É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.

ORMOS, István: The Correspondence of Ignaz Goldziher and Max Herz

ISTVÁN ORMOS synagogue is reported to have been in ruins by 1672. In the 1940s oral tradition had it that this edifice had stood on the site of the Nilometre on the island of Roda. This tradition, which does not seem to make sense, proves that nothing was known about this synagogue any more except for its name.

6

7 It also took some time until Herz could find the answer to Goldziher's five questions regarding the total number of students in al-Azhar in the previous year (=1906), the total number of teachers, the number of Hanbalites among the teachers, the number of Hanbalites among the students, and the places of origin of Hanbalites.

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8 On the other hand Herz was unable to find out details concerning al-lawh al-ahdar in addition to what can be found in al-Maqrizi, vol. II, p. 249-250, 252-253 and 255. These data are rather obscure. He tried to find out details on the spot but was unable to do so.

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9 In a letter dated Milan 12 May 1905 Herz answered a question by Goldziher: "In your last but one post-card you ask mc about my opinion of Strzygowski's theory concerning Meshatta. Unfortunately I know this monument only on the basis of an imperfect picture. There can be little doubt that it belongs to late antiquity. It is possible that the historical transformations adduced by Strzygowski serve as a basis for its origins. Strzygowski is smart and knowledgeable but fkc. AI . (/» deiner h

l Martin Schreiner, 'Bemerkungen zur Chronik des Josef b. Isak Sambari', Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 45 (1891), 297; Annuaire des Juifs d 'Egypte et du Proche-Orient 1

942/5702-5703, Cairo 1942, 136. Sambari's (1640-1703) chronicle was written in 1672. See also Jacut's Moschtarik, das ist: Lexicon geographischer Homonyme. Ed. Ferdinand Wüstenfeld, Göttingen 1846, 182 (Bäh Dumüh

); Norman Golb. 'The Topography of the Jews of Medieval Egypt', Journal of Near Eastern Studies 24 (1965), 255-259; ibid. 33 (1974), 124-125; Shlomo Dov Goitein, A Mediterranean Society. The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Berkeley - Los Angeles - London 1967-1993, vol. 5, 20-24. Ás far as I can see there is no reference to the Damwa synagogue or to Moses' basket in Abü 1-Fidä"s Kitäb taqwim al-buldän. 6

8 Undated postcard from Cairo written some time after 22 February 1907. 6

9 Letter dated Cairo, 26 May 1911. The references are to the Büläq edition. See al-Maqrizi, Al-Mawä'iz wa-l-i'tibär..., London (Ayman Fu'äd Sayyid) ed., vol. 4, part 1, p. 18, line 16-17; P- '9- l'

n

e '71 P- 24, h

n

e 19-22; p. 27, line 7; p. 35, line 8. See also Ihn Duqmäq, Kitäb al-intisär li-wäsitat 'iqd al-amsär. Ed. Karl Völlers, Cairo 1309/1893 (reprint Frankfurt 1992), part 4, 60, 66. The al-lawh al-ahdar in question could be found in the Mosque of'Arnr ibn al-'Äs but the data concerning it are not really clear. In any case, in Maqrizl's time it was still there. Goldziher also asked Snouck Hurgronje about this matter but he did not know anything of it. Scholarship and Friendship in Early Islamwissenschaft. The Letters of C. Snouck Hurgronje to I. Goldziher. Ed. P. Sj. van Koningsveld, Leiden 1985, 343. 178