Amoraim אמוראים
The sages of the Talmud — eight generations in Babylonia and the Land of Israel who expounded the Mishna for three centuries.
Amora means «speaker» or «expounder»: originally the man who declaimed a sage's lesson to the assembly. The era begins immediately after the Mishna, around 3980, and lasts until the Talmud is sealed around 4260.
Amoraim do not dispute the tannaim; their authority is different. They explain the Mishna, find its sources, reconcile contradictions and derive new cases. The work went on in two centres at once. In the Land of Israel, Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish in Tiberias, from whom the Jerusalem Talmud came. In Babylonia, Rav and Shmuel at Sura and Nehardea, then Abaye and Rava at Pumbedita, and finally Rav Ashi and Ravina.
Travelling scholars carried traditions between the centres. The difference in method is visible: the Babylonian school sharper and more abstract, the Palestinian closer to practice.