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  • 31 - The Political, Social, and Economic History of Babylonian Jewry, 224–638 CE

    • By Isaiah Gafni, Sol Rosenbloom Professor of Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Edited by Steven T. Katz, Boston University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Judaism
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    22 June 2006, pp 792-820

  • Summary

    The fall of the Parthian monarchy and the succession of the Sasanian dynasty mark a major turning point in the political and religious history of Iran. The nature of the Parthian monarchy certainly encouraged a degree of Jewish self-rule, and geonic sources speak in general terms of the existence of the office during the Second Temple period. In truth, only in talmudic literature does a more complete picture of this office emerge, one that draws much from a comparison of the Exilarchate with the Patriarchate of Roman Palestine. The economic life of Babylonian Jewry was not segregated from the surrounding population, and the Babylonian Talmud suggests not only the proximity of Jews and Gentiles but also a large measure of daily interaction and co-operation. Social interaction between Jews and other groups assumes a common language of discourse, and, in the case of Babylonia, that language was Babylonian Aramaic.