Bancroft Library, Berkeley: Berk. 34, recto
  • Details
  • Tags
  • Transcriptions
  • Translations
  • Map
Details
Download

Download IEDC Data

You are about to download data for the current text from the IEDC database.

To start the download, please click on your desired format below.

Note: it can take up to several minutes to download your data, so please wait whilst it processes

  • Microsoft Word (.docx)
  • JSON
Download started

Content

This document is a letter addressed to the ōstāndār from one of his underlings. Although many details remain elusive, generally this document has to do with the reclassification of some vineyards as land under cultivation, in the “Kōm” (i.e. Qom) administrative region and the implications of this reclassification for taxation.

Dates

  • The Gregorian calendar: 680-1 (0680 - 0681)
  • Post-Yazdgard Era (PYE): 29 (0029)

Details

Berk. 34, recto
Bancroft Library, Berkeley
Qom Papers
Gold (given following external peer review through journal/book publication)
Middle Persian (Pahlavi script)
Administrative
Qom (Kōm)

Physical Description

parchment
Top crumpled and ripped bottom left.
15.0
13.5

People

Publications

  • Weber, Dieter. 2013. “Taxation in Pahlavi Documents from Early Islamic Times.” In Commentationes Iranicae: Сборник статей к 90-летию Владимира Ароновича Лившица, edited by S. R. Tokhtas’yev and P. B. Lur’ye, 171–81. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya. (Pages: 178-179)
    The IEDC transcription and translation have been adapted from this publication.
  • Benfey, Thomas. 2024. "Middle Persian documents and the making of the Islamic fiscal system: problems and prospects." BSOAS 87: 395 - 420. (Pages: 404-408)
    The IEDC translation and transcription have been taken from this publication

Related Shelfmarks

IEDC Data

1036
10/01/2025
13/11/2025

Citations

Thomas Benfey
The transcription and translation have been adapted from a previous publication (see Publications)
See 'How to Cite'
https://www.invisible-east.org/corpus/1036/

Contact

invisible_east@conted.ox.ac.uk (Please include the above permalink when contacting the editorial team about this Text)
Folios
1. recto
Tags
Transcription
Translation
Tags
Folio:

Agriculture

vineyard
Transcription
Folio:
1 ō xwadāyīg zād xrad-windād ōstāndār namāz Ōhrmazd-… 
2 drōd was ○ ud čiyōn xwadāyīg ba-ābādānīh ī maydār 
3 az xwāhišn ī man im sāl 29 pad maydārīh ī 
4 Kōm rōstāg framūd gumārdan nar abāg xwadāyīg 
5 paymān kerd kū hamē ka ba-ābādānīh drahm pad dēn 
6 wizāyišnīg ēdōn čiyōn dād-ayār guftārīh [?] ō xwadāyīg 
7 ud xwadāyīg ō man framūd kerdan [?] agar-iš wirāyišn ud pattān [?] 
8 ī ān xīr rāy abāyēd burdan man pad xwēštan barēm 
9 ud wizārēm ud ēn nāmag man pad gugāy-muhrīhā ī Xwadāgerd āwišt 
10 ō xwadāyīg zād xrad-windād ōstāndār namāz Ōhrmazd-… 
Translation
Folio:
1 To Sir ōstāndār, born with inherited wisdom, reverence! [From] Ōhrmazd-… 
2 many greetings! And since Sir has designated the wine-grower’s [land] under cultivation 
3 according to my wish [?], this year 29 (680/1 CE), as a wine-growing [region] of 
4 the Kōm district, men have made an agreement 
5 with Sir, that as long as [it is] under cultivation, the injurious dirhams for the Religion [i.e. Zoroastrianism; dēn]
6 will be according to the “law-helper’s” [dād-ayār]’s ruling 
7 and Sir has ordered me to undertake [this]. If it is necessary
to arrange it and bear the pattān [?]
8 it should be taken before me for resolution 
9 and this letter was sealed with the seal of Xwadāgerd 
10 to Sir ōstāndār, born with inherited wisdom, reverence! Ōhrmazd-…
Map

This map displays the place names identified by the Invisible East Team related to this corpus text. If you click on a pin, you can see all the texts in our corpus which mention this toponym. Please bear in mind that the exact geographical location of origin is not always possible to establish. It is, therefore, only an approximation.

You can also view a full map of all toponyms within the Invisible East Digital Corpus.