Read this and more fascinating letters in our sixth launch of the Invisible East Digital Corpus today. Get a glimpse into the daily lives of ordinary people, including workplace rivalries and boss–employee politics!

#documents #Bamiyan #medievalsky #skystorian #digitalhumanities #digitalcorpus

So next time you’re wincing while your colleague roars with laughter at a joke you’ve already heard five times before, remember our unknown sender — who pushed his sycophancy to the limit just to get some decent clothes.

Of course this all comes with an ulterior motive. But instead of angling for a bonus or a promotion, his request is surprisingly modest:

“Please remember to send my robe and hat — I have no adequate clothing.”

Maybe we should feel bad for him — his boss clearly doesn’t treat him very well… 🧥🎩

Like every office suck-up, he can’t resist dobbing in a few colleagues:

"Also, let him be informed that recently Rashīd al-Dīn Bakhtiyār’s.. [son] and Abū Bakr Surkh were gambling, that the former won 10 dinars, but the latter ran away [before he could pay up]."

That's no way to make friends...

And just when you think he’s done, he adds:

“Day and night, with a burning heart and tearful eyes, I pray to meet and serve you, my master.”

Puts the usual “all the best,” to shame…

“My longing to see your blessed beauty, my master, has reached such an extent that a pen is not able to convey it. If I tried, blood would drip from the pen.”

Somehow a work email has turned into an emo love song. 🎸💔

Our unnamed Employee Of The Month is the sender of a letter (Minorsky A) from 10th–11th century Afghanistan, addressed to his “master”, Shujāʿ al-Dunya wa al-Dīn.

He takes complimenting the boss to an entirely new level — in fact, it gets a little intense....

Well, next time you’re rolling your eyes as your sycophantic colleague rushes to hold the door open for the boss, spare a thought for this man from 11th-century Afghanistan, who took things to a whole new level. 👀

This marriage contract is one of the newly translated documents featured in the 6th release on the Invisible East Digital Corpus.

Mark your calendars and join us tomorrow to explore hundreds of remarkable texts from medieval Afghanistan!

#Afghanistan #SantaBaby #medievalsky #skystorians

So next time Santa Baby gets stuck in your head, think of Shahrnāz instead. 🎁

🎵 “Ilyās baby, just slip two villas under the tree, for me” 🎵

This document offers a glimpse into everyday life in medieval Afghanistan — how marriages were formalised, property was transferred, and how women could hold land in their own right.

Sure, she’d have to wait another 900 years for a ‘54 convertible too, light blue’, but overall, it seems like Shahrnāz did very well for herself.

She may not have gotten a yacht, but she was given multiple gardens, lined with poplar trees, with private access to flowing streams — sounds like a pretty luxurious alternative! 🌷💧

She didn’t get the “deed to a platinum mine,” but she did receive several parcels of land with trees and farms — all of which would have brought her own income. 🌳👩‍🌾

Eartha sang:

🎵 “Santa baby, fill my stocking with a duplex and cheques…” 🎵

But Shahrnāz takes this a little further.

Her bride-price included not one but two villas, and as for cheques — the total came to 3,000 silver dirhams, more than £100,000 in today’s money! 💰🏠

This document, written in 1078 CE, records the engagement of Ilyās b. Shāh b. Manṣūr and Shahrnāz bt. Ṣuʿlūk.

As part of the marriage contract, the groom had to pay his bride a sum known as the bride-price — and some of the offerings would have made Eartha Kitt proud. 💍