IjAne-Poolb — MoJuuntiiadan Treaties with Christians. 2'J5 



formal documents, drawn up on a standard model ; and I do not think 

 there can be any doubt of their textual accuracy, subject to minor 

 variations in different manuscripts. These variants I have appended 

 to the texts. 



It will be noticed that the Egyptian Treaty, with which I am 

 chiefly concerned, does not in so many words impose a capitation 

 tax ( d^>^ ) at so much a head, but states a fixed tribute of fifty 

 millions. It does not say millions of what coin, but it must evidently 

 be dirhems. Abu-Salih,*- writing about a.d. 1200, says that 'Amr 

 imposed an annual tax of 26f dirhems (i.e. 2 dinars), on all, but 

 made the rich pay three ardebbs of wheat in addition, and this 

 is the universal tradition. The conditions annexed, that the tax 

 is to be paid after the inundation, i.e., in harvest time, and that it is 

 to be reduced if the Nile is lower than the average, seem to point to 

 a tax upon land-produce; but if, as is clear from all authorities, there 

 was only one tax, by whatever name it was called, it would in any 

 case fall upon the land in an agricultural country like Egypt ; and as 

 at the conquest the whole population was Christian, the Arabs 

 forming an insignificant minority, the poll-tax would in reality be a 

 land-tax. In fact there is no evidence that any land-tax was imposed 

 at the conquest (except at Alexandria), beyond the statement that 

 three ardebbs were levied from the richer class. The laud-tax 

 ( ^\/>~ ) was imposed somewhat later. It seems probable therefore 

 that the fifty millions (of dirhems), equal to three and one third 

 million dinars, represent a rough guess at the sum which would be 

 produced by a poll-tax of two dinars a head on adult males. It was, 

 as a matter of fact, too low an estimate, for the poll-tax soon 

 brought in twelve millions ; but at the time of the treaty, when 

 only a small part of the country was subdued, and most of the Delta 

 was still in Eoman hands, it was impossible to take an accurate 



* Churches and 3fonasieries of Egypt, ed. and tr. Evetts, f. 'I'la. 



