Place · Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia
Pumbedita
Ancient names: Pallughtha, Peroz-Shapur, Anbar
Seat, with Sura, of one of Babylonia's two main academies, later moved to Baghdad. Pleiades groups Pumbedita in one record with Anbar and Peroz-Shapur; the location follows that identification.
33.3786°N 43.7158°E · representative coordinate · approximate · Pleiades 894043 ↗
Statements linked to this place
Each block is a sourced statement. Click the number to see the cited page.
After the Talmud there emerged in Babylonia the Geonim (singular: Gaon), heads of the two most important academies, Sura and Pumbedita. They retained their influence after the Muslims defeated the Sasanians, and through them Babylonian rabbinic culture reached Jewish communities throughout the Islamic world. In the eighth century papermaking reached the Middle East. The academies of Sura and Pumbedita had moved to Baghdad, the new capital the Muslims founded in Iraq, and a paper mill began working there in 794, multiplying the circulation of books. The Geonim, without giving up oral teaching, made use of it: they answered questions from distant communities in writing (responsa) and in the eighth century allowed the Talmud to be put in writing, though as Oral Torah it was meant to pass by word of mouth. Writing trimmed their authority somewhat, since other Jews began drawing their own conclusions from the text, but it spread Babylonian rabbinic Judaism through the lands of Islam.
Community: The Pumbedita academy
After the Talmud there emerged in Babylonia the Geonim (singular: Gaon), heads of the two most important academies, Sura and Pumbedita. They retained their influence after the Muslims defeated the Sasanians, and through them Babylonian rabbinic culture reached Jewish communities throughout the Islamic world. In the eighth century papermaking reached the Middle East. The academies of Sura and Pumbedita had moved to Baghdad, the new capital the Muslims founded in Iraq, and a paper mill began working there in 794, multiplying the circulation of books. The Geonim, without giving up oral teaching, made use of it: they answered questions from distant communities in writing (responsa) and in the eighth century allowed the Talmud to be put in writing, though as Oral Torah it was meant to pass by word of mouth. Writing trimmed their authority somewhat, since other Jews began drawing their own conclusions from the text, but it spread Babylonian rabbinic Judaism through the lands of Islam.
Community: The Pumbedita academy under the Geonim
The timeline records that Sherira presided over the Pumbedita academy as Gaon from 968 to 998 and that Hai presided over it from 998 to 1038.