Creator Bio
Abū Zikrī Kohen
12th Century
Little is known about the life of Abū Zikrī Kohen. He was a leading merchant in Fustāt (Old Cairo), and dozens of extant documents attest to his business transactions, including a group of twenty receipts of payments made in a single month in 1140. These documents reveal that Abū Zikrī was careful with his money, avoiding overdrafts and repaying his banker promptly. He signed his bank notes with emet (truth), an acrostic of the opening words of Psalms 85:12, emet me-erets titsmaḥ (“truth springs out from the earth”).
Content by Abū Zikrī Kohen
Primary Source
Order for Payment (Fustāt, Egypt)
This small receipt, written on paper in a combination of Arabic and Judeo-Arabic, provides documentation for its bearer to receive five dinars as payment for five candles. It is signed by Abū Zikrī…
Primary Source
Order for Payment (Fustāt, Egypt)
This small receipt, written on paper in a combination of Arabic and Judeo-Arabic, provides documentation for its bearer to receive five dinars as payment for five candles. It is signed by Abū Zikrī…