ONE of the more impressive finds during the 1972 Season of the Egypt Exploration Society at QaṢr Ibrlm in Egyptian Nubia was a collection of four papyrus scrolls from the eighth century A.D. These scrolls were in the first instance deposited in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The largest of them, which is 53·5 em. wide and is made up of twelve joined gummed pieces to a length of 264.5 em., is a letter of sixty-nine lines in Arabic sent in 141/758 by the governor of ‘Abbāsid-controlled Egypt to the king of Nubia and Muqurra; in it the governor complains of irregularities on the part of Nubia-Muqurra in its dealings with Egypt. Since the king resided in the south, at Dongola in Muqurra, it is apparent that he forwarded the letter to his representative in Nubia/Nobatiathat being the region most involved in the alleged irregularities. The three other scrolls, which are in Coptic, reflect Nubian attempts to formulate some response to the complaint.

A translation of the Arabic document, together with some comments and photographs, was published by Professor J. Martin Plumley in the Journal of Egyptian Archeology in 1975 (vol. 61, pp. 241-45). It was at that time hoped that it would be possible to publish the texts of all four scrolls together, and publication of the Arabic text was accordingly held over. It has since become apparent, however, that the state of the Coptic documents is such that completion of work on them will take longer than was earlier anticipated; publication of the Arabic text on its own has therefore seemed desirable as an interim measure, particularly in view of the interest that it has aroused among scholars. The text is here accompanied by photographs of the original (regrettably these photographs were taken in conditions which were less than ideal) and by a revised version of the translation published in 1975. It has also seemed appropriate to attempt to make some assessment of the ways in which the document helps to clarify the question of relations between Egypt and Nubia in the years following the Arab conquest of Egypt in 639-41. It should be added that some further clarification of this question may be hoped for once the total contents of the Coptic scrolls have been determined.