Pumbaditha
Pumbaditha
(), 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-Jecheskel297-299
2. Chalsda of Kafri299-309
3. Rabba ben-Nachmlan309-330
4. Joseph ben-Chija, the Blind (q.v)330-333
5. Abji ben-Cajlil333-338
6. Rabba bai-Joseph bar-Chaina338-352
7. Nachmanl ben-Isaac352-356
8. Chanma of Nahardea356-377
9. Zebid ben-Ushaja377-385
10. Dimi ben-Chinena385-388
11. Rafem ben-Papa388-400
12. R. Kahana400-411
13. Mar Suntra411-414
14. Acha ben-Rabba414-419
15. Gebiha of Be-Katil419-433
16. Rafem II433-443
17. Rachumai, or Nachumai443-456
18. Sauna en-Rabba456-471
19. R. Jose471-520
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 Rabba670- 680
2. Mar Bussai, or Bostanai680- 689
3. Hunai Mani ben-Joseph689- 700
4. R. Chija of Mesene700- 710
5. Mar-Rabjah710- 719
6. Natronaei ben-Neihemia, surnamed Mar Janka719- 730
7. Mar Jehndah730- 739
8. Mar Joseph ben-Chutanai
9. Samuel ben-Mari.
10. Mar Natroi Kahinia ben-Emuna739-761
11. Abraham Kahana 12. R. Dadai ben-Nachman761- 764
13. Chananja ben-Mesharshaja764- 771
14. Malka ben-Acha771- 773
15. Rabba ben-Dudai773- 782
16. R. Shinuia few months
17. Chaninai ben-Abraham Kahan782- 786
18. Huna Mar Halevi ben-Isaac786- 788
19. Manasseh ben-Joseph788- 796
20. Isaiah ben-Ala796- 798
21. Joseph d bel-Shila798- 804
22. Mar Kahanaa ben-Chaninai804- 810
23. Abunmari bel-Abraham810- 814
24. Joseph ben-Abba814- 816
25. Mar Abraham ben-Sherira816- 828 R. Joseph ben-Chija anti-Gaon.
26. R. Joseph ben-Chija sole Gaon.828- 833
27. R. Joseph ben-Rabbi833- 842
28. Paltoj ben-Abaji842- 858
29. Menachem ben-Joseph ben-Chija858- 860 Mala Mattathias anti-Gaon.
30. Mar attathias sole Gaon860- 869
31. Rabba ben-Ami869- 872
32. Mar Zemach i. beni-Paltoj872- 890
33. Hai ben-David890- 897
34. Kimoj ben-Achai897- 906
35. Mar Jehudai ben-Samuel906- 917
36. Mar Kohen Zedek ii. ben-Joseph917- 936
37. Zemach ben-Kafiai936- 938
38. Chninlai ben-Jehudal938- 943
39. Aaron Ibn Sarada943- 960
40. Nehemia bei-Koheii Zedek960- 968
41. Sherira ben-Chanania968- 998
42. Hai ben-Sherira998-1038
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.)