4.5. Greek and various documentary scripts
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4.5.1. Greek cursive documentary script
- MS 140 Egypt, 100 BC
4.5.2. Karosthi documentary script
4.5.3. Bactrian cursive documentary script
- MS 4580 Afghanistan, ca. 450-500
4.5.4. Spanish rounded documentary script
- MS 2927/4 Buenos Aires, 1594
4.5.5. Irish documentary script
- MS 1381 Dublin, 1715
4.5.6. Hawaiian cursive documentary script
- MS 4524 Honolulu, 1850
4.5.7. Tasmanian cursive documentary script
- MS 2903 Tasmania, 1860
4.5.1. Greek cursive documentary script
SALE OF CORN-LAND IN PATHYRIS, FROM PANAS, SON OF PATES, TO PATES, SON OF POERIS. PUBLIC NOTARY: PANISCUS. SUBSCRIBED BY APPOLONIUS, THE BANK CHECKING-CLARK, WITH RECEIPT FOR PAID SALES TAX
MS in Greek on papyrus, Crocodilopolis, Egypt, 12 July 100 BC, 1 papyrus, 15x53 cm, 3 columns, 14 lines in a Greek cursive documentary script, with a clay seal between column 1 and 2.
Context: The same cornland as in MS 143. From a hoard of 21 Greek and 31 Demotic, dated papyri, MSS 128-179.
Provenance: 1. Horus, son of Nechoutes, family archive, Gebelên, Egypt (ca. 140-89 BC); 2. Buried in a pottery jar in the sand at Gebelên, the site of the ancient Pathyris of the Thebaid (ca. 88 BC-1924); 3. Hadj Mansur Mahmûd, Luxor, Egypt (1924); 4. Elkan Nathan Adler, England (from 1924); 5. Dr. Martin Bodmer, Genève (until 1970); 6. H.P. Kraus Cat. 126(1971):96.
Published: E.N. Adler, J.C. Tait, F.M. Heichelheim and F.L. Griffith: The Adler Papyri. Oxford University Press, 1939, G13.
4.5.2. Karosthi documentary script
SETTLEMENT OF LEGAL MATTERS CONCERNING THE AGREEMENT REACHED BETWEEN KALA RUTRA AND ASCARA LPIMIMKREYA CONCERNING 2 WOMEN SUHAPRIYAE AND COGAROAE WITH THE FINAL CLAUSES: " WHOEVER, AT A LATER TIME WISHES TO MAKE THIS AGREEMENT OTHERWISE, HIS REPRESENTATION AT THE ROYAL GATE (COURT) SHALL BE WITHOUT AUTHORITY, AND WILL BE PUNISHED. IF THE AGREEMENT IS BROKEN THE PUNISHMENT WILL BE 70 BLOWS." DATED "IN THE 25TH YEAR OF HIS MAJESTY THE GREAT (KING) JITUGHA MAYIRI, SON OF HEAVEN, IN THE 4TH MONTH AND THE 25TH DAY IN HIS REIGN"
MS in Gandhari language (Kroraina prakrit) on wood, Niya, Sinkiang, China, ca. 250, 1 rectangular double tablet (kilamudra), 8x22x1 cm, 9 lines, and central cover: 8x16x1 cm, 7+1+2 lines, in Karosthi documentary script.
Provenance: 1. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.
Commentary: The Gandhara language is a Prakrit or vernacular version of Indo-Aryan, which developed parallel to Sanskrit. It is thought to have been a very conservative language, preserving many of the features found in Vedic or Sanskrit but lost in other Prakrits. At this time it was written in Karosthi characters, an adaptation of Iranian Pehlevi script which was used throughout the Persian Empire. Karosthi is written from right to left. Buddhist merchants and missionaries spread the use of Gandhara language and Karosthi script into Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan (Sinkiang) where it was used for business, administration and religious purposes alongside Pehlevi, Bactrian, Khotanese and Chinese. The present MS is very much part of the culture as the 700 texts collected from Niya at the beginning of the 20th c. by Sir Aurel Stein. (Karosthi Inscriptions Discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Chinese Turkestan, Part I-III; ed. Boyer, Rapson & Senart. Oxford 1920-1929.) The king (Jitugha) is Mayiri (Mahiri or Masiri), the 4th king of Shan-shan, a kingdom also known as Lou-lan. The records of his reign contain many cases concerning relations with the neighbouring kingdom of Khotan.
See also MS 4579/2, Document, China, ca. 315
4.5.3. Bactrian cursive documentary script
SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTE BETWEEN KHAY AND KHATUL THE SONS OF PABAG AND THEIR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS AS ONE PARTY, AND MEYAM AND ZHULAD THE SONS OF PIY AND THEIR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS AS THE OTHER PARTY, ALL SERVANTS OF YAN GOZGAN KING OF GAR AND INHABITANTS OF LIZAG, CONCERNING A DEBT DISPUTED WITH NOSPIL, INHABITANT OF SAMINGAN: SO NOW I, KHAY, AND I, KHATUL, AND MY CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS HAVE RECEIVED THE FINE IN FULL FROM YOU, MEYAM, AND FROM YOU, ZHULAD, AND FROM THE NOSPIL FAMILY, SO THAT FROM NOW UNTIL ETERNITY WE, KHAY AND KHATUL AND OUR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS, HAVE NO DISPUTE AT ALL WITH MEYAM OR ZHULAD OR THEIR CHILDREN AND DESCENDANTS, NEITHER CONCERNING MATTERS RELATING TO SLAVES, NOR CONCERNING THE FINE, NOR CONCERNING THE DEBT, NOR CONCERNING SMALL MATTERS, NOR CONCERNING GREAT MATTERS; AND WE SHALL NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DISPUTE WITH YOU, NEITHER CONCERNING MATTERS RELATING TO SLAVES, NOR CONCERNING THE NOSPIL FAMILY'S FINE, NOR CONCERNING ANY OTHER DEBT. SO, IF WE SHOULD DISPUTE ANYTHING WITH YOU, OUR CLAIM AND ARGUMENT SHALL NOT BE VALID IN COURT; WE ALSO SHALL PAY A FINE TO THE JUDICIAL TREASURY OF 500 DIRHAMS OF KING KAWAD, AND WE SHALL PAY 500 DIRHAMS TO YOU, MEYAM, AND TO YOUR BROTHERS AND CHILDREN. AFTER THE FINE, MAY THIS SEALED DOCUMENT BE AUTHORITATIVE. DATED YEAR 500 MONTH PUSIG, DAY MIHR, IN THE PRESENCE OF THE GOD WAKHSH KING OF GODS, RAHUL THE LEADER OF THE PEOPLE OF LIZAG, WIYUS THE CLERK OF THE WORKS(?) OF WULAKH, YAKAN THE TUDUN, BABAY, SALAK, AND THE ASSEMBLED INHABITANTS OF LIZAG
MS in Bactrian on vellum, Guzgan area, Afghanistan, 732, 1 f., 28x19 cm, 31 long lines in Bactrian cursive documentary script, 6 signatures on reverse, 4 of originally 6 clay seals, with the motifs: a Greek capital upsilon, 3 fingernail impressions, a swastika, and a standing figure.
Context: MSS 4580-4581 are from the same archive of 8 documents covering a period of 60 years.
Provenance: 1. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.
Commentary: More than a hundred Bactrian documents, written in cursive script on leather, cloth or wood have been discovered in the last decade of the 20th c. Before that our corpus of Bactrian was effectively limited to a single inscription from Surkh Kotal and the short legends on coins and seals. Almost all other texts were either illegible, incomprehensible, or both.
Mentioned: Académie de Inscriptions & Belles-lettres, Comptes rendus des séances de l'année 2002. Nicholas Sims-Williams: Nouveaux documents Bactriens du Guzgan.
4.5.4. Spanish rounded documentary script
ENCOMIENDA TO FRANCISCO ALVAREZ BY HERNANDO DE ZARATE, DEPUTY OF THE VICEROY DE TUCUMAN Y RIO DE LA PLATA, COVERING THE CACIQUE CAULAJAI OF THE TUCUELPHEHEY VEGUAY NATION AND OTHER CACIQUES. SIGNED 14 MAY 1594, CONFIRMED BY ALONSO DIAZ DE ORTIZ AND ALVAREZ, 2 AUGUST THE SAME YEAR
MS in Spanish on paper, Buenos Aires, 1594, 3 pp., 30x20 cm, single column, (26x18 cm), 28 lines in a rounded cursive documentary script.
Provenance: 1. H.P. Kraus, New York.
Commentary: MSS 2927/1-6 are a group of unpublished and uncalendared colonial Argentine documents from the earliest period of the final foundation of Buenos Aires, signed by the first governors, lieutenants and conquistadors of the province of Rio de la Plata. Very few such documents survive from the 16th c., even in the local archives. The grants of land were made to those who accompanied the founder, Juan de Garay (1527-1583), in 1580 in payment for their services to the crown. The settlement of the region was one of the most difficult efforts of Spanish colonial policy due to fierce native resistance. In the encomienda system, the Indian chief, cacique, and his nation living in the conquered area, were apportioned to the settlers as labourers. In return the settler was required to defend them, support them and provide them with an education in the Christian faith. This relationship usually lasted for 2 generations.
4.5.5. Irish documentary script
ROYAL LETTERS PATENT UNDER THE GREAT SEAL FOR A GRANT OF ARMS TO GEORGE ST. GEORGE, CONFERRING UPON HIM THE BARONY OF HATLEY IN IRELAND
MS in English on vellum, Dublin, Ireland, 26 April 1715, 2 ff., 60x75 cm, single column, (35x51 cm), 56 lines in a fine Irish documentary script, first line in a formal Gothic book script of high grade in gold, upper and left margins decorated with the Royal arms, heraldic devices and ornamentation in gold, vermilion and azure, gilt borders, historiated initial with portrait of King George I, with the Great Seal of England in brown wax, diam. 15 cm, pendant from plaited silver cords.
Binding: Dublin, Ireland, 1715, wooden box formed after the document and the seal, covered with blindtooled leather. Printed label inside: "Charles Tennant, at the sign of the Royal Trunk at the corner of Wine Tavern street and Merchants-Quay, Dublin", followed by a longer advertisement of this Royal Trunkmaker.
Provenance: 1. Christie's 26.6.1991:342.
4.5.6. Hawaiian cursive documentary script
ROYAL PATENT OF KING KAMEHAMEHA III, GRANTING LAND AT WAIALUA IN THE ISLAND OF OAHU TO JEROME TOPLIFF AND LEWIS JOHNSON, EXCEPTING AND RESERVING TO THE HAWAIAN GOVERMENT ALL MINERAL OR METALLIC MINES ON THE PROPERTY. SIGNED BY KAMEHAMEHA, KEONI ANA, JEROME TOPLIFF AND LEWIS JOHNSON
MS and print in Hawaiian on paper, Honolulu, Hawaii, 26 March 1850, 2+1 ff., 35x21 cm + 13x20 cm, (31x20 cm + 9x17 cm), 27+9 long lines in cursive documentary script, 1 red lacquer seal, extra receipt glued on.
Provenance: 1. Hawaiian Islands Stamp & coin, Honolulu.
Commentary: Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) (1813-1854), Hawaiian king, son of Kamehameha I, held the throne for the longest reign in Hawaiian history (1825-1854). Under his reign came the declaration of rights of June 7 1839, and the Constitution of 1840.
4.5.7. Tasmanian cursive documentary script
INDENTURE BETWEEN JAMES HENRY VIGAR, FARMER OF NORTH WEST BAY IN TASMANIA, AND WILLIAM RODE FALCONER, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS OF HOBART TOWN, ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT OF TASMANIA, CONCERNING LEASE OF LANDS INCLUDING A RESERVE FOR FIRE WOOKS AND FISH PONDS BETWEEN NORTH WEST BAY, THE ROAD TO HOBART TOWN AND THE NORTH WEST RIVER. SIGNED ONLY BY VIGAR
MS in English on vellum, Hobart, Tasmania, 16 October 1860, 1 f., 63x78 cm, (ca. 54x40 cm), 52 long lines in Tasmanian cursive documentary script, some words in display script, map 21x21 cm of the lands in fine water colours, 2 identical anonymous grid lacquer seals for both parties.
Provenance: 1. William Rode Falconer, Director of Public works of Hobart Town (1860); 2. Antique Print Room, Sydney.