Editing Talmud (section)

=== Premodern estimates ===
The Talmud itself (BM 86a) incorporates a statement that "[[Ravina II|Ravina]] and [[Rav Ashi]] were the end of instruction". Likewise, [[Sherira ben Hanina]] writes that "instruction ended" with the death of [[Ravina II]] in 811 [[Seleucid era|SE]] (500 CE), and "the Talmud stopped with the end of instruction in the days of [[Rabbah Jose]] (fl. 476-514)".<ref name=":4" /> ''[[Seder Olam Zutta]]'' records that "in 811 SE (500 CE) Ravina the End of Instruction died, and the Talmud was stopped", and the same text is found in Codex Gaster 83.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Neubauer |first=Adolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nDRNAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA61 |title=Mediaeval Jewish Chronicles and Chronological Notes |date=1887 |publisher=Clarendon Press |pages= |language=he}}</ref> Another medieval chronicle records that "On Wednesday, 13 [[Kislev]], 811 SE (500 CE), Ravina the End of Instruction son of Rav Huna died, and the Talmud stopped."<ref name=":5" /> [[Abraham ibn Daud]] gives 821 SE (510 CE) for the same event, and [[Joseph ibn Tzaddik]] writes that "[[Maremar|Mareimar]] and [[Mar bar Rav Ashi|Mar bar Rav Assi]] et al. completed the Babylonian Talmud . . . in 4265 [[Anno Mundi|AM]] (505 CE)".<ref name=":5" /> [[Nachmanides]] dated the Talmud's compilation to "400 years after the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|Destruction]]", which is 470 CE if taken as exact.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last1=Stemberger |first1=Günter |title=Let the wise listen and add to their learning (Prov. 1:5): festschrift for Günter Stemberger on the occasion of his 75th birthday |last2=Cordoni |first2=Constanza |last3=Langer |first3=Gerhard |date=2016 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-044103-1 |series=Studia Judaica |location=Berlin Boston (Mass.) |pages=606–609}}</ref> According to [[Moses da Rieti]], "Ravina and Rav Ashi compiled the Talmud but they did not complete it, and Mar bar Rav Ashi and Mareimar et al. sealed it in the days of Rabbah Jose . . . he headed the academy for 38 years after succeeding Ravina, until 4274 AM (514 CE), and in his days the Babylonian Talmud was sealed, which was begun and largely redacted in the days of Rav Ashi and Ravina".<ref>{{Cite book |last=of Rieti |first=Moses ben Isaac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RAY-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA25 |title=מקדש מעט |date=1851 |publisher=דפוס אלמנת י"פ זולינגער |pages=93r–93v |language=he}}</ref>

The ''Wikkuah'', a description of the 1240 [[Disputation of Paris]], records that [[Yechiel of Paris]] claimed that "the Talmud is 1,500 years old", which would put it in the 3rd century BCE. Pietro Capelli suggests that it must have been traditional among medieval Ashkenazic Jews to date the Talmud from its beginning instead of its completion. Later manuscripts of the ''Wikkuah'' adopt the usual system of dating it to the time of Ravina II. [[Nicholas Donin]], by contrast, claimed that the Talmud was only composeed "400 years" before, i.e. around 840 CE.<ref name=":6" />