PUMBEDITĀ. - City in Babylonia, near the Euphrates; for about eight centuries it was the seat of a famous Talmudic academy, founded around 260 A.D.

The persecutions of the Jews by the Persians in the 5th century led to a temporary closure of the institute,which was later reopened, then closed again. The Babylonian Talmudic schools enjoyed a period of tranquil life in the 7th century, under the caliph 'Ali. It was then that the heads of the schools assumed the title of "geonim." For three centuries the two schools of Sura and P. coexisted.

The academy of Sura was closed after the death of Sa'adhiah (948), while that of P. lasted another century. Among the last geonim of P. are to be counted Sherirah (968-98) and his son Hai (998-1038). After the death of the latter, the academy of P. was also closed.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: S. Funk, Die Juden in Babylonien, I-II, Berlin 1902-1908; J. Obermeyer, Die Landschaft Babylonien, Frankfurt 1929; S. Dubnow, Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes, Berlin 1928, III, see index.

Eugenio Zolli

@incollection{ec10_pumbedita, author = {Zolli, Eugenio}, title = {Pumbédità}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {322--323}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/pumbedita} }

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Pumbeditā

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