Solomon ben Joseph ha-Kohen on Fāṭimid Victory: A Hebrew ode to al-Mustanṣir Billāh and Badr al-Jamālī Reconsidered

This article presents a vocalised edition (on the basis ofMST.-S. Misc. 36.174, Cambridge University Library) and a revised translation of a Hebrew ode written on the occasion of the Fatimid victory over the invading Saljuq army in Cairo in 469/1077. Elaborating on earlier research on the Cairo Genizah treasures starting with Julius H. Greenstone’s 1906 paper, the article first of all aims to present whatever historical data can be obtained about the poet, Solomon ben Joseph ha-Kohen, and about the time period and the circumstances in which he must have written his poem, which is addressed to the Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir Billah and his vizier Badr al-Jamali. Other major objectives of the article are the identification of other historical persons and events alluded to in the praise poem, a literary analysis of the ode within the conceptual framework of “martialpoetry”, and an examination of its laudatory or propagandistic aspects.