The term ‘silk road’ likely conjures up images of a well-trodden track, somewhere in central Eurasia, walked by merchants and camels carrying exotic cargo. From the outset, the British Museum’s new major exhibition, Silk Roads, challenges this image with the addition of a single letter – this fabled route was no single road. It also involved much more than silk. Entering the exhibition gallery, the journey begins with cases of objects from Japan, the Korean peninsula, and Tang China, illustrating... Read More
trade
Melonie Schmierer-Lee
on Fri 13 Dec 2024
Has tags: British Museum, exhibition, Genizah Fragments, trade
Melonie Schmierer-Lee and Lorenzo Bondioli
on Wed 3 Nov 2021
Lorenzo, what are you working on at the moment?
I’ve been spending some time on T-S 10J12.26, a business letter from the prominent Genizah merchant Nahray b. Nissim, writing from Fusṭāṭ to his associate Barhūn b. Mūsā ’l-Tāhartī, who was out in the Egyptian hinterland (specifically in the town of Būṣīr). This document has been edited and discussed by Genizah scholars, starting from Goitein himself, but I still could not quite wrap my mind around it. What is so interesting about... Read More
Has tags: Fatimid, Genizah Fragments, Goitein, letter, Q&A, trade
Melonie Schmierer-Lee, Haru Shimada, and Amir Ashur
on Wed 27 Oct 2021
Haru, what are you working on at the moment?
I’m working on T-S 8.12. It is a letter between two traders, and reveals much about the activities of the merchants at this time, in particular their trading networks and how these functioned. I’m looking at this manuscript because in November I will be giving an introductory lecture to my students, and this letter offers a good example of the kinds of trader letter we find in the Genizah.
How many students do you have?... Read More
Has tags: Genizah Fragments, Japan, letter, Q&A, trade