Place
Kairouan קירואן
The city in Ifriqiya through which North Africa and Spain put their questions to the Babylonian Geonim.
Kairouan lay on the road between the East and Spain, and its community became the intermediary: questions went from here to Sura and Pumbedita, and the answers came back here and travelled further west.
The famous Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon — the chief source for how the Mishnah and Talmud took shape — was written in answer to a question from the Kairouan community, which asked how exactly the teaching had been transmitted and by whom written down. Rabbeinu Chananel, whose commentary is printed on the page of the Talmud, lived here as well.
On the timeline
4349 · 589 CEThe Beginning of the Geonic Era4510 · 750 CEThe Flowering of the Geonic Age and the Sheiltot of Rav Achai4773 · 1013 CERabbi Yitzchak Alfasi (the Rif) and the Sefer HaHalachot
Sources
Rishonim
- The Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon — the answer to Kairouan's question — the chief source on how the Mishnah and Talmud took shape
- The commentary of Rabbeinu Chananel — the commentary written here and printed on the Talmud page
Basis: documents and evidence.