Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (15.2003(2004))

NAQLUN

EGYPT

J. van der Vliet prepared for publica-
tion the Coptic texts from the 1986 (20
items), 1987 (9) and 1988 (5) seasons. All
but a few very small and insignificant frag-
ments were taken into consideration. The

texts from the 1989 season had been edited
earlier by the Late K. Urbaniak.5) These
were briefly inspected, but since her work
has proved up to standard, there is
presently no need to go back to these texts.

DOCUMENTATION OF THE TEXTILES

Over 340 textiles were documented and
photographed by T. Szmagier. The textiles,
which are all from the tombs of a Christian
cemetery excavated in 2002 on site A, date
from the late 11th to the 13 th century.
B. Czaja-Szewczak doubled the woolen
tunic Nd.00.082 onto linen cloth in order
to preserve it. J. van der Vliet identified
the Coptic texts on the tunic as fragments
of psalm Ps.46:2-3 in Sahidic.
G. Helmecke took time to study the 7 3
pieces of textiles with Arabic text, identi-
fying three Fatimid tiraz texts in the pro-
cess. One tiraz (Nd.02.205) bore the name
of the Caliph al-Hakim (385-411 AH/AD
996-1020) (Fig. 1).
Another (Nd.00.073) is likely to bear
the name of the Caliph al-Mustansir (327-
487 AH/AD 1035-1094).6) Finally, the third
(Nd.02.221) belongs either to the reign of
the son of al-Hakim, Caliph az-Zahir (dll-

427 AH/AD 1021-1035), or to the times
of az-Zahir's successor, Caliph al-Mustansir
(Fig- 2).
The other Arabic texts are nearly all
embedded in the ornamental decoration of
the fabrics. One group gives the usual
repertoire of short pious formulas in
repetition. The longest one is “nasr min
allah wa-fath qarib” (victory/success from
God and near success/victory). Others
include “al-mulk li-llah” (power belongs to
God), or “baraka min allah” (God’s blessing).
The word “allah" is repeated in some cases.
Two of the three examined silks bear the
word “baraka” (blessings) in repetition.
Another group of textiles, especially the
embroidered ones, have only ornamental
designs deriving from repeated words or
letters without intelligible sense. The
inscriptions and pseudo-inscriptions are
written both in Kufic and in cursive scripts.

Fig. 2. Fragment of linen and silk coffin shroud (Nd.02.221) with dated Arabic inscription
(Photo T. Szmagier)
5) K. Urbaniak, “Naqlun. Koptische Texte",JJP 23 (1993), 157-162; id.,JJP 25 (1995), 165-170.
6) B. Czaja-Szewczak, “Naqlun.Textiles conservation 2001”, PAM XIII, Reports 2001 (2002), 178-180, fig. 1.


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