THE JEWS OF THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE.
Increasing importance of the Jewish Community in
Babylonia--The Prince of the Captivity--The Babylonian
Amoraim--Abba Areka (Rab) and his royal friend Artaban--Samuel
and King Shabur--Important Political Changes under the
Neo-Persians--Anarchy in Rome--Zenobia and the Jews.
219.279 C. E.
During the Patriarchate of Judah II. many important events occurred
in the Jewish community of Babylonia, which contributed to place that
country in the foreground of Jewish history. After the loss of their
mother, the children of Israel had found a second in Babylonia, and had
never yet experienced a stepmother's treatment at her hands. Babylonia,
the Italy of the East, whose capital had in ancient times, like Rome,
first been the ruler of the world, and then the point of attack of
uncivilized tribes in their migrations; whose name still exercises a
certain magic in the distance, even after its fall; Babylonia, which
had already been the temporary abode of the Jewish race, now became for
a long period the permanent scene of Jewish activity. Judæa, on the
other hand, gradually fell into the background. The peculiar formation
of the country between the Euphrates and the Tigris facilitated the
separation of Judaism from its primitive scene of action, and brought
about the transplantation of Jewish genius into a foreign zone; by
reason of the abundant opportunities of employment which the land
afforded, similar to those to which they had been accustomed, it
became a second fatherland for the homeless nation. The great number
of the Jews who had inhabited this district time out of mind; their
independence, which had suffered no restraint at the hands of the
Parthian and Persian rulers; the luster imparted to their situation by
the possession of a political chief; their inherent, self-contained
vitality, unweakened by suffering and petty annoyances, all these
things contributed to invest their character with a peculiar quality
and to further the evolution of new parts and tendencies. The sojourn
in Babylonia imbued the Jewish mind with that particular form of keen
intelligence which discovers an answer to every question, a solution to
every riddle, and is discouraged by no difficulties. The Jews of this
country acquired studious, plodding, energetic habits; the successive
leaders and principals of the schools showed them the paths of profound
wisdom and impressed on them the seal of elevated thought.
The word Babylonia, as used in Jewish history, is capable of a broad
and a narrow interpretation, and possesses, in fact, three different
meanings. In the broadest sense in which it occurs it includes the
whole district between the Zagros mountains and the Euphrates, from the
sources of the twin-river Tigris-Euphrates to the Persian Gulf. In a
narrower sense it signifies the strip of land enclosed between the two
rivers, where their beds begin to converge towards each other and at
last actually unite, and where numerous canals formerly intersected the
country and connected their streams: the southern part of Mesopotamia,
the ancient province of Babel, and a portion of the former kingdom of
Chaldæa. Babylonia, as understood in this narrow sense, was principally
inhabited by Jews, and for this reason was also known by the name of
"the land of Israel." Finally, in its most limited sense, Babylonia
designates a small district on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, of
which the center-point seems to have been the town of Pumbeditha. This
district extends from Nahardea in the north to Sora in the south, a
distance of twenty-two parasangs (sixty-eight miles). The fixing of
the boundaries of Jewish Babylonia is not a matter of indifference for
history, as in former times it constituted a matter of conscience.
Even in Judæa the natives of Babylonia of Jewish origin were admitted
to possess the most unsullied purity of descent, and to have refrained
from all intercourse with heathens, slaves, or persons born out of
wedlock; Judæa was far behind Babylonia in this respect. An old proverb
says: "In the matter of descent, the Jewish population of the (Roman)
countries is to that of Judæa, as adulterated dough is to pure meal,
but Judæa itself is only as dough when compared with Babylonia."
The Jewish province in Babylonia was divided into several smaller
districts, each of which was known by the name of its capital. Thus
there existed the districts of Nares, Sora, Pumbeditha, Nahardea,
Nahar-Pakod, Machuza, and some others, all of them possessed of some
characteristic, such as a peculiar dialect, or particular customs or
manners, or even distinct weights and measures. Four of these towns
were distinguished as prominent centers, each having in turn been
at the head of the entire province. The first place was occupied by
Nahardea (also called Naarda, of which name there were both a town
and a district); this was a fortified city situated on the Euphrates
and a canal called the Naraga, and was entirely inhabited by Jews; it
lay on the boundary-line of Jewish Babylonia. During a certain period
Nahardea was a Babylonian Jerusalem; here were situated, in the time of
the continuance of the Temple, the treasure-chambers of the Babylonian
communities for the reception of the gifts to the Temple, which it was
customary to convey to Jerusalem under a strong escort. A few miles to
the south of Nahardea lay Firuz-Shabur (afterwards Anbar), a fortified
and thickly-populated town, and the most important in the country
after Ctesiphon, the capital.
Near by lay Pumbeditha, situated on one of the numerous canals of the
Euphrates, and adorned with many palaces. Pumbeditha was none the less
a thoroughly Jewish town, with a Jewish congregation, and was regarded
as the capital of Jewish Babylonia. Within its territory lay several
smaller towns and fortified castles, which nestled in the shadow of
the capital. The inhabitants of Pumbeditha were considered acute and
cunning, and were even notorious for their deceit and dishonesty. "If a
man of Pumbeditha accompany thee," said a proverb, "change thy lodging."
Sixteen geographical miles (twenty-two parasangs) south of Pumbeditha
was situated the town of Mata-Mechassia. It lay on the shore of a broad
lake, Sora, which was in reality the Euphrates, widening out over the
low-lying country; from its position on this lake the town also derived
the name of Sora. It was inhabited by a mixed population of Jews and
heathens. The region round Sora was one of the most fruitful parts of
the whole country; by reason of its low situation it was inundated
every year by the Euphrates and its tributaries and canals, and the
overflow produced an Egyptian fertility. Pumbeditha was distinguished
for its magnificent buildings and the cunning of its population,
while Mata-Mechassia was noted for the poverty and honesty of its
inhabitants. A proverb expresses this contrast in the following words:
"It is better to live on the dunghills in Mechassia than in the palaces
of Pumbeditha."
With these three towns of the Euphrates, Nahardea, Pumbeditha, and
Mata-Mechassia, a fourth contested the supremacy: this was Machuza,
situated on the Tigris, at a distance of hardly twelve miles from
Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthians. Machuza, also called
Machuza-Malka, from the King's Canal (Nahar Malka) which flows in
proximity to the Tigris, was situated on an eminence, and was fortified
with two strong walls and a moat. Close by stood a castle, called Akra
di Coche, which served as a bulwark to the capital, Ctesiphon. In spite
of the importance which Machuza and its castle must have possessed
for the Parthian and Persian rulers, it was, nevertheless, entirely
inhabited by Jews, and an Amora expressed his surprise that the gates
of its fortress were not provided with the prescribed Mezuzas.
The most noted families of Machuza were descended from proselytes, for
which reason their features differed from those of the remainder of the
Jewish population of Babylonia. They are described as having been very
frivolous, addicted to pleasure and good cheer, and more devoted to
the affairs of this world than to those of the next; they were called
on this account "candidates for hell." It is related of the women of
Machuza that they indulged in pleasure and idleness. Once, when a
Palestinean teacher of the Law brought from Judæa to Nahardea a Halacha
allowing women to wear golden head-bands set with precious stones
on the Sabbath, it was remarked that only four-and-twenty women in
that town availed themselves of this permission, while in one quarter
alone of Machuza there were eighteen who appeared with most costly
head-bands. The proximity of Ctesiphon, and its wealth, had probably
some influence on the luxurious propensities and the manners of the
inhabitants of Machuza. This city also, which was the residence of the
king, and the newly-built town of Ardashir, which lay close by, were
thickly populated with Jews. The entire district of Babylonia, with
its numerous canals, resembled an island, and its wonderful fertility
made of the whole country one extensive garden. There was so great a
multitude of date plantations that it used to be said proverbially of
the Babylonians: "A basketful of dates for a denar, and yet they do not
apply themselves to the study of the Law!"
The occupations followed by the Babylonian Jews were agriculture,
trades of all descriptions, and, what is of course natural in a country
dependent on its canals for irrigation, the digging and cleaning of
these artificial waterways; they also bred cattle, carried on commerce,
undertook voyages, and cultivated certain of the fine arts.
The greatness of their numbers invested the Babylonian Jews with a
certain amount of independence, and they seemed in this country almost
as if in a land of their own. Their situation with regard to the rulers
of the land was very favorable, as they were only called upon to pay
a poll-tax (Charag) and a land-tax (Taska); there was at this period
much vacant ground in the region of the Euphrates, and any one could
take possession of a plot on becoming answerable for the land-tax in
respect thereof. The Jews possessed their own political chief, who was
called the Prince of the Captivity (Exilarch, Resh-Galutha); he was a
dignitary of the Persian empire, and the fourth in rank from the king.
His position with regard to the Persian kings was that of a feudatory.
The Resh-Galuthas were, in fact, vassals of the Persian crown, but
were simply confirmed, not chosen, by the monarch. Their badges of
office were a silken cloak and a golden girdle; in later times they
were surrounded by a princely luxuriousness, rode in a state carriage,
possessed their own train of attendants, and an outrider to announce
their approach. When they were received in solemn audience by the
king, the royal attendants showed them the greatest respect, and they
treated with the ruler on a footing of equality. According to the usage
of Eastern princes, they were entertained with music at the moment
of rising from or going to bed, a custom which was severely censured
by the strict teachers of the Law, on account of the mourning for
Jerusalem.
The Princes of the Captivity were descendants of the house of David,
for which reason the people gladly acknowledged their sway, since
it honored itself and felt honored in its princes. An old chronicle
gives the full details of their names and numbers. They traced back
their descent as far as Zerubbabel, the grandson of the Jewish King
Jojachin, who is supposed to have returned to Babel, and to have become
the ancestor of a long line of descendants. It is not until the second
century that a Resh-Galutha, by name Achiya, is visible through the
deep obscurity of antiquity. Another, Mar-Huna, in the time of Judah I,
commanded that his body should be brought to Palestine, in order to be
buried in holy ground. From that time forward, however, the succession
of the Princes of the Captivity can be traced in an unbroken chain till
the eleventh century. They exercised considerable influence upon the
development of Jewish history in Babylonia. Their relations with the
people are indicated in a few occasional passages only.
The Resh-Galutha was the supreme judge of the Jewish communities, both
in civil and in criminal cases; he either administered justice in
person, or delegated his office to judges of his own nomination. The
ordinary coercive measure employed in cases of disobedience was the
bastinado, according to Eastern custom. The princes were also entrusted
with the police of the cities, the control of weights and measures,
the inspection of canals, and the guardianship of public safety, to
all of which various charges they appointed their own officers. It is
nowhere indicated what revenues the Princes of the Captivity derived
from the people; it is most probable that the primitive Asiatic custom
of making presents to the sovereign obtained. It is not until later
times that mention is made of regular yearly revenues drawn by them
from certain regions and cities. They enjoyed an honorable public
distinction which was only conferred upon such rulers as were descended
from David; this consisted of having the scrolls of the Law brought
to them when they had to read a portion of the Torah aloud, whereas
every one else was obliged to go to the scrolls. Wealthy by reason of
the income accruing from their extensive lands, they also possessed
many slaves and a numerous suite of attendants; even free men placed
themselves under their patronage, wearing, as sign of their fealty, the
arms of their masters on their garments. The Princes of the Captivity
were most sensitive with regard to these distinctive marks, refusing to
pardon even the scholars whom they themselves supported, if they laid
aside or even only covered over these badges. There was too much power
in the hands of the Prince, and this power was too little restrained
or regulated by law or tradition, for cases of arbitrariness and abuse
of authority not to be forthcoming. Numerous complaints were made
of the arrogance, arbitrary encroachments, or violent deeds of many
of the Princes of the Captivity or their servants; they deposed the
principals of the schools, appointing others in their places who were
often without merit. But what power has ever restrained itself within
the bounds of justice and equity? In prehistoric times, that is to say,
before the knowledge of the Law had been carried to Babylonia and there
domesticated, the ignorance of the Princes of the Captivity in matters
of religious practice appears to have been so profound, that it was
possible to transgress the laws relating to food in their house with
the greatest impunity. But history tells also of meritorious persons
among their numbers, who in later times combined a knowledge of the
Jewish law with the possession of Jewish virtues, and whose names
became a source of glory to the nation. The Princes of the Captivity
often united with their political power the authority of teachers
of the Law, equaling in this respect the Palestinean Patriarchs. As
certain of these latter attempted to acquire political influence,
in order not to be inferior to the Resh-Galutha--in which attempt,
however, they were not always successful--many of the Princes of the
Captivity endeavored in turn to obtain the dignity of teacher. All
these various circumstances, the great number of the Jewish population
of Babylonia, their independence, and the concentrated power of the
Princes, stamp the history of the Jews of this region with a peculiar
character; new needs arose in this country which were unknown in Judæa;
new needs produced new regulations and Halachas, and thus the Law
entered upon a new development in which, as already intimated, Babylon
played the most important part.
During the patriarchate of Judah I, the young students of Babylon had
crowded in greater numbers than in former times to the academies of
Galilee, as if desirous of catching the last rays of the setting sun
of religion in the mother-country, in order to enlighten therewith the
land of their birth. Chiya of Cafri and his two wonderful sons, his
relatives Abba-Areka and Chanina-bar-Chama, Abba and his son Samuel,
were all celebrated disciples of Judah's school; they were either
directly or indirectly the instructors of Babylonia. It is true that
Chiya and his sons, Judah and Chiskia, did not return to their native
country, but died in Galilee, where they were honored as saints; but
Chiya exercised the greatest influence on the education of his disciple
and nephew, Abba-Areka. Before the return to Babylonia of Abba-Areka
and Samuel from the academy of Judah I in Judæa, an otherwise unknown
person, Shila by name, occupied the post of principal of the school
(Resh-Sidra) in Nahardea. But with the appearance of these two men, who
were endowed with all the qualities requisite in order to become the
founders of new schools, extensive alterations were introduced; they
initiated a new departure, and raised Babylonia to the level of Judæa.
Abba (born about 175, died 247), who is known in history by the name
of Rab, had completed his education, after the death of his father
Aibu, at the academy of Judah I in Tiberias. Great astonishment was
expressed at the early development of the wonderful talents of this
youth. Through Chiya's intercession, Rab obtained a somewhat restricted
advancement, which the Patriarch Gamaliel III afterwards refused to
extend. Great things were expected of him in his home, and when the
news of his return from Palestine was known, Samuel, who had already
returned, and his friend Karna, went to meet him on the bank of the
Euphrates canal. The latter overwhelmed him with questions, and even
Shila, the principal of the school, bowed to his superior knowledge.
After Shila's death Rab ought to have succeeded him in his office, but
he refused the post in favor of his younger friend, Samuel, whose home
was in Nahardea.
The Prince of the Captivity of that period seems to have shown special
regard for such Babylonians as were learned in the Law, in his
appointments to the offices within his gift. He nominated as supreme
judge in Cafri one of his relations, Mar-Ukba, whose wealth, modesty,
character, and knowledge of the Law well fitted him for this post. He
also appointed Karna as judge, who, not being rich, was obliged to be
indemnified for his loss of time by the suitors. To Abba-Areka was
given the post of inspector of markets (Agora-nomos), carrying with it
the control of the weights and measures.
The arbitrariness of the rule of the Exilarch is well illustrated by
the following example. Abba-Areka had been commanded to control the
prices of the market, and to prevent the necessaries of life from
becoming too dear. Having refused to obey this order, he was thrown
into prison and kept there until Karna upbraided the Prince of the
Captivity with thus punishing a man who was full of the "juice of
dates" (genius). Abba-Areka had occasion, by reason of his position as
Agoranomos, to journey to the various districts of Jewish Babylonia,
and he thus became known throughout the country. Artabanus IV
(211-226), the last Parthian monarch of the house of Arsaces, who had
probably made his acquaintance on one of his circuits, esteemed him so
highly that he once sent him a present of some valuable pearls. Between
the last Parthian King and the first Babylonian Amora there existed the
same friendly relations as between the Jewish Patriarch and the Roman
Emperor of his time. Artabanus was afterwards deposed by Ardashir, and
with him ended the dynasty of Arsaces. When Rab heard of the fall of
Artabanus, he exclaimed sorrowfully, "The bond is broken."
Abba discovered with surprise during his journeys the unbounded
ignorance of the Jewish laws into which those communities remote
from the capital had fallen. In one place nothing was known of the
traditional prohibition forbidding meat to be eaten with milk. In order
to repress these transgressions and to remove this ignorance, Rab
extended many laws, and forbade even what was otherwise allowed. In
this way there arose many restrictions which, owing to his authority,
acquired the force of law. The negligence existing throughout the
district of Sora gave him the idea of founding an academy in that very
place, in order that the knowledge of the Law might become more widely
spread through the passage to and fro of the disciples. His efforts
were crowned with complete success. If the development of the Law
has greatly contributed to the preservation of Judaism, this result
is for the most part due to the labors of Abba-Areka. With but few
intermissions, Sora was the seat of Jewish science for nearly eight
centuries.
The academy, which bore, as was customary, the name of "Sidra," was
opened by Abba about the year 219. Twelve hundred disciples, attracted
by Abba-Areka's reputation, flocked together from every district of
Babylonia. More than a hundred celebrated disciples and associates
afterwards disseminated his maxims and decisions throughout the land.
The throng of auditors was so great that he was obliged to enlarge his
lecture-room by enclosing a garden belonging to a recently deceased
proselyte, which he acquired for this purpose as vacant ground.
The reverence entertained for him by his disciples was so profound
that they called him simply "Rab," the Teacher, in the same way as
the Patriarch Judah was called Rabbi or Rabbenu, and this is the
appellation by which he is generally known. His school was called
Be-Rab (Be abbreviated from Beth, _house_), which afterwards became
the general name for a school. His authority extended beyond the
boundaries of Babylonia; even Jochanan, the most celebrated of the
teachers of Judæa, wrote to him, "To our teacher in Babylonia," grew
angry whenever any one spoke slightingly of Rab, and admitted that the
latter was the only person to whom he would have willingly subordinated
himself. Rab was accustomed to maintain such of his numerous disciples
as were without means, for he was very wealthy, and owned land, which
he cultivated himself. The excellent arrangements which he adopted
permitted his auditors to devote themselves to the study of the Law
without neglecting their livelihood. In two months of the year (Adar
and Ellul), at the commencement of autumn and spring, they assembled
at Sora. During these two months, which were called "months of
assembly" (Yarche Kalla), lectures were delivered every day from the
early morning on; the auditors hardly allowed themselves time enough
to swallow their breakfast. The ordinary name for the public lectures
was Kalla. Besides these two months, Rab devoted the week before
the principal festivals to public lectures, in which not only the
disciples, but the whole populace, were interested. The Prince of the
Captivity used also to arrive in Sora about this time to receive the
homage of the assembled crowd. The throng was generally so great that
many were unable to get lodgings in the houses, and were consequently
obliged to sleep in the open air, on the shore of lake Sora. These
festival lectures were termed Rigle. The Kalla-months and the
Rigle-week had also certain influences upon civil life; the judicial
powers suspended their operation during these periods, and creditors
were forbidden to summon their debtors before the court. Rab thus
provided at one and the same time for the instruction of the ignorant
multitude, and for the further advancement of the deeper study of the
Law by the education of disciples.
Nothing is known of any peculiar method employed by Rab. His mode of
teaching consisted of analyzing the Mishna, which he had brought with
him in its latest state of perfection, of explaining the text and the
sense of every Halacha, and of comparing them with the Boraitas. Of
these decisions and deductions, which are known by the name of Memra,
there exists a great number from Rab's hand, and they, together with
those which proceeded from Samuel and Jochanan, the contemporary
principals of the schools, form a considerable part of the Talmud.
For the most part he was more inclined than his fellow Amoraim to
render the Law severer, and to forbid such legal acts as verged on
the illegal, at least in the opinion of the multitude of Babylonian
Jews, who were incapable of nice discrimination. Most of Rab's decrees
received the force of law, with the exception of those, however,
which affected municipal law, for his authority was more respected in
questions of ritual than of civil law.
With the most determined energy he undertook the amelioration of the
morals of the Babylonians, which, like their religion, had fallen to a
very low ebb among the lower classes. The ancient simplicity of married
life which had formerly obtained was now superseded in Babylonia by a
hollow and brutal immorality. If a young man and woman met, and were
desirous of uniting in marriage, they summoned the first witnesses at
hand, and the marriage was concluded. Fathers gave their daughters in
marriage almost before they arrived at majority, and the bridegroom
either did not see his bride until after the decisive step had been
taken, when, doubtless, he often repented of his act, or else he lived
in the house of his intended father-in-law in a too intimate relation
with his betrothed. The law, instead of condemning this immorality,
had afforded it the protection of its authority. Rab combated these
prevailing customs with the full force of a moral ardor. He forbade the
solemnization of marriage which had not been preceded by a courtship,
and enjoined on fathers not to marry their daughters without the
consent of the latter, and therefore still less before their majority.
He further admonished all who were desirous of marrying to make the
acquaintance of the maiden of their choice before their betrothal, lest
when disappointed, their conjugal love should turn to hate, and finally
he forbade the young men to live in the house of their betrothed
before marriage. He baffled all the legal artifices which could be
employed by a husband to make a divorce retrospective by withdrawing
the support of the law from such cases. All these moral measures
became laws of general application. Rab also increased the reputation
of the courts of justice; every one was obliged to appear on being
summoned before the court, and the bailiffs were invested with official
authority; the punishment of excommunication was introduced for cases
of refractoriness. This punishment was very severe in Babylonia,
and consequently produced great effects. The transgressions of the
offender were publicly announced, and he was avoided until he had made
expiation. In Babylonia, where the Jewish population formed a little
world of its own, this punishment was sufficient to procure obedience
and respect for the laws. Rab's energies were thus employed in two
directions; he refined the morals, and aroused intellectual activity in
a country which, as the sources express it, had formerly been "a vacant
and unprotected fallow field." Rab surrounded it with a two-fold hedge,
severity of manners and activity of mind. He was in this respect for
Babylonia what Hillel had been for Judæa.
Rab's virtues, his patience, conciliatory disposition, and modesty,
also put one in mind of Hillel. He had a bad wife who opposed him in
everything, but he bore her vexations with patience. In his youth Rab
had acted badly towards Chanina, the head of the school in Sepphoris,
and was therefore unceasing in his efforts to obtain his pardon. His
forgiving disposition caused him to lose sight of his exalted station.
Once, when he thought he had given offense to a man of the lower
classes, he repaired to the latter's house on the eve of the Day of
Atonement, in order to become reconciled with him. Whenever he was
followed to his school by a crowd of people on the days of his lectures
he used to repeat a verse of Job, in order to prevent his pride from
rising too high: "Though the excellency of man mount up to the heavens,
yet he shall perish forever." Before repairing to the court he was
wont to exclaim: "I am prepared to meet my death; here the affairs of
my house concern me not, and I return empty-handed to my home; may
I be as innocent on my return as I was when I set out." He had the
satisfaction of leaving a son, Chiya, who was exceedingly learned in
the Law, and of marrying his daughter to a relative of the Prince of
the Captivity. His descendants by this daughter were worthy and learned
princes. His second son, Aibu, was not intellectually distinguished.
To him his father recommended certain rules of life, among others a
preference for agriculture: "Rather a small plot of land than a great
magazine for goods."
For eight and twenty years, until his old age, Rab devoted himself to
the Sidra at Sora (219-247). When he died all his disciples accompanied
his body to its last resting-place, and went into mourning for him. At
the suggestion of one of them Babylonia mourned for him a whole year,
and the practice of wearing wreaths of flowers and myrtles at weddings
was suspended. All the Jews of Babylonia, except one, Bar-Kasha of
Pumbeditha, mourned for the loss of their great Amora.
Much more original and versatile than Rab was his friend, his Halachic
opponent, and his fellow-worker in the task of elevating the Jewish
population of Babylonia, Samuel or Mar-Samuel, also called Arioch and
Yarchinai (born about 180, died 257). In a certain sense this highly
talented man was an epoch-maker in the history of the doctrine of
Judaism. Nothing more is known of his youth than that he once ran away
from his father. As a young man he followed the usual course, and went
to Judæa in order to complete his education at the academy of the
Patriarch Judah I. It has already been narrated how he there cured a
disease of the eyes from which the ailing Patriarch suffered, and how
he was nevertheless refused his nomination as a teacher by the latter;
how he returned to his home before Rab, and was elevated after Shila's
death to the dignity of Resh-Sidra.
Mar-Samuel was of an even character, avoiding enthusiasm and
demonstrativeness. While his contemporaries confidently expected the
renewal of miracles as of old before the appearance of the Messiah,
he propounded the view that everything would still follow its natural
course, but that the subjection of Israel to foreign rulers would come
to an end. His intellectual energies were employed in three branches of
knowledge: the explanation of the Law, astronomy, and medicine.
As an Amora he was inferior to Rab in the knowledge of the laws of
the ritual, but far surpassed him in his acquaintance with the Jewish
civil law. Samuel developed and enriched the Jewish law in all its
branches, and all his decisions have obtained Halachic force. None of
his decrees, however, were possessed of such important results as the
one by which he declared the law of the land to be just as binding on
the Jews as their own law (dina d'malchuta dina). The object of this
precept was not to bring about a compulsory toleration of the foreign
legislation, but to obtain its complete recognition as a binding
law, to transgress which would also be punishable from the religious
point of view. This was an innovation which, after all, could only be
approved by reason of the relations existing between the Babylonian
Jews and the Persian states. Samuel's principle of the sanctity of
the law of the land was a manifest contradiction of older Halachas,
which treated foreign laws as arbitrary, and did not consider their
transgression to be punishable. But the Amoraim had already succeeded
in reconciling so many conflicting laws that these old and repellent
decisions, and this new and submissive principle, were able to exist
side by side. In the sequel Samuel's recognition of the laws of the
country was a means of preservation to the dispersed nation. On the one
hand it reconciled the Jews to living in that country into which they
had been cast by remorseless fate. Their religious consciousness did
not feel at variance with the laws set up for their observance, which
were seldom humane. On the other hand, the enemies of the Jews, who
in all centuries took as their pretext the apparently hostile spirit
of Judaism, and advised the persecution and complete extermination
of the Jewish nation, could be referred to a Jewish law, which, with
three words, invalidated their contention. The Prophet Jeremiah had
given to the families which were exiled to Babylon, the following
urgent exhortation as to their conduct in a foreign land: "Seek the
peace of the city whither ye have been carried away captives." Samuel
had transformed this exhortation into a religious precept: "The law of
the state is binding law." To Jeremiah and Mar-Samuel Judaism owes the
possibility of existence in a foreign country.
Samuel possessed altogether a particular affection for Persian customs,
and was consequently in exceedingly good repute at the Persian court,
and lived on confidential terms with Shabur I. His contemporaries
called him therefore, although it is not known whether as a mark of
honor or of censure, "The king Shabur," and also "Arioch," the Arian
(partizan of the neo-Persians). His attachment to the Persian dynasty
was so great that it supplanted the affection for his fellow-countrymen
in his heart. When Shabur extended his conquests to Asia Minor, 12,000
Jews lost their lives on the occasion of the assault of Mazaca-Cæsarea,
the Cappadocian capital. Samuel refused to go into mourning for the
victims, giving as his reason that they had fought against Shabur. He
thus formed a peculiar type; living in the midst of the full tide of
Judaism, immersed in its doctrines and traditions, he raised himself
beyond the narrow sphere of his nationality, and was ever ready to
extend his sympathies to other peoples and to take note of their
intellectual efforts. Rab, entirely taken up with the affairs of his
own nation, refused to allow the customs of the Persians to exert
any influence on those of the Jews, and even forbade these latter to
adopt any practice, however innocent, from the Magi: "He who learns
a single thing of the Magi merits death." Samuel, on the other hand,
learnt many things of the Persian sages. With his friend Ablaat, he
used to study astronomy, that noble science which brings mortal man
into closer proximity with the Deity. The low-lying plain between the
Euphrates and the Tigris, whose wide-extended horizon is unbounded by
any hill, was the cradle of astronomy, which, however, soon degenerated
in this region into the pseudo-science of astrology. By reason of the
ideas instilled into him by his Jewish education, Samuel attached no
importance to the art of casting nativities, and only occupied himself
with astronomy under its most elevated aspect. He used to boast that
he was "as well acquainted with the ways of the heavens as with the
streets of Nahardea." He was unable, however, to calculate the erratic
movements of the comets. It is impossible to determine the extent of
his astronomical acquirements, or to discover whether he was in advance
of his times or simply on a par with his contemporaries. Mar-Samuel
turned his knowledge of astronomy to practical account; he drew up a
settled calendar of the festivals, for the purpose of delivering the
Babylonian communities from continual uncertainty with regard to the
exact days on which the festivals would fall, and in order to relieve
them of their dependence on Palestine for the determination of the
time of the appearance of the new moon. Probably out of regard for the
Patriarch, and in order not to destroy the unity of Judaism, Samuel
refrained from communicating his calendar to the general public, and
allowed the computation of the festivals to retain its former character
of a secret art (Sod ha-Ibbur). He was blamed by certain persons,
however, for having in any way interfered with the calculation of the
calendar. The extent of Samuel's knowledge of medicine is even less
known; he boasted of being able to cure all diseases but three. An
eye-salve of his invention was in great request.
Between Samuel and the founder of the Sora academy there subsisted a
fraternal harmony, although the Sidra of Nahardea was eclipsed by Rab.
In his modesty he willingly subordinated himself to Rab. The celebrated
Shila family was possessed of the precedence in the ceremony of paying
homage to the Prince of the Captivity; by them it was relinquished to
Samuel, and he, in his turn, surrendered it to his comrade in Sora,
contenting himself with the third place. After Rab's death Samuel was
recognized as the sole religious chief of Babylon, and continued in
this capacity for ten years. At first Jochanan, of Judæa, hesitated
whether to acknowledge him as an authority. In the letter which the
principal of the schools of Tiberias sent to Babylonia, he addressed
Rab by the title of "our teacher in Babylonia," while Mar-Samuel
he called simply "our comrade." The teachers of Judæa did not, in
fact, give him credit for the requisite knowledge of the Halachas,
basing their conclusion upon the fact that he occupied himself with
other branches of science. It was in vain that Samuel sent to Judæa
a festival calendar calculated for sixty years; Jochanan remarked
slightingly, when the fact came to his knowledge: "At any rate he is
well acquainted with arithmetic." It was not until Samuel forwarded
several scrolls, filled with investigations of certain little-known
diseases of animals, that he began to be respected.
It was during this period (the third century) that there occurred
simultaneously in the Roman and Parthian empires certain political
catastrophes which were attended with the most important results.
Through their influence history acquired an altered aspect, and
considerable changes were effected in the state of things existing
in these two countries and their dependencies. It was impossible
for Jewish history to remain unaffected by these events. During the
reign of the noble Alexander Severus occurred the overthrow of the
Parthian dynasty, which, beginning with Arsaces, had subsisted during
four centuries. A new and more vigorous race seized the scepter, and
this change of dynasty gave rise to many revolutions both at home and
abroad. The author of these changes was Ardashir, or Arbachshter, as
he was called in his own language, a descendant of the race of ancient
Persians (Arians). Such of the Persians as still remained true to their
nationality, nourished a hatred against the impure dynasty of Arsaces,
on account of the semi-Grecian origin of its members, their leaning to
Greek views in matters of religion, their contempt for the national
faith, and finally, their impotence to check the ever-increasing
conquests of the Romans. It was with them that Ardashir united himself
and conspired to overthrow Artabanus, the monarch who entertained so
great a reverence for Rab. A decisive battle was fought, in which
Artabanus succumbed, and the neo-Persian dynasty of the Sassanides
was founded by the conqueror. The race which thus obtained the upper
hand is known in history by the name of the neo-Persians; the Jewish
authorities called them Chebrim (Chebre), and a deteriorated residue of
the stock still subsists in India under the name of the Guebres. This
revolution was attended by results as important in matters of religion
as in politics. In place of the indifference with which the ancient
rulers had regarded the primitive worship of fire, Ardashir manifested
an ardent enthusiasm for it. He proudly called himself "the worshiper
of Ormuz, divine Ardashir, the King of the Kings of Iran, the offspring
of a heavenly race." He ordered such of the parts of the ancient
Persian law (the Zend-Avesta) as were still extant to be collected,
and commanded them to be regarded as the religious code. Zoroaster's
doctrine of the twin principles of light and darkness (Ahura-Mazda and
Ahriman) was everywhere enforced; the Magi, the sacerdotal caste of
this cult, recovered their credit, their influence, and their power,
while the partisans of the Greeks were persecuted with fire and sword.
The fanaticism which was thus aroused in the Magians also caused them
to direct their hostile attacks against the Christians, who resided
in great numbers in the districts of Nisibis and Edessa in upper
Mesopotamia (conquered by the Romans), and who possessed their own
schools.
The Jews were not entirely exempt from the attacks of this fanaticism,
and only escaped severe persecution through their solidarity, their
centralization, and their powers of defense. In the first intoxication
of victory the neo-Persians deprived the Jewish courts of the criminal
jurisdiction which they had been permitted to exercise until then;
the Jews were admitted to no offices, and were not even allowed to
retain the supervision of the canals and rivers, but they do not seem
to have complained very bitterly of these measures. They were even
compelled to submit to restraints upon their freedom of conscience.
On certain festivals, when the Magi worshiped light in their temple
as the visible representation of God (Ahura-Mazda), the Jews were not
suffered to maintain any fire on their hearths, nor to retain any
light in their rooms. The Persians forced their way into the houses
of the Jews, extinguished every fire and collected the glowing embers
in their consecrated braziers, bringing them as an offering to their
temple of fire. They also dug the corpses out of the graves, because,
according to their notion, dead bodies lying in the bosom of the earth
desecrated this "Spenta Armaita" (holy soil). For these various reasons
the majority of the teachers of the Law were not greatly prepossessed
in favor of the neo-Persians. When Jochanan heard that they had
triumphantly invaded Jewish Babylonia, he was greatly concerned for
the fate of his Babylonian brethren, but his anxiety was allayed by
the assurance that the Persians were very poor and would therefore
easily allow themselves to be bought off with bribes. By reason of
their semi-savage state he referred to them as "the abandoned people
into whose hands the Babylonian communities had been delivered." Levi
bar Sissi, who was continually traveling to and fro between Judæa and
Babylon, was anxiously questioned by the Patriarch Judah II as to the
character of the conquering race. With obvious prepossession in favor
of the vanquished Parthians, he described them and the victorious
neo-Persians in the following words: "The former are as the armies of
King David, but the latter resemble the devils of hell." Little by
little, however, the fanaticism of the neo-Persians moderated, and
there sprang up between them and the Jews so sincere a friendship
that on their account the latter relaxed the severity of the Law, and
even assisted now and again at their banquets. The teachers of the
Law permitted the Jews to deliver up fuel which the Magi demanded of
them on the occasion of the Festival of Light, and ceased to consider
this act as a furtherance of idolatry, though it would certainly have
been regarded as such by the old Halacha in similar cases. Even Rab,
the essence of strictness, acquiesced in the demand of the Magi, and
allowed the lamps to be brought from the open street into the houses on
the Sabbath on the occasion of the Festival of the Hasmonæans, in order
not to give offense to the prejudices of the ruling sacerdotal class.
This mutual toleration, doubtless, first made its appearance under the
rule of Shabur I (242-271), the liberal-minded monarch whose friendship
with Samuel has already been mentioned. This magnanimous king assured
Samuel that during the many wars which he had waged against the Romans
in countries thickly populated with the Jews, he had never spilt Jewish
blood, except on the occasion of the capture of Cappadocia, when
12,000 Jews had been put to death as a punishment for their stubborn
resistance.
The radical changes which occurred about this time in the Roman empire
were also attended with important effects and reactions on Jewish
history. The death of Alexander Severus was the signal for anarchy,
the many-headed hydra, to rage in all its terror in Rome and the Roman
provinces. During the short space of half a century (235-284) the
throne was occupied by nearly twenty emperors and as many usurpers,
who willingly laid down their lives to obtain the gratification of
their desire to wear the purple, if only for a day, and to decree
executions by the hundred. From nearly every nation which Rome had
subjugated there arose an emperor who enslaved the Italian Babylon.
The time of retribution had come; the birds of prey were contending
for the putrefying body of the State. It was during the time of Samuel
(248) that the thousandth anniversary of Rome was celebrated by the
assassin-emperor Philip, an Arab by birth and a robber from his
childhood; but Rome was powerful wherever its legions were stationed,
except in Rome itself, the city whose senate was obliged to accept
with smiling face the humiliations which it experienced at the hands
of the soldier emperors, and to sanction them in servile humility by
Senatus-Consulta. The Roman empire was invaded on the one hand by
the Parthians, on the other by the Goths, as if in fulfilment of the
sibylline threats of punishment.
Valerianus had undertaken a campaign with the intention of recovering
the districts which had been conquered by Shabur. Rome now experienced
the further disgrace of seeing her emperor fall into his enemy's power,
and suffer all the humiliations of slavery at the hands of the haughty
victor. In the eastern provinces, in the neighborhood of the mighty
Persian empire, disorder and dissolution had reached a still higher
degree. A rich and adventurous native of Palmyra, Odenathus by name,
had collected a band of wild and rapacious Saracens around him, and
he and his troops made frequent incursions from his native city into
Syria and Palestine on the one side, and the region of the Euphrates on
the other, plundering and laying waste the country through which they
passed. Odenathus had already assumed the title of Senator. Why should
he not become the emperor of the Romans, like his fellow-countryman
Philip? Odenathus was known in Jewish circles as the robber captain,
"Papa bar Nazar," and to him was applied the passage in Daniel's
vision: "The little horn coming up among the greater horns, and having
eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." The
predatory incursions of this adventurer were accompanied by results
which were highly detrimental to the Jews of Palestine and Babylonia.
He demolished the ancient city of Nahardea (259), which had formed
the central point of the Jewish communities ever since the time of
the Babylonian exile. It was many years before this town was able to
recover itself from this destructive blow. The Amoraim of Nahardea,
Samuel's disciples, were obliged to take to flight; they emigrated
to the region of the Tigris. They were--Nachman, a son-in-law of the
Prince of the Captivity, Sheshet, Rabba b. Abbuha, and Joseph b. Chama.
On the occasion of the destruction of Nahardea by Odenathus, Samuel's
daughters, doubtless together with many others, were taken prisoners
by the enemy and brought to Sepphoris. The freebooters speculated
on heavy ransoms, which appeared to them more lucrative than the
sale of the captives in the slave market, for it was well known that
the Jews spared no expense in order to procure the release of their
fellow-countrymen. Samuel's daughters had derived so much benefit
from their father's profound knowledge of the Halacha that they
succeeded in escaping the application of a strict law, which placed all
maidens who had been taken prisoners on the same footing with those
who had been dishonored, thus incapacitating them from contracting a
spotless marriage. Before it was known whose daughters they were they
had already recovered their freedom, and their assertion that their
innocence had received no taint at the hands of the rough warriors
was readily believed. When Chanina heard in Sepphoris that they were
Samuel's daughters he strongly enjoined a relation of theirs, Simon b.
Abba, to marry one of them.
Odenathus, the destroyer of Nahardea, gradually became a petty Asiatic
prince of Palmyra or Tadmor, the oasis which King Solomon had converted
into a city. The Roman empire was so feeble and tottering that it
was this hitherto disregarded warrior who was obliged to oppose a
bulwark to the conquests of the Persians on Roman territory. The great
services which he thus rendered to the empire compelled his recognition
(264) as co-emperor by Gallienus, a monarch characterized by his
weakness and love of satire. Odenathus did not long enjoy this high
dignity, for in 267 he fell by the hand of an assassin, instigated,
as the story went, by Zenobia, his wife. After his death the regency
devolved upon Zenobia, her two sons being still minors. Through her
influence Palmyra, the city of the desert, was transformed into the
home of imperial pomp, culture, and refined taste. A Christian report
represents the empress Zenobia as a Jewess, but the Jewish authorities
make no mention of this fact. No colors seem to be vivid enough for the
Roman accounts of Zenobia in order to paint the picture of her strange
personality. The palace of this second Semiramis, the ruins of which
still bear witness to refined and artistic taste, was the meeting-place
of original-minded geniuses, with whom the queen delighted to hold
philosophical intercourse.
At her court resided Longinus, the refined and philosophical lover
of the fine arts, who in his æsthetic work on the Sublime was unable
sufficiently to express his admiration of the poetical contents of
the Biblical account of the Creation, "Let there be light." Paul
of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, when accused of heresy, also found
shelter at her court. Zenobia, his patroness, also seems to have had
some leaning towards the fundamental truth of Judaism. The Jews were,
nevertheless, not particularly well disposed towards the court of
Palmyra. Jochanan, although not blind to the beauties of Greek, gave
utterance to the most unfavorable opinions concerning the Palmyrene
state: "Happy will he be who sees the fall of Tadmor." Subsequent
generations were at a loss to explain this aversion.
There can be no doubt that many Jews took up arms against Zenobia,
whose rule must also have extended over Judæa. It is related that a
certain Zeïra bar Chanina having been brought up before Zenobia to
receive sentence for an offense which seems to have been of a political
nature, two of Jochanan's disciples, Ami and Samuel, presented
themselves before the empress, in order to intercede on his behalf and
obtain his liberation. They were most ungraciously received, however,
by Zenobia. "Do you think," said she, "that because God has worked
so many miracles for your nation you can hazard everything, simply
putting your trust in Him?" Another occurrence, which is related by
the same authority, seems also to have taken place during Zenobia's
reign. A certain Ulla bar Kosher, of whom no further mention is made in
history, was prosecuted for a political offense, and fled to Joshua ben
Levi in Lydda. So much importance must, however, have attached to his
capture that a troop of soldiers surrounded Lydda, and threatened to
destroy the city if the fugitive were not delivered up to them. In this
sad dilemma in which the life of a single individual must either be
sacrificed or the safety of an entire community endangered, Joshua ben
Levi prevailed upon Ulla to give himself up. He justified this course
of conduct by referring to a Mishnaic law which permits the surrender
to the political power of a culprit specially designated, in the case
of many lives depending on such compliance. But the Jewish conscience,
symbolized by the prophet Elijah, refused to take any part in bringing
about the death of a man. Elijah, the ideal of pure zeal for Judaism,
appeared to Joshua ben Levi and inspired him with remorse for having
allowed himself to deliver up the culprit; he ought not to have relied
solely on the simple preceptive law, but should also have been mindful
of the "Mishna of the Pious," which widened and elevated their views
concerning the precepts of duty.
Zenobia's reign, after enduring brilliantly for several years
(267-273), was brought to a termination by Aurelian, who gained a
hard-earned victory over the haughty empress, and brought her in golden
fetters to Rome to figure in his triumph. Jochanan lived to see the
fulfilment of his wish regarding Tadmor, and died a few years after its
fall (279).