3. The Correspondence with Eparchs

Twenty-five of the documents of the corpus constitute correspondence with the eparchs of the Nubian king. The eparchs were based in Qaṣr Ibrīm. A large proportion of these are letters sent to the eparch Uruwī (1–16). There are two letters sent by the eparch Uruwī (17–18), two letters sent to the eparch Īsū (19–20), and five letters sent to an unnamed eparch (21–25). One letter (26) is written to the deputy of the eparch Darmā and one to the secretary of the eparch Uruwī (27). The chapter describes what is known about the named eparchs and their correspondents. Many of the senders of letters were Muslim merchants belonging to the Banū al-Kanz. The content and structure of the letters are described. The letters mainly concern trade and gift exchange. The eparch exchanged slaves for commodities brought by the Muslim merchants.