The Persian Persecutions of Babylonian Jewry

Babylonian Jewry lived under Persian rule for over two centuries in relative peace. Shmuel's rule that the law of the kingdom is law functioned; the exilarch managed communal affairs; Sura and Pumbedita drew thousands for the kallah months. In the mid-fifth century that changed.

The Zoroastrian priesthood grew powerful at court and demanded uniformity of belief. Under Yazdegerd II decrees forbade Sabbath observance, and according to the sources children were taken to be raised by the Magi. Under his son Peroz, whom Jewish chronicles call simply Firuz the wicked, synagogues were closed, academies dispersed, and the exilarch and several sages executed.

Scholars scattered and teaching went underground. It was precisely in these years that the redaction begun by Rav Ashi reached its conclusion — and the pressure likely hastened the decision to close the text: what can no longer be freely debated in an open academy must be fixed in writing.

The persecutions ended with Peroz's death. The academies returned, but the center of gravity had passed for good to a written Talmud that could be copied and carried away.

The main source for these events is the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon, written in 4747 to the head of the community of Kairouan: a detailed chronicle of the Babylonian academies. Without it this whole era would be nearly dark.