SURA. – A Mesopotamian city, on the left bank of the Euphrates, opposite Callinicus in Osroene, at the beginning of the strata diocletiana, which from S. led to Palmyra, Damascus, and Bostra. The imperial troops of Belisarius were routed there by the Persians (531). There was a flourishing Jewish community there, which was home to the principal Babylonian academy.
The rabbinic academy of S. was founded around 219 Abbâ Arekâ (v.) or Rab, who directed it until his death (247), and was succeeded by his friend Mas Bêmü'el Jarḥînâ'ah (165–257), then by Hônâ' (d. 297); upon the death of
When R. Hisdā' died (309), the Academy of S. was closed; it was reopened at Mātā Mēbasjā' (a locality identified with S. or situated nearby) by the great Rab Āšī (352–427), who directed it for 52 years (375–427). Āšī, the most celebrated of the amoraim (v.), was the principal author of the Babylonian Talmud, later completed or edited by his continuators under the direction of Rābīnā' II ben Hūnā' (d. 500); the names of 60 learned colleagues or pupils of Āšī are known. The heads of the Academy of S. were the first to assume the title of gā'ōn, a dignity probably instituted after the Arab conquest (636–642); around 658, the head of the Academy of S., Mār ben Mār Hūnā', was recognized by the caliphate as the spiritual head of all the Jews; such were his successors. The heads of the analogous Academy of Pumbēditā (founded by Jēhūdhāh ben Jēhēzāgī' (around 265)) also held the dignity of gā'ōn. Through the work of the gē'ōnīm, teachers and judges, of S. and Pumbēditā, the Talmud became the official code of the whole of Judaism.
Under Arab rule, the Jewish communities in Mesopotamia enjoyed four centuries of prosperity. The greatest of the gē'ōnīm, the glory of S., where he died (942), was Sa'adhijāh. Another celebrated gā'ōn of S. (probably from 855 to 874) was 'Amrām ben Šešnā', who, besides many Tēšābīh (responsa 4), compiled the oldest preserved formular of prayers for the entire year, the Sēdher Rab 'Amrām, fundamental to the subsequent development of Jewish liturgy. The last gā'ōn of S. was Šemū'ēl ben Hopīni; after his death (1034), the Academy of S. moved to Baghdad (that of Pumbēditā died out with the gā'ōn Haj ben Šerīrā', d. 1038) and lost its importance for Judaism as a whole. In 1040, the last exilarch (rōš gālūthā') of the Babylonian Jewish communities disappeared.