Migrating tales : the Talmud's narratives and their historical context /
Kalmin, Richard Lee,author.
Migrating Tales situates the Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, in its cultural context by reading several rich rabbinic stories against the background of Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, and Mesopotamian literature of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, much of it Christian in origin. In this nuanced work, Richard Kalmin argues that non-Jewish literature deriving from the eastern Roman provinces is a crucially important key to interpreting Babylonian rabbinic literature, to a degree unimagined by earlier scholars. Kalmin demonstrates the extent to which rabbinic Babylonia was part of the Medit
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
"Manasseh sawed Isaiah with a saw of wood": an ancient legend in Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Persian sources -- R. Shimon bar Yohai meets St. Bartholomew: peripatetic traditions in late antique Judaism and Christianity East of Syria -- The miracle of the Septuagint in ancient rabbinic and Christian literature -- The demons in Solomon's Temple -- Zechariah and the bubbling blood: an ancient tradition in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim literature -- Pharisees -- Astrology -- The Alexander romance.
Migrating Tales situates the Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, in its cultural context by reading several rich rabbinic stories against the background of Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, and Mesopotamian literature of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, much of it Christian in origin. In this nuanced work, Richard Kalmin argues that non-Jewish literature deriving from the eastern Roman provinces is a crucially important key to interpreting Babylonian rabbinic literature, to a degree unimagined by earlier scholars. Kalmin demonstrates the extent to which rabbinic Babylonia was part of the Medit
Talmud
Narration in rabbinical literature.