A manuscript written in Judeo-Arabic sheds light on Jewish messianic and eschatological expectations in the late Middle Ages and connects them to the phenomenon of the Crusades. This manuscript, although fragmentary, must be understood within a body of messianic and eschatological literary texts that flourished from the 7th century onwards and reached one of its peaks between the 12th and the 13th centuries, i.e. during the period of the Crusades.This is a Crusader-era text, but it develops a tradition going back to the end of late antiquity. Some of the ideas it it are very old. Compare its battle on the Euphrates to Revelation 8:8-9; 9:13-19. And it's interesting enough on its own terms to merit mention.[...]
For many PaleoJudaica posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, start here and follow the links.
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