Editing Talmud (section)

===Babylonian Talmud<!--'Babylonian Talmud' redirects here-->===
[[File:Talmud set.JPG|thumb|right|A full set of the Babylonian Talmud]]

The Babylonian Talmud (''Talmud Bavli'') consists of documents compiled over the period of [[late antiquity]] (3rd to 6th centuries).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= Talmud and Midrash (Judaism) / The making of the Talmuds: 3rd–6th century |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year= 2008 |url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581644/Talmud-and-Midrash/34869/The-making-of-the-Talmuds-3rd-6th-century#ref=ref24372 |access-date= 28 October 2013}}</ref> During this time, the most important of the Jewish centres in [[Mesopotamia]], a region called "[[Babylonia]]" in Jewish sources (see [[Talmudic academies in Babylonia]]) and later known as [[Iraq]], were [[Nehardea]], Nisibis (modern [[Nusaybin]]), Mahoza ([[al-Mada'in]], just to the south of what is now [[Baghdad]]), [[Pumbedita]] (near present-day [[al Anbar Governorate]]), and the [[Sura Academy]], probably located about {{Cvt|60|km||abbr=}} south of Baghdad.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Moshe Gil]] |title= Jews in Islamic Countries in the Middle Ages |year= 2004 |page= 507 |publisher= BRILL |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8vTTCwG0nKIC&pg=PA507 |isbn= 9789004138827}}</ref>

The Babylonian Talmud comprises the culmination of centuries of analysis and dialectic surrounding the Mishnah in the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia. According to tradition, the foundations of this process of analysis were laid by [[Abba Arika]] (175–247), a disciple of [[Judah ha-Nasi]]. Tradition ascribes the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud in its present form to two Babylonian sages, [[Rav Ashi]] and [[Ravina II]].<ref name=":4">Nosson Dovid Rabinowich (ed), ''[[The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon]]'', Jerusalem 1988, pp. 79, 116</ref> Rav Ashi was president of the Sura Academy from 375 to 427. In this time, he began the creation of the written Talmud, a written project passed onto and completed by Ravina, the final [[Amoraim|Amoraic]] expounder. Accordingly, the latest traditional date for the Talmud is often placed at 475, the year Ravina died. However, even on traditional views, a final redaction is still thought to have been made by the ''[[Savoraim]]'' ("reasoners", "considerers") in the sixth century.<ref>Nosson Dovid Rabinowich (ed), ''[[The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon]]'', Jerusalem 1988, p. 116</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Eisenberg |first=Ronald L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cK72EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT89 |title=What the Rabbis Said: 250 Topics From the Talmud |date=2010 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-313-38450-9 |location= |pages=43 |oclc=548555671}}</ref>