study the history and visual culture of the Byzantine empire during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Arguing that linguistic and cultural frontiers do not always coincide with political ones, it suggests that Byzantine studies should look not only within but also beyond the borders of the Byzantine empire and include the history of Christian populations in the Muslim-ruled Middle East and neighbouring states like Ethiopia and Armenia and integrate more closely with Judaic and Islamic studies. With essays by leading scholars in a wide range of fields, it offers a vision of a richly interconnected eastern Mediterranean and Near East that will be of interest to anyone who studies the premodern world.
The writing formulas in official letters in Modern Hebrew are often identical or similar to the formulas revealed in the Geonic letters. This article presents these similar formulas with two purposes in mind: 1) to illustrate the significance of the Interim Period for the formation of Modern Hebrew; 2) to show that the continuity of the use of the Hebrew language throughout history was a major factor that allowed the revival of Modern Hebrew.
This chapter looks at what the Geniza archives tell us about Cairo’s community’s relationship with the Nile. Since its discovery by scholars in the late nineteenth century, this large and unique corpus of medieval and early modern manuscripts has allowed scholars to access part of the quotidian experience of Cairo’s – and to a wider degree Egypt’s – Jewish communities over centuries. It also documents their integration within transnational and diasporic webs that, just like Egypt’s agricultural surpluses, extended to Palestine and the wider Mediterranean. As is shown, the letters preserved in the Geniza complement, and at times disrupt, literary evidence. They notably do so by evoking a medieval world in which real disaster was perhaps never far away, and where the Nile, its waters, floods and promises or denial of sustenance, were always in view.
In this article I suggest that, although many Jews perished during the wars between the Mamluks and the Franks during the thirteenth century's second half, and others migrated to different Jewish communities in the Middle East and Europe, some Jews migrated to Safed, Jerusalem, and perhaps to Gaza as well. A significant number of the Jews who lived in Safed and Jerusalem during the early decades of the fourteenth century were of a Western European origin but were not newcomers from Europe. I suggest that some of these were Jews who previously lived in Acre and Tyre and migrated to Safed and Jerusalem either shortly before the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem got its coup de grâce , or afterwards.
Documents of various genres from the Cairo Geniza from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, as well as contemporary legal queries to rabbinic figures, attest to the phenomenon of mixed-faith families among the Jewish communities of the Islamic Mediterranean. In most of these cases known to us, the husbands were Jewish apostates, probably converts to Islam, while their wives remained loyal to Judaism. This social reality was enabled by the legal feasibility of such marriages in both Jewish and Islamic law, as well as the general tendency in the Jewish communities under Islam to maintain social, professional, and familial contacts with apostates from Judaism. This laxity eased the social effects of conversion, and even left the door open for a possible later return of the apostate into the Jewish fold. The existence of religiously mixed families also meant that children of such families found themselves in a unique liminal position, torn between two religions. These children were encouraged by family and community members to embrace Jewish identity despite the conversion of one of their parents; the same was true even of children of couples who had both converted.
Scholars generally read Documentary Arabic according to the norms of Standard Arabic, the constructed ideal language of Abbasid literati. But this essay shows that the nonstandard features of Documentary Arabic were not spontaneous creations by the unlearned but rather scribal traditions carefully transmitted from one generation to the next. Umayyad Documentary Arabic was first and foremost the language used by state officials to display, in public, the authority of the Muslim state and, secondarily, the insider language that the small Arabic elite used to communicate on business and private matters. Given the nature of this elite, it is not surprising to find that this language was fairly uniform. Abbasid Documentary Arabic was the language used to display and administer the authority of the many loosely interacting and for the most part rival rulers but mainly became the language of choice that learned people used to communicate on business and private matters as well as in academic exchange. To mark provenance and affiliation, scribes most probably used not only whole words and formulas and distinctive scripts and layouts but also minor variants in orthography, form, and government. The Arabic of Fatimid Documentary Judeo-Arabic documents found in the Geniza is, this analysis demonstrates, nothing more than mainstream Fatimid Documentary Arabic, albeit continuously transliterated from Arabic into Hebrew characters. Geniza documentary materials must therefore be read as part of a continuous tradition of Arabic derived from state administration rather than as a Jewish sociolect or a variant of standard Arabic.
en Shipwreck cargo of lead ingots, some marked, discovered off Tel Ashkelon, weighed about four tonnes. C14 analysis of charred wood from an ingot dated it to the 11th–13th centuries AD, Crusader times. Lead isotopic ratios provenanced the ingots to Mont‐Lozère, France. Various aspects of the lead trade are discussed, including: lead sources, extraction, casting, lead in the international maritime trade, weight units in medieval trade, prices, transportation, sale and storage, lead cargo and ballast, reconstruction of the wrecking event, salvage after the vessel was wrecked, Ashkelon as a trading coastal town in the 11th–13th centuries AD, and the possible destination of the cargo.
Abstracto
es Una carga de lingotes de plomo de un naufragio en Ascalón, Israel (Siglos XI – XIII d.C.)
Una carga de lingotes de plomo ‐ algunos marcados – descubierta en Tel Ascalón, pesó alrededor de cuatro toneladas. El análisis de carbono 14 de maderas carbonizadas halladas en un lingote arrojó una fecha de los siglos XI al XIII d.C., época de las Cruzadas. Las tasas isotópicas permitieron determinar que los lingotes provenían de Mont‐Lozère en Francia. Se discuten varios aspectos del comercio de plomo que incluyen: las fuentes de plomo, la extracción, el moldeado, el plomo en el comercio internacional marítimo, unidades de medida de peso en el comercio medieval, precios, transporte, venta y almacenamiento, carga de plomo y lastrado, reconstrucción del evento del naufragio, salvamento tras el naufragio, Ascalón como pueblo costero comercial en los siglos XI al XIII d.C. y el posible destino de la carga.
抽象
zh 以色列亚实基伦海域一艘沉船中公元11‐13世纪的铅锭
在亚实基伦遗丘附近海域发现的铅锭船货, 重约4吨, 其中一些带有标记。对附着在一块铅锭上的焦木的碳14分析确定其年代在十字军东征时代, 即公元11至13世纪。铅同位素比值证明了这些铅锭来源于法国的洛泽尔峰地区。本文探讨了铅贸易的诸多方面, 包括铅来源、提炼、铸造, 国际海运贸易中的铅、作为中世纪贸易的重量单位的铅及其价格、运输、销售和储存, 铅货和压舱物, 重建船只沉没过程及对沉船的打捞, 11至13世纪作为沿海贸易城镇的亚实基伦以及船货的可能目的地。
以色列亞實基倫海域一艘沉船中公元11‐13世紀的鉛錠
在亞實基倫遺丘附近海域發現的鉛錠船貨, 重約4噸, 其中一些帶有標記。對附著在一塊鉛錠上的焦木的碳14分析確定其年代在十字軍東征時代, 即公元11至13世紀。鉛同位素比值證明了這些鉛錠來源于法國的洛澤爾峰地區。本文探討了鉛貿易的諸多方面, 包括鉛來源、提煉、鑄造, 國際海運貿易中的鉛、作爲中世紀貿易的重量單位的鉛及其價格、運輸、銷售和儲存, 鉛貨和壓艙物, 重建船只沉沒過程及對沉船的打撈, 11至13世紀作爲沿海貿易城鎮的亞實基倫以及船貨的可能目的地。
ملخص
ar
This paper investigates code-switching and script-switching in medieval documents from the Cairo Geniza, written in Judaeo-Arabic (Arabic in Hebrew script), Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic. Legal documents regularly show a macaronic style of Judaeo-Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew, while in letters code-switching from Judaeo-Arabic to Hebrew is tied in with various socio-linguistic circumstances and indicates how markedly Jewish the sort of text is. Merchants in particular employed a style of writing devoid of Hebrew elements, whereas community dignitaries are much more prone to mixing of Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic (and Arabic), although the degree of mixing also depends on a number of other factors, such as on the individual education. Analyses show great variation within the repertoire of single authors, as shown on the example of Daniel b. ʿAzariah, according to the purpose of the correspondence, with religious affairs attracting the highest Hebrew content, whereas letters pertaining to trade exhibit the lowest Hebrew content. Script-switching between Hebrew and Arabic may be prompted by convenience of individual writers, or occur as an idiosyncratic quirk, but reveal the close familiarity of the writer with both alphabets.
In 1980-1i excavations were carried out in the ancient synagogue and surrounding village at Nabratein in Galilee in Israel, under the direction of E.M. Meyers, C.L. Meyers and J.F. Strange. Among the special finds published from the excavations is a black ceramic bowl that bears an incised depiction of the Torah Shrine. Whereas the excavators have dated the bowl to the Byzantine period, an examination of published parallels indicates that it should instead be assigned to the eighth to ninth centuries A.D. The bowl from Nabratein thus provides archaeological evidence for the continued existence of a Jewish community in the centuries following the Muslim conquest.
The modern city of 'Akko in Israel has borne many names over the centuries of its extended settlement. The name Acre, as it is known in the Western World, is the remnant of the name, St. Jean d'Acre, given to it by its Crusader settlers in the 12th century CE. However, the name 'Akko and its derivatives has a long history. It appeared as such already in written sources at the beginning of the 2nd Millennium BCE when the first urbanization of the site took place. It remained as 'Akko, 'Ake, etc... throughout the subsequent centuries, despite attempts by its varied rulers to change it. The settlement shifted, following the changes of the coastline and the Na'aman (Belos) River, from the ancient Tel Akko, to the bay, where an artificial harbor was established, re-constructed and repeatedly renovated during the 2000 or more years. The first known name of the original site of the settlement, the tell, is dated to the Crusader period. It experienced alteration of name, echoing the transformation of 'Akko's history, in which the Western (European) intervention played a major role.
La actual ciudad de Akko in Israel, ha tenido muchos nombres a lo largo de los siglos de su prolongado asentamiento. El nombre de Acre, con el que se le conoce en el mundo Occidental, es el residuo del nombre de San Juan de Acre que le dieron sus habitantes cruzados en el s. XII de la era Cristiana. Sin embargo, el nombre de ‘Akko y sus derivados, tienen una larga historia. Bajo tal nombre, aparece ya en las fuentes escritas de comienzos el II Milenio a.C., cuando e produjo la primera urbanización del lugar. Se mantuvo como ‘Akko, ‘Ake, etc…a lo largo de los siglos posteriors, a pesar de los inentos de varios dirigentes de cambiarelo. El asentamiento se trasladó, a causa de los cambios en la línea de costa y del río Na’aman o Belos, desde el antiguo Tel Akko a la bahía, en la que se estableció un puerto artificial,reconstruido y renovado reiteradamente durante más de 2000 años. El primer nombre conocido del sitio original del asentamiento, el tell, data de época de los cruzados. Este sufrió una alteración de su nombre, reflejo de la transformación de la historia de Akko, en la que la intervención occidental (europea9, jugó un papel decisivo.
Previous studies concluded that a private‐order institution based on a multilateral reputation mechanism was particularly important in governing agency relations among the Maghribi traders who operated in the Muslim Mediterranean. The legal system and a bilateral reputation mechanism were particularly important among the Genoese traders. Initial cultural, social, and political factors led to this institutional distinction, while the incorporation of culture in the resulting institutions influenced subsequent institutional developments. In particular, the particularities of the late medieval European institutions contributed to the rise of the modern—impersonal—markets in Europe. The analysis also substantiates the contention that private‐order institutions can support sophisticated exchange and market‐promoting policies should take this into account, particularly in countries lacking an effective court system. An article by Edwards and Ogilvie challenges this analysis. It alleges that the Maghribis, like European traders, relied on court enforcement and a bilateral reputation mechanism in which a narrow social circle responded to opportunism. This article shows that Edwards and Ogilvie's analysis and conclusions are wrong. It refutes each of their empirical claims and presents additional pieces of evidence supporting the institutional distinction conjecture. The discussion is structured around the methodological challenge associated with comparative and historical institutional analysis.
Tantura B is by far the first early Islamic shipwreck to be discovered off the Palestinian coast. Scientific evidence indicates that this vessel sank some time between the mid-8th and the mid-9th centuries. Neither archaeological remains nor historical sources can ascertain its exact function and origin due to the lack of circumstantial documentary evidence. However, it has been argued that the vessel could be either a coaster, capable of entering rivers or estuaries, or a support vessel operating in the Arab fleet, i.e., it may have had been used for either military or civil purposes, or both.© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society
The ancient anchorage of Dor, Israel, contains wreck-sites from several periods. Underwater exploration of one Byzantine wreck discovered the remains of a medium-size boat constructed with iron nails. Coin-finds dated it to c.665 AD, after the Muslim conquest. The wreck was probably caused by natural agents, but an event in the Byzantine-Muslim conflict can not be discounted. The artefacts include a group of objects testifying to the practice of light-fishing. Literary sources indicate a prevalence of light-fishing, but archaeological finds are very rare. This discovery clearly indicates light-fishing in late antiquity. A sounding-lead and steelyard can be seen as auxiliary to the fishing.© 2007 The Authors
Social scientists draw important lessons for modern development from the medieval Maghribi traders who, it has been argued, lacked effective legal mechanisms for contract enforcement and instead relied on informal sanctions based on collective ostracism within an exclusive coalition. We show that this claim is untenable. Not a single empirical example adduced as evidence of the putative coalition shows that a coalition actually existed. The Maghribi traders made use of the formal legal system in order to enforce agency agreements in long-distance trade. A subset of the traders did form a web of trusted business associates that contributed to informal contract enforcement, but this was very different from the hypothesized coalition, in neither being exclusive nor having a clearly defined membership. The Maghribi traders combined reputation-based sanctions with legal mechanisms, in ways that resemble the practices of medieval European merchants. We find no evidence that the Maghribi traders had more ‘collectivist’ cultural beliefs than their European counterparts.
Purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of daily oral feeding 15% of powdered leaves of Murraya koeingii (MK) (commonly called as Curry patta) and 10% powder of seeds of Brassica juncea (BJ) (commonly called as Rai) for 60 days on serum glucose concentrations and kidney functions in streptozotocin (STZ; 100mg/kg) diabetic rats. Serum glucose levels, body weight, urine volume, serum creatinine, and urinary albumin (UAE) levels were monitored on day 0, 10, 25, 40, and 70 of the experiment. After 60 days of STZ administration, urine volume per day and UAE levels were significantly higher (P<0.0005) in diabetic controls (DC) as compared to normal controls (NC). Although feeding of the MK/BJ showed a trend towards improvement in most of the parameters, results were not statistically different from the DC except in serum creatinine values in BJ-fed rats on day 70. Thus, these plants can be best utilized by promoting them as preferable food adjuvants for diabetic patients.
Animals and products derived from different organs of their bodies have constituted part of the inventory of medicinal substances used in various cultures since ancient times. The article reviews the history of healing with animals in the Levant (The Land of Israel and parts of present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, defined by the Muslims in the Middle Ages as Bilad al-Sham) in the medieval and early Ottoman periods.
Intensive research into the phenomenon of zootherapy in the medieval and early Ottoman Levant has yielded forty-eight substances of animal origin that were used medicinally. The vast majority of these substances were local and relatively easy to obtain. Most of the substances were domestic (honey, wax, silkworm, etc.), others were part of the local wildlife (adder, cuttle fish, flycatcher, firefly, frog, triton, scorpion, etc.), part of the usual medieval household (milk, egg, cheese, lamb, etc.), or parasites (louse, mouse, stinkbug, etc.). Fewer substances were not local but exotic, and therefore rare and expensive (beaver testicles, musk oil, coral, ambergris, etc.).
The range of symptoms that the substances of animal origin were used to treat was extensive and included most of the known diseases and maladies of that era: mainly hemorrhoids, burns, impotence, wounds, and skin, eye, and stomach diseases.
Changes in the moral outlook of modern societies caused the use of several substances of animal origin to cease in the course of history. These include mummy, silkworm, stinkbug, scarabees, snail, scorpion, and triton.
Despite the diversity of economic environments and organizations utilized throughout history, historical studies of organizations
and organizational innovations, by and large, have concentrated on the very recent past. Arguably, this reflects the perception
that historical records are not rich enough, with respect to the more remote past, and organizational problems in past economies
are irrelevant to contemporary organizational analysis. This paper combines historical information and game theory to demonstrate
that the study of past organizations is both feasible and relevant. Specifically, it presents a game theoretical analysis
of the factors that led to the emergence of the late medieval family firm in the Latin, rather than the Muslim, world. Furthermore,
it explores various organizational innovations related to the family firm, evaluating their sources and the ability to combine
game theory and evolutionary economics for the study of organizational evolution.
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