Talmud

Abstract

The Babylonian Talmud or Talmud Bavli (“Talmud”), redacted c. the sixth century in Sasanian Babylonia, is structured and arranged as a commentary to the Mishnah and, ultimately, came to be regarded as the source of normativity and authority in rabbinic Judaism . The Talmud is a multifaceted and eclectic work containing a variety of tannaitic traditions; amoraic statements attributed to Palestinian and Babylonian rabbis; anonymous legal discussions; legal narratives; scriptural exegesis; extended “historical” narratives; and a host of traditions pertaining to popular wisdom, astrology, mythology, medicine, demonology, and other miscellaneous areas of knowledge. The Talmud can be illuminated by recourse to a variety of critical methodologies and perspectives, including source‐critical, historical, literary, philosophical, comparative, and cultural analysis.