David al-Hiti is the nickname of a
Karaite Jewish chronicle
A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...
r who flourished (probably in
Egypt) in the first half of the fifteenth century CE. He was a native of
Hīt, Iraq
Hīt, also spelled ''Heet'' ( ar, هيت), ancient name ''Is'', is an Iraqi city in Al-Anbar province. Hīt lies northwest of Ramadi, the provincial capital.
Straddling the Euphrates River, the city of Hīt was originally a small walled town sur ...
(whence his surname), on the
Euphrates River
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
about thirty leagues to the west of
Baghdad. He is supposed by
Margoliouth to be identical with
David ben Sa'adel ben Joseph, the writer of a manuscript (dated 811 A.H. = 1408–09) quoted by Pinsker (''Liḳḳuṭe Ḳadmoniyyot,'' p. 64). Margoliouth further assumes that al-Hiti was a son of
Joshua ibn Sa'adel ibn al-Hiti, who is cited by
Solomon ben Jeroham
Salmon ben Jeroham,() in Arabic Sulaym ibn Ruhaym, was a Karaite (Jewish sect), Karaite exegete and controversialist who flourished at Jerusalem between 940 and 960. He was considered one of the greatest authorities among the Karaites, by whom he i ...
, the adversary of
Saadia Gaon. Al-Hiti was the author of a chronicle in which he registered all the Karaite scholars and their works down t
Samuel al-Maghrabi Although the author was misled in some important points, his work furnishes valuable information concerning well-known Karaite scholars, and mentions a great number of previously unknown names. Al-Hiti's chronicle was published by Margoliouth from a
Cairo Genizah fragment
''J. Q. R.'' ix.429.
Resources
Gottheil, Richard and Isaac Broydé. "Hiti, al-".''
Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...
''. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901–1906.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiti
Jewish historians
Karaite Jews
Iraqi Jews
15th-century Egyptian historians
15th-century Jews
Egyptian Jews