The End of the "Stammaim": The Editing of the Babylonian Talmud in the Context of the Sasanian Sixth Century

• In Event: Methods and History in the Redaction of the Bavli

Abstract

In the study of Jews in Late Antiquity, perhaps the most important scholarly trend in the past forty years has been the recognition and appreciation of the work of the anonymous editors of the Babylonian Talmud. Whereas earlier scholars, based largely on medieval sources, argued that the Babylonian Talmud was redacted piecemeal over the course of the Amoraic period, scholars now accept that the anonymous editorial layer(s) largely postdates the final named Amoraim and even Savoraim of the late 5th to early 6th century. Despite their importance, however, more detailed information about these editors and their activities remains highly elusive.
As a result of this uncertain identification, scholars now use the neologism “Stammaim,” or “plain ones,” to refer to the editors of the Bavli, a reference to the anonymity of the editing. This term neatly separates the editorial layer from earlier texts, but in so doing it also obscures. In effect, the term turns away from the editors as historical figures and focuses instead on their production as a single literary entity. The result is that the Stammaim are often conceived of less as a group of scholars and editors than as a unified literary layer of a text, and consequently the historical period in which they flourished is of little importance.
Treating the “Stammaim” as a literary layer rather than the products of real historical actors absolves scholars from attempting to better isolate their floruit or situate their editing in a larger historical context. This is problematic precisely because the general period within which they flourished is a kind of dark ages for the Jews in Babylonia, even as it is a central period in the history of this region, corresponding to both the crucial transition between the Amoraim and the Geonim, and from late Sasanian to Arab rule.
In the hope of spurring further work of this sort, this paper will suggest that some sections of anonymous editing correspond to specific historical events in Sasanian Empire that transpired in the mid to late 6th century. A general context for this editorial activity will be suggested in conclusion.

Author

• Simcha M. Gross