Marina Rustow

Marina Rustow is an American historian and the Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East at Princeton University.

[8] In its 2015 announcement, the MacArthur Foundation said that she had been given the US$625,000 prize for "deploying her considerable prowess in languages, social history, and papyrology", and that Rustow is "rewriting our understanding of medieval Jewish life and transforming the historical study of the Fatimid empire".

These documents, such as contracts, letters and government decrees and petitions, showed "a wealth of social, economic, and political transactions between the two groups".

[10] Her book calls into question "the depth of the religious schism, suggesting a higher level of tolerance and cooperation than had been assumed".

"[11] Her studies with colleagues have led to insights about the everyday lives of the Jews of Cairo, such as that they "imported sheep cheese from Sicily—it was deemed kosher—and filled containers at the bazaar with warm food in an early version of takeout.

"[12] There was a triangular Mediterranean trade route between Egypt, Tunisia and Sicily in the 11th century, and flax used to make linen fabric, and soap, were the main commodities.