The Arabic Papyri in the Pushkin Museum: History of the Collection and Edition of I 1 б 732

Abstract

In Russia, collections of Arabic papyri and documents on paper are kept in Moscow (the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts) and St. Petersburg (the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts and the State Hermitage). Each of them has its own formation history. The Moscow collection, which is the main focus of the article, is associated with the name of Vladimir S. Golenishchev, Russian Egyptologist and collector of ancient Egyptian and Coptic antiquities. All three collections have not yet been studied relying on the latest data and up-to-date research tools. Victor I. Belyaev made an attempt to draw up a catalogue of the Pushkin Museum and IOM collections together with transcription of the documents, but did not finish his work. Now his notes are a good foundation for future research, even though they need to be revised. The article presents a short description of the Pushkin Museum papyri collection and verifies the date of the papyrus I 1 б 732. It became clear that I 1 б 732 was written half a century earlier than stated by V.I. Belyaev.