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411 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

411

ence unbearable, especially for the Jews, who were jealous of the purity of their family life. King Kobad, to break the pride of the Per-

Balash and sian nobles, embraced the new religion, Kobad. -and, although deposed by them, he remained a devotee of the new faith. Fortunately, the Jews had at that time an energetic Huna VI., who succeeded to some extent in protecting his coreligionists against this evil. But when he died in 508, his nephew Pahda was appointed to the exilarchate during the minority of his son he was, however, eventually removed by the king through the exertions of Mar Hanina, the head of the academy (about 551). Judaism in the interval seems to have been close-pressed by Zendieism; and accordingly the new exilarch, Mar Zutra II., a grandson of Mar anma gathered around him an armed band of four hundred men for the defense of Jewish family life. He succeeded in maintaining his independence for seven years, collecting revenue even from the non-Jewish population of Irak. Active measures by the king put an end, at length, to the little Jewish state: Mar Zutra, only twenty-two years of age, was crucified (520) on the bridge of Mahuza, his capital; and his infant son, Mar Zutra III. was carried to Palestine, where he became Archipherecites. Kobad introduced an additional landtax, and all Jews and Christians between the ages of 20 and 50 were subjected to a poll-tax (Justi, I.e. Kobad's p. 370), no doubt after Roman example. army serving against the Byzantines contained a number of Jews, who were allowed to desist from active operations on the Passover (Bar-Hebrseus, I.e.

exilarch,



H

>

p. 85).

The century between Kobad and the appearance of the Arabs is destitute of historical record. In the Babylonian Talmud, the latest date mentioned is the year 521 (Sanh. 97i); see "Me'or 'Enayim,"43; Zunz, "6. V."2ded., p. 56. From this time on, there are extant only accounts of individual sages, the Saboraim, and these only scantily. Mention is made of R. Rehumai, R. Jose, R. Aha of Be Hatim, near Nehardea, Rabai of Rob, and others they all died early, as Sherira expressly remarks. Rabai was " reckoned as one of the Geonim, the title of " Gaon Academy of the head being henceforth borne by the of Sura, and later also by that of the Academy of Pumbedita. The Saboraim continued to teach undisturbedly under Kobad and Chosroes Anushirwan (531-578), a ruler beloved both by Persians and Arabs, and who showed a Chosroes It friendly attitude toward the Jews. Anushir-wan. was in his time that the Christian sect of the Nestorians spread in Persia, as mentioned also by Jewish sources (Jellinek, "B. II." Under Hormiz IV. (578-590) " the end of vi. 13). the Persian rule," as Sherira says, persecutions occurred again the academies were closed and many rabbis of Pumbedita migrated to Firuz Shabur, near





Nehardea, because this latter city was under Arab The Jews, accordingly, favored the inrule (c. 581). surrection led by Bahram Tshubin, asTheophylactus Simocatta relates (vol. vii., p. 218, ed. Bonn). The legitimate ruler, Chosroes Parwez (590-628), was able to maintain his right to the throne of the Sassanids, and the Jews were

at liberty to

resume

their

Babylonia

academic

activities without being punished for having sided with the rebel. In the war which this king made upon the Bj'zantines, his general Shahr-Barz captured Jerusalem (615), and, it appears, handed over the Christians to the mercies of the Jews. Thus, for the last time, the Jews stood in intimate relations with the Persians; with the downfall of the latter ends likewise the brilliant era of the Jews in Babylonia.

expression of Mohammedanism toward of intolerance and narrowness. It was an essential feature of Moslem state policy that Jews and Christians, no less than Zoroastrians, must be warred against until they paid tribute. In addition to a poll-tax (" jizyah "), the tax upon real estate (" kharaj ") was instituted indeed, first in Irak, and later on among the Jews (A. Muller, "Der

The

first

other faiths

was one



The first calif, Abu Islam," i. 272). Bakr, sent the famous warrior Halid against Irak; and a Jew, by name Period. Ka'ab al-Ahbar, is said to have fortified the general with prophecies of success (Weil, " Gesch. der Chalifen," i. 34). The Jews may have favored the advance of the Arabs, from whom they could exSome such services it must pect mild treatment. have been that secured for the exilarch Bostanai the favor of Omar I., who awarded to him for a wife the daughter of the conquered Sassanid Chosroes II.

Arab

Theophanes and Abraham Zacuto narrate. Jew"Seder ha-Dorot," contain a Bostanai legend which has many features in common with the account of the hero Mar Zutra II.,

as

ish records, as, for instance,

already mentioned. The account, at all events, reveals that Bostanai, the founder of the succeeding exilarch dynasty, was a man of prominence, who received from the victorious Arab general certain high privileges, such as the right to wear a signet-ring, a privilege otherwise limited to Mohammedans. Omar and Othman were followed by Ali (656), with whom the Jews of Babylonia sided as against his rival Mo'awiyah. A Jewish preacher, Abdallah ibn Saba, of southern Arabia, who had embraced Islam, held forth in support of his

new

religion,

expounded Mo-

Jewish sense, and, to a certain extent, laid the foundation for the later sect Ali made Kufa, in Irak, his capital, of the Shii'les. and thither went Jews who had been expelled from Arabia (about 641). It is perhaps owing to these immigrants that the Arabic language so rapidly gained ground among the Jews of Babylonia, although a greater portion of the population of Irak were of Arab descent. The capture by Ali of Firuz Shabur, where 90,000 Jews are said to have dwelt, Mar Isaac, is mentioned by the Jewish chroniclers.

hammed's appearance

chief of the calif,

Academy

in a

of Sura, paid

homage

to the

and received privileges from him.

The proximity of the court lent to the Jews of Babylonia a species of central position, as compared with the whole califate so that Babylonia still continued to be the focus of Jewish life. The timehonored institutions of the exilarchate and the gaonthe heads of the academies attained great ate influence— constituted a kind of higher authority, voluntarily recognized by the whole Jewish dias;

—

But unfortunately exilarchs and geonim pora. only too soon began to rival each other. A certain