Irano-Talmudica and Beyond: Next Steps in the Contextualization of the Babylonian Talmud

Gross, Simcha

doi:10.1353/jqr.2016.0017

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…We also find studies devoted to specific historical characters in rabbinic literature, such as King David (Herman, 2012b) and King Herod (Rubenstein, 2014), as well as a number of articles (and an entire book) concentrating on issues of sex and sexuality (Elman, 2007;Kiel, 2016;Secunda, 2012 and. In general, reading the Babylonian Talmud in light of Zoroastrian and Sasanian Persian literature, or "Irano-Talmudica," is a rapidly growing subfield that has become a magnet for debates over questions of methodology (Secunda, 2016) and the future directions of the field of Talmudic studies (Gross, 2016).…”

Section: Sasanian Persian and Zoroastrian Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Babylonian Talmud in its cultural context

Goldstone

2019

Religion Compass

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The Babylonian Talmud is a foundational work for the development of Jewish law and a centerpiece for the study of rabbinic literature. One of the fastest growing trends in the academic study of the Talmud is the contextualization of this text against the background of Greco–Roman, Sasaniageneration of Talmudic studiesn Persian, and Zoroastrian, as well as Syriac and Christian works. This article surveys the history of the study of the Babylonian Talmud in light of a variety of cultural contexts and provides a close look at some of the major products of this line of research.

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Section: Sasanian Persian and Zoroastrian Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Babylonian Talmud in its cultural context

Goldstone

2019

Religion Compass

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A Seven-Headed Demon in the House of Study: Understanding a Rabbinic Demon in Light of Zoroastrian, Christian, and Babylonian Textual Traditions

Ronis¹

2019

AJS Rev.

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This article examines a narrative about a seven-headed demon in Bavli Kiddushin 29b as an entry point into a much broader conversation about the Talmud's demonology. I first lay out the interpretive challenges of the story, then argue that B. Kiddushin's demonic discourse has more in common with ancient Near Eastern demonologies that it does with contemporaneous Zoroastrian materials. Two particular aspects of the rabbinic depiction of the demon in B. Kiddushin align with Mesopotamian characterizations of demons: (1) the physical description of the demon as a seven-headed serpent, and (2) his demonic nature. At the same time, the way that the rabbis describe the mode of the demon's defeat strongly parallels contemporaneous Syriac Christian modes of exorcism. This article demonstrates that the talmudic story exists at the intersection of more ancient and contemporary concerns and typifies rabbinic selectivity in adopting and adapting available discourses about demons. To conclude, I discuss some of the broader implications of this observation for our study of the Babylonian Talmud in its Sasanian cultural context.

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Irano-Talmudica and Beyond: Next Steps in the Contextualization of the Babylonian Talmud

Cited by 2 publications

References 19 publications

The Babylonian Talmud in its cultural context

The Babylonian Talmud in its cultural context

A Seven-Headed Demon in the House of Study: Understanding a Rabbinic Demon in Light of Zoroastrian, Christian, and Babylonian Textual Traditions

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