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I (Petra) am very excited about this 10th.-c. papyrus letter sent from Damascus to Cairo (Fustat). Prepare yourself, it’s gonna be a long one. There is silk, war, fire and destruction as the Qaramita make their appearance - sometimes a source draws you straight into history! 
The letter between two merchants starts calmly enough: ‘you wrote me that you’re concerned about the money owed to you; I can tell you that I have retrieved it and bought raw silk (khazz) and brocade (dībāj) for you. We are keeping it in a safe place and I will tell you why’.
Panic is raging through the streets of Damascus after a brutal attack by the Qaramita to which the sender now turns: ‘it is all because of this great terrible event caused by those Qaramita and their advance up to the gates of the city; they have cut the supply lines,
burned mills, destroyed villages, killed the inhabitants and took women and young boys as prisoners’ (أعلمك ما نحن فيه من هذا الأمر العظيم الغليط من هؤلاء القرامطة ومصيرهم إلى باب المدينة وقطعهم الأنهار وإحراق الطواحين وخراب القرى وقتل الأنفاس وسباء النساء والصبيان).
The sender continues his gripping story: ‘some of the villagers fought them and alerted the authorities. The inhabitants of Damascus on the other hand fought them constantly, sometimes regrouping at the Bāb al-Jābiya then moving to the Bāb al-Sharqī’
(وقد قاتل قوم من أهل القرى وأزهروا ذلك السلطان وقاتلوا الناس والناس في كل وقت إنّما ينفرقون إلى باب الجابية ومرّة إلى باب الشرقي). Now the city gates are guarded day and night by troops (الرجّالة) and volunteers (المطّوّعة). I would leave if I could, but
the authorities won’t let anyone go.’ Despite all the killing and enslaving going on, the sender’s main concern, however, is the effect the unrest has on trade in the city. All commercial activity has ceased because everyone’s too preoccupied with the Qaramita:
‘no one buys or sells anything except food and nothing but food; they don’t even enquire about anything else; they aren’t interested in recovering debts and not in receiving or delivering goods.’ In short, the sender concludes, ‘that is why we are keeping your goods well hidden
together with your other things. So let us know in a letter what you think about all of this!’ There are many fascinating things about this letter. Let me just highlight a few of them. First, the Qaramita fighting to change the world order, amongst others by creating havoc,
obviously did not mind making money along the way. The women and young boys they imprisoned were almost certainly intended for the slave trade. These letters did so much more than exchange information between two individuals.
They reported on the news in a gripping and sensational way so that the events became alive for the readers or listeners. That explains the apparent discrepancy between the dramatic scene the sender paints of the rebels’ attack and his down-to-earth business concerns.
And also that, while the city is surrounded by murderous Qaramita, the sender could happily continue to send and receive letters to and from Cairo. Nicely, we evenknow something about the route this letter took. It was sent by Muhammad son of Ahmad son of Muqbi from Damascus to
Abū Hāmid Jabrūn, client (mawlā) of ‘Abd al-Salām son of Ahmad at the Barbar market in Fustat. Acquired on Cairo’s antiquities’ market in the first half of the last century, it is now kept in the Louvre in Paris. It was published by Sourdel/Sourdel/Mouton https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/apf.2010.64/html
