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404 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Babylonia

peninsula on the west side of the Persian gulf and a territory which in the times of Arabian domination, indeed, was frequently included in Irak. Nor, in speaking of Bahrain, are the words " above " and " below " employed to designate its position on the Euphrates, as with the other locations; instead, "on the other side " is used, which must mean southward, the previous side mentioned being north. Biram is identical with Beth Baltin, a spot between Syria and Babylonia, which was the extreme point to which the proclamation of the New Moon was

forwarded all beyond that was " Golah" (the Exile) Babylonia proper (R. H. 2'ib; compare 'Ah. Zarah 57a). This wide extent of countiy contained numerous

i.e.,

districts bearing the following

names

in rabbinical

literature

733 (Babylon), the most frequent designation, strictly that section between tiie two rivers where they came most Provinces, closely together. Thus it is said that Babylon covers the Euphrates on one side and the Tigris on the other ('Er. 22b). The term " Golah " (Exile) was also frequently applied to Babylon; and, inasmuch as Pumbedita, the city of such prime importance for Jews, was situated in it, Golah is at times used as equivalent to Pumbedita In this district were situated those (R. H. 236). (a)

but meaning more

celebrated cities of Babylon, Borsippa, Seleucia, and Ctesiphon, repeatedly named by the Rabbis; in Arabian times, Bagdad, too, attained celebrity. Nehardea was also important. This region also received, poetically, as it were, the Biblical name of "Shin'ar," which was variously expounded (Gen. R. Poetically, also, must be understood the xxxvii. 4). appellation "Sheiil" (the nether world), Yeb. 17a. According to one passage (Gen. R. xxxvii. 1 compare Yalkut and Lekah Tob), the Biblical Tiras stands for Persia ("Monatsschrift." xxxix. 11). As distinguished from Palestine, Babylon, whether in its larger (Ycr. Shek. ii. 47c) or smaller extent, was "abroad," " the foreign " (Yad. iv. 3). (b) rrnrun pa ("between the rivers," Kid. 72a). The Greek name Mesopotamia, which arose after Alexander's time, means identically the same (Gen.

In this district was sitR. xxx. 10, xliv. 3, lx. 1). uated the important city of Nisibis, called Nazibin by the Jews, as it is to-day this region is strictly differentiated from Golah, or Babylon proper (Sanh. Nineveh, however, had long before been des326). troyed, so that it is doubtful whether the Nineveh mentioned in the Talmud (Ta'anit lib) as possessing Jewish inhabitants, can have been the celebrated city of that name. More probably the whole district of Nineveh is meant, as in Shab. 121b, where "Nineveh" is used with Adiabene. Assemani, " Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vatieana," iii. 2, p. Ixv., mentions one baptized Jew from Nineveh in the fourth century. (c) ND* 73PI (Habel Yamma, Kid. 72rt; Yer. Kid. iv G5d; Gen. R. xxxvii. 8). The name means " the sea district, " and probably applies to the region upon the Persian gulf, east of the Shat-al-'Arab. This was considered the "crown" of Babylon. R. Papa applies the name, however, to the Phorat region (not Euphrates compare Phorat, Mesene) of Borsippa,



404

" sea " then referring to the lake Bahr Neief important commercial town east of the Tigris and near the sea was Charax, identified in rabbinical writings under the form "Haras," with the Biblical " Erech " (" Monatsschrift," xxxix. 58). The Biblical " Accad " is identified with Kashkar, a town called thus by the Syrians and Arabs (Smith, I.e. col. 1843), but also Karka, which is identical with Charax, and it thus must have been situated near the latter. In this actively commercial district, Cuthseans or Samaritans are said to have also resided (Kid. 72a). (d) )a>D (Meshan in Greek and Latin authors, " Mesene," equivalent in meaning to "Mesopotamia"). A region, also celebrated for its commerce, west of the Shat al-'Arab and north of the Persian gulf. In this district were both upper and lower Apamea; also Phorat Maishan, a large city identified by the rabbis with the Rehoboth-Ir of Gen. x. 11 (Yoma 10a). Mesene formed a portion of the old province of Chaldea, a name not in use among the Jews. As

the

word

An

,



a collective

name

for all these districts, the designa-

may

be employed in its widest supported by Biblical precedent, no doubt also employed the term " 'Eber haNahar" (beyond the river) to designate it(Ab. R. N., B, ii. 47 'Aruk, s.v. 13J? III.). The somewhat boastful designation of Babylonia as " the land of Israel (Gen. R. xvi. 3) was recognized by Zaeuto (" Yuhasin," p. 245b) and other moderns. So, too, many Babylonian cities were known among the Jews by nicknames (see Graetz, "Messene," p. 25, and Jastrow, "Diet." p. 167). The provinces were subdivided officially and by common usage into smaller districts, as marked by

"Babylonia"

tion

sense. Palestinian usage,



the

Political

numerous canals and waterways

hence the functions of the "canal-

" (see below). Such a district styled a "parbar,'' a word occurring in I Chron. xxvi. 18; mention is made of Babylon and its district, Nehardea and its district (Ket. 54«) and there were doubtless other districts, named Nares, Sura, Pumbedita, Nehar-Pekod, Mahuza, etc.,

Divisions,

wardens

was



each with its peculiarities as to dialect, weights, and measures (Beza 29«, 'Er. 2%). One of the canals referred to above was called " the Jewish " (Nahr alYahudi M. Streck, " Die Alte Landschaft Babylonien, " i. 42, Leyden, 1900). From Sherira's " Letter, p. 40, it appears that Bassora was in a different district from Babylon (Bagdad). ManyBabylonian cities are repeatedly mentioned in Jewish works, though the term "Sawad" (for Babylon) is never used by Jews, who prefer the old name "Babel," just as the Arabs employ " Babil. " Some scholars have endeavored to discern " Al-Irak," one of the Arabic names for Babylonia, in Targ. Yer. upon Gen. x. 6, and I Chron. i. 8 (" Monatsschrift," xxxix. 55). This name is probably intended in " Toledot Alexander " (ed. J. Levi, "Kobez," ii. 8), and is certainly meant in" Pe'er ha-Dor," No. 225 (" Irak is Bagdad and its vicinity"), and in numerous other works. In view of the undoubted fact that the Jewish inhabitants of Babylonia were of purer racial extraction than the Jews of Palestine, the former considered themselves, especially after the fall of Jerusalem, as the genuine Israel, and their differing traditions and customs as of higher authority than those of the