McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Pumbaditha

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Pumbaditha


Subjects in this Topic:

( îåîáãéúà ), a name celebrated in Jewish literature as the home of one of the great schools of Judaism, was located in Babylonia, and derived its name from its situation at the (pum) mouth of the Baditha, a canal between the Tigris and Euphrates. Its academy, except only that of Sora (q.v.), was the most enduring and influential of all the Rabbinic institutions in Babylonia. Founded towards the end of the 3d century by R. Jehudah ben- Jecheskel, one of the most distinguished disciples of Abba Areka, also called Rab (q.v.), it flourished until towvards the beginning of the 11th century, thus moulding, shaping, and influencing the life and literature of the Jews. Many of the rectors of this academy acquired a great renown for their Rabbinic lore, some of whom have already been mentioned in this Cyclopaedia, or will be treated in the succeeding volumes. The following list, giving the names of the famous teachers at that acalderny, prepared after a carefull and diligent perusal of the best authorities, we hope will aid the student of Jewish literature, since it is not easy to bring the membra disjecta into a chronological order out of the rudis indigestaque moles of the different sources:

1. R. Jehndah ben-Jecheskel      297-299

2.
Chalsda of Kafri      299-309

3.
Rabba ben-Nachmlan    309-330

4.
Joseph ben-Chija, the Blind (q.v)     330-333

5.
Abji ben-Cajlil       333-338

6.
Rabba bai-Joseph bar-Chaina   338-352

7.
Nachmanl ben-Isaac    352-356

8.
Chanma of Nahardea    356-377

9.
Zebid ben-Ushaja      377-385

10.
Dimi ben-Chinena     385-388

11.
Rafem ben-Papa       388-400

12.
R. Kahana    400-411

13.
Mar Suntra   411-414

14.
Acha ben-Rabba       414-419

15.
Gebiha of Be-Katil   419-433

16.
Rafem II     433-443

17.
Rachumai, or Nachumai        443-456

18.
Sauna ‘en-Rabba       456-471

19.
R. Jose      471-520

At this time the final redaction of the Babylonian Talmud (q.v.) was made, and, according to Jewish tradition, to R. Jose, who forms the end of the Amoraim (Soph Haraah), the honor is assigned of “completing to write and of sealing the Gemara of Babylon, in the twenty-fourth year of his rectoral and magisterial dignity, in the year from the creation 4260, and 311 years from the sealing of the Mishna.” After the death of R. Jose, the chronological chain is interrupted, and, with the exception of a few names which have come down to us, it is difficult to say who filled the space up to the year 670, for the probability is that, in the vicissitudes and persecutions of those times, the names of those famous teachers have been forgotten. With Mar Rlbba, who belonged to the so-called Gaonastic period, the chlronological order can again be followed down to the last of the heads of the academy of Pumbadithla. whose death sealed the closing of that famous academy forever. The following are the names:

CIRCA A.D.

1. Mar Rabba     670- 680

2.
Mar Bussai, or Bostanai       680- 689

3.
Hunai Mani ben-Joseph         689- 700

4.
R. Chija of Mesene    700- 710

5.
Mar-Rabjah    710- 719

6.
Natronaei ben-Neihemia, surnamed Mar Janka    719- 730

7.
Mar Jehndah   730- 739

8.
Mar Joseph ben-Chutanai

9.
Samuel ben-Mari.

10.
Mar Natroi Kahinia ben-Emuna         739-761

11.
Abraham Kahana 12. R. Dadai ben-Nachman      761- 764

13.
Chananja ben-Mesharshaja     764- 771

14.
Malka ben-Acha       771- 773

15.
Rabba ben-Dudai      773- 782

16.
R. Shinui    a few months

17.
Chaninai ben-Abraham Kahan   782- 786

18.
Huna Mar Halevi ben-Isaac    786- 788

19.
Manasseh ben-Joseph  788- 796

20.
Isaiah ben-Ala       796- 798

21.
Joseph d bel-Shila   798- 804

22.
Mar Kahanaa ben-Chaninai     804- 810

23.
Abunmari bel-Abraham         810- 814

24.
Joseph ben-Abba      814- 816

25.
Mar Abraham ben-Sherira      816- 828 R. Joseph ben-Chija anti-Gaon.

26.
R. Joseph ben-Chija sole Gaon.       828- 833

27.
R. Joseph ben-Rabbi  833- 842

28.
Paltoj ben-Abaji     842- 858

29.
Menachem ben-Joseph ben-Chija        858- 860 Mala Mattathias anti-Gaon.

30.
Mar attathias sole Gaon      860- 869

31.
Rabba ben-Ami        869- 872

32.
Mar Zemach i. beni-Paltoj    872- 890

33.
Hai ben-David        890- 897

34. Kimoj ben-Achai      897- 906

35.
Mar Jehudai ben-Samuel       906- 917

36.
Mar Kohen Zedek ii. ben-Joseph       917- 936

37.
Zemach ben-Kafiai    936- 938

38.
Chninlai ben-Jehudal         938- 943

39.
Aaron Ibn Sarada     943- 960

40.
Nehemia bei-Koheii Zedek     960- 968

41.
Sherira ben-Chanania         968- 998

42.
Hai ben-Sherira      998-1038

Literature. — Pinner, Compendium des hierosolymitanischen u. babylonischen Talmud (Berlin, 1832), p. 117 sq.; Monatsschrif fur Gesch. u. Wissenschaft d. Judenthums, i, 203 sq., 403 sq.; 7:336 sq., 381 sq.; Griitz, Gesch. der Juden, vols. 4:v; Ginsburg, in Kitto's Cyclopoedia, arts. “Education” and “Scribes;” Jost, Gesch. der Judenth. u. s. Secten, vol. ii (see Index in vol. iii); Cassel, Leitfaden zulr jud. Gesch. u. Literantua (Berlin, 1872), p). 48, 55; Etheridge, Ints od. to Hebrew Literature, p. 161-220 (where names and dates are, however, very often incorrect); Liber Juchasi sive Lexicon Biographicum et Historicum (ed. H. Filipowski, Lond. 1857), p. 199 sq.; Worman, in Kiddle and Schem's Cyclop. of Education, art. “Hebrews, Education of.” (B. P.)