@GenizaLab

Digitizing Cairo Geniza documents since 1985. Director: Marina Rustow. PMs: Jessica Parker, Rachel Richman, Ksenia Ryzhova, Amel Bensalim. Tweets: Alan Elbaum

 Princeton NJ USA
genizalab.princeton.edu
Joined December 2020
  • Tweets1.9K
  • Following439
  • Followers7.8K
871Media
How to Geniza? A short (and incomplete) introduction coming up! 1/x
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Help! Is this fragment Armenian? Is anyone able to read it? geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…

Unknown type: Moss. VIII,467.4

Scrap of paper with unidentified script (Armenian?). Dating: probably 19th century, and possibly directly related to Moss. VIII,467.3 dated 1899.

geniza.princeton.edu
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Fascinating application of AI to decipher cryptic manuscripts - but there's still a long way to go. Notably, זהכיר (zihgīr) here means thumbguard (archer's ring) rather than penis. Analysis by Matthew Dudley on PGP: geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu… Image credit: ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/colle…
Marouane Lamharzi Alaoui
@marouane53Sep 19
A 500-year-old Cairo Geniza text nobody could read. Princeton's note on it: "needs further examination". It is an Ottoman sex remedy in Hebrew letters. I used GPT-6 Pro and Claude Fable 5.1 to read it, letter by letter. @GenizaLab, check this one out 👇

I Deciphered a 500-Year-Old Bedroom Remedy Hidden in Hebrew Letters, Using GPT6 Pro and Claude Fable

Article · @marouane53
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Does anyone recognize these mysterious characters? Spotted on the back of an early modern page of business accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
string of mysterious characters on an old piece of paper

ALT string of mysterious characters on an old piece of paper

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Anyone able to read anything from this manuscript? These fragments seem to join but are extremely difficult to decipher. Likely from 11th-13th century Egypt.
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"The boy ʿAṭiyya has been weaned. . . please send sugar and halva. . . he wants to eat sweets all the time, and he is used to being pampered" - late medieval Judaeo-Arabic family letter 👶🍭🍭🍭 geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
medieval manuscript (letter) with Judaeo-Arabic writing

ALT medieval manuscript (letter) with Judaeo-Arabic writing

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"The wife of Satan" (imraʾat iblīs) - spotted on an alms distribution list from 12th century Cairo 💃👿 geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
medieval manuscript with a list of names in Judaeo-Arabic

ALT medieval manuscript with a list of names in Judaeo-Arabic

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courtesy of @OdedZinger
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For the first time since the Princeton Geniza Project began in 1986, we have published our metadata collated from over 30,000 Geniza documents and the People, Places, and histories of the Middle East and premodern Jewish communities found therein! zenodo.org/records/15839056

Princeton Geniza Project Dataset

Since 1986, the Princeton Geniza Lab has been studying and digitizing historical documents from the Cairo Geniza, a cache of roughly 400,000 fragments of paper and parchment preserved in a medieval...

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Special thanks to director Prof. Marina Rustow, co-director Prof. Eve Krakowski, project managers Rachel Richman, Ksenia Ryzhova, Pratima Gopalakrishnan, and Amel Bensalim, as well as research software engineer Mohamed Abdellatif, the CDH's Rebecca Koeser, & all our researchers+
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+ past and present! We look forward to seeing how researchers utilize and explore this collection in new ways!
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Given the expanded capabilities of the new PGP site (v4), we're finally retiring PGPv3. We chose April 3, 2025 as its final date, S. D. Goitein's 125th birthday. Many thanks to Ben Johnston of @mcgrawect for building the site & running it. You can find the archived content here:
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here: (genizaprojects.princeton.edu…). Meanwhile keep enjoying our new site (geniza.princeton.edu/en/)!"

The Princeton Geniza Project

The Princeton Geniza Project is the digital home of nearly 32,000 medieval documents.

geniza.princeton.edu
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A gorgeous prayerbook (maḥzor) for the high holidays copied in Mallorca(!) in 1332 CE, recently spotted by PGP researcher Tani Robinson. geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
page from a Hebrew manuscript with beautiful capitals ornamented with red and blue designs

ALT page from a Hebrew manuscript with beautiful capitals ornamented with red and blue designs

screenshot from a Hebrew manuscript with the word מיורקא

ALT screenshot from a Hebrew manuscript with the word מיורקא

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Princeton Geniza Lab has joined Bluesky! We hope you will connect with us at our profile over there! 🦋→ bsky.app/profile/genizalab.b…
Screenshot of the Princeton Geniza Lab's profile on Bluesky containing the lab's logo, a banner image of Geniza fragments, and a short description of the lab and its websites.

ALT Screenshot of the Princeton Geniza Lab's profile on Bluesky containing the lab's logo, a banner image of Geniza fragments, and a short description of the lab and its websites.

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New Syriac AI translator! The results are surprisingly accurate and good for AI translation. There’s still room to improve, but this tool is already a major step forward. It won’t be long before Syriac can be translated as seamlessly as other languages—a huge development for the future of Syriac preservation and accessibility. oromoyo.ai
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"When I parted from you, I intended to sail to the island of Cyprus, but a strong storm diverted the boat to Tarsus. I was very much afraid that the king would take hold of me and detain me. . . ." Letter from Alexandria to Cairo, ~1212 CE geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
medieval manuscript covered with Hebrew script (letter in Judaeo-Arabic)

ALT medieval manuscript covered with Hebrew script (letter in Judaeo-Arabic)

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A very sweet letter reminiscing on a visit to the house of Maimonides, who is depicted here enjoying lemon drops and playing with a cute toddler. "I kissed his noble hand, and he received us with a most cordial welcome. He said to me, 'Come and sit...'" geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
medieval manuscript page covered with Hebrew script (Judaeo-Arabic)

ALT medieval manuscript page covered with Hebrew script (Judaeo-Arabic)

medieval manuscript page covered with Hebrew script (Judaeo-Arabic) (the recto of the other image)

ALT medieval manuscript page covered with Hebrew script (Judaeo-Arabic) (the recto of the other image)

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Goitein's index card ("Dr. Paul Fenton to publish together with me as Maimonides en pantoufles") with accompanying AI illustration of Maimonides en pantoufles
Goitein's index card: "Dr. Paul Fenton to publish together with me as Maimonides en pantoufles"

ALT Goitein's index card: "Dr. Paul Fenton to publish together with me as Maimonides en pantoufles"

AI-generated image of Maimonides en pantoufles

ALT AI-generated image of Maimonides en pantoufles

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Not to be missed! A landmark new book in Arabic documentary legal studies by Mathieu Tillier and Naïm Vanthieghem. Includes many previously unidentified Cairo Geniza fragments. pictured: geniza.princeton.edu/en/docu…
The cover of the new book "Mariages et séparations en Égypte au Moyen Âge"

ALT The cover of the new book "Mariages et séparations en Égypte au Moyen Âge"

two fragments of a medieval Arabic manuscript joined together

ALT two fragments of a medieval Arabic manuscript joined together

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