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A Mediterranean Society #1
A Mediterranean Society, Volume I: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Economic Foundations (Volume 6)
This six-volume "portrait of a Mediterranean personality" is a composite portrait of the individuals who wrote the personal letters, contracts, and all other manuscript fragments that found their way into the Cairo Geniza. Most of the fragments from the Geniza, a storeroom for discarded writings that could not be thrown away because they might contain the name of God, had been removed to Cambridge University Library and other libraries around the world. Professor Goitein devoted the last thirty years of his long and productive life to their study, deciphering the language of the documents and organizing what he called a "marvelous treasure trove of manuscripts" into a coherent, fascinating picture of the society that created them.
It is a rich, panoramic view of how people lived, traveled, worshiped, and conducted their economic and social affairs. The first and second volumes describe the economic foundations of the society and the institutions and social and political structures that characterized the community. The remaining material, intended for a single volume describing the particulars of the way people lived, blossomed into three volumes, devoted respectively to the family, daily life, and the individual. The divisions are arbitrary but helpful because of the wealth of information. The author refers throughout to other passages in his monumental work that amplify what is discussed in any particular section. The result is an incomparably clear and immediate impression of how it was in the Mediterranean world of the tenth through the thirteenth century.
Volume I, subtitled Economic Foundations , gives an overview of the Mediterranean (history, peoples, culture) during the high middle ages; discusses the working class; the business world, and government's role in commerce; and provides a complete description of travel and seafaring.
It is a rich, panoramic view of how people lived, traveled, worshiped, and conducted their economic and social affairs. The first and second volumes describe the economic foundations of the society and the institutions and social and political structures that characterized the community. The remaining material, intended for a single volume describing the particulars of the way people lived, blossomed into three volumes, devoted respectively to the family, daily life, and the individual. The divisions are arbitrary but helpful because of the wealth of information. The author refers throughout to other passages in his monumental work that amplify what is discussed in any particular section. The result is an incomparably clear and immediate impression of how it was in the Mediterranean world of the tenth through the thirteenth century.
Volume I, subtitled Economic Foundations , gives an overview of the Mediterranean (history, peoples, culture) during the high middle ages; discusses the working class; the business world, and government's role in commerce; and provides a complete description of travel and seafaring.
576 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1967
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About the author
S.D. Goitein
53 books15 followersShelomo Dov Goitein, who was associated with the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University at the time of his death in 1985, was honored with the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Society and the National Jewish Book Award for A Mediterranean Society. Teacher, administrator, and prolific writer, he was a preeminent scholar in the areas of Jewish-Arab relations and Islamic culture.
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August 14, 2022
If you want to understand the social circumstances of the southern rim of the Mediterranean basin during high Middle Ages, I cannot imagine anything better than this four-volume work. Its only disadvantage is its girth, but every page has something to recommend it.
The first thing to note must be the enormity of research labor that went into this. Cairo Geniza was a repository of documents of Cairo Jewish community (the Palestinian rite) starting from 10th century, which was discovered to the outside world in 19th century. After that, its contents was purchased by various museums and private collectors. The author spent several decades indexing the resulting collections in several countries. After this painstaking process, he was able to obtain a plastic and detailed picture of mainly 10th-13th century life in the Mediterranean, obviously with a particular emphasis on the Jewish community.
What I liked about the result the most is the very accessible prose of the author, which makes his incredible achievement sound like something fairly ordinary. There is hardly any theorizing so common in more recent history books, and while good background in the political geography of the Muslim world of the era certainly does not hurt, strictly speaking it is not required.
The books concentrate on various aspects of social lives of Mediterranean Jewry. There is a lot of information about merchant travels, family law, financial support for the poor, fashion, and many other subjects. Did you know that their premarital agreements could contain items like "the wife is truthful and trustworthy in all respects and her word does not need an oath or witness"...my mom says, oh I would really want that! Of course, there was a very good reason to want that item in the agreement, and I will let Professor Goitein explain to you what that reason was.
If you are interested in the period and the region, you cannot live without this book. It is that simple.
The first thing to note must be the enormity of research labor that went into this. Cairo Geniza was a repository of documents of Cairo Jewish community (the Palestinian rite) starting from 10th century, which was discovered to the outside world in 19th century. After that, its contents was purchased by various museums and private collectors. The author spent several decades indexing the resulting collections in several countries. After this painstaking process, he was able to obtain a plastic and detailed picture of mainly 10th-13th century life in the Mediterranean, obviously with a particular emphasis on the Jewish community.
What I liked about the result the most is the very accessible prose of the author, which makes his incredible achievement sound like something fairly ordinary. There is hardly any theorizing so common in more recent history books, and while good background in the political geography of the Muslim world of the era certainly does not hurt, strictly speaking it is not required.
The books concentrate on various aspects of social lives of Mediterranean Jewry. There is a lot of information about merchant travels, family law, financial support for the poor, fashion, and many other subjects. Did you know that their premarital agreements could contain items like "the wife is truthful and trustworthy in all respects and her word does not need an oath or witness"...my mom says, oh I would really want that! Of course, there was a very good reason to want that item in the agreement, and I will let Professor Goitein explain to you what that reason was.
If you are interested in the period and the region, you cannot live without this book. It is that simple.
Displaying 1 of 1 review