Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests: The Culture of the Talmud in Ancient Iran

Description

Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests examines the impact of the Persian Sasanian context on the Babylonian Talmud, perhaps the most important corpus in the Jewish sacred canon. What impact did the Persian Zoroastrian Empire, as both a real historical force and an imaginary interlocutor, have on rabbinic identity and authority as expressed in the Talmud? Drawing from the field of comparative religion, Jason Sion Mokhtarian addresses this question by bringing into mutual fruition Talmudic studies and ancient Iranology, two historically distinct disciplines. Whereas most research on the Talmud assumes that the rabbis were an insular group isolated from the cultural horizon outside their academies, this book contextualizes the rabbis and the Talmud within a broader sociocultural orbit by drawing from a wide range of sources from Sasanian Iran, including Middle Persian Zoroastrian literature, archaeological data such as seals and inscriptions, and the Aramaic magical bowl spells. Mokhtarian also includes a detailed examination of the Talmud's dozens of texts that portray three Persian "others": the Persians, the Sasanian kings, and the Zoroastrian priests. This book skillfully engages and demonstrates the rich penetration of Persian imperial society and culture on the Jews of late antique Iran. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 10 List of Abbreviations......Page 12 Note on Translations, Transcriptions, and Manuscripts......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 16 Introduction......Page 18 1. The Sources and Methods of Talmudic and Iranian Studies......Page 24 2. Comparing Sasanian Religions......Page 39 3. Rabbinic Portrayals of Persians as Others......Page 60 4. Rabbis and Sasanian Kings in Dialogue......Page 91 5. Rabbis and Zoroastrian Priests in Judicial Settings......Page 111 6. Rabbis, Sorcerers, and Priests......Page 141 Conclusion: Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests in Sasanian Iran......Page 162 Notes......Page 170 Bibliography......Page 246 HEBREW BIBLE......Page 276 JERUSALEM TALMUD......Page 277 BABYLONIAN TALMUD......Page 278 MIDDLE PERSIAN LITERATURE......Page 280 A......Page 284 D......Page 285 I......Page 286 M......Page 287 R......Page 288 U......Page 289 Z......Page 290