Natan HaBavli
110 CE–180 CE · Tannaim · Babylonia (region)
R. Natan HaBavli (Nathan the Babylonian) was a third-generation Tanna who lived in Babylonia during the mid-second century CE. Though born in Babylonia but active in the Land of Israel, he was deeply integrated into the intellectual circles of Roman-occupied Judea, studying under the great masters of his era and engaging in halakhic dispute with contemporaries like R. Meir and R. Yose. He was known for his sharp reasoning and his willingness to challenge established positions. Natan HaBavli appears frequently in the Mishnah and in Talmudic discussions, where he represents a bridge between the Babylonian and Palestinian academic traditions at a crucial period in rabbinic history.
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Babylonia (region)Mesopotamia
We know they were here, but the specifics of what they did at this stop aren’t recorded yet in our corpus.
Babylonia (region) in this era
Under the Parthian Empire, which ruled Mesopotamia and held sway over the Jewish diaspora in Babylonia, the region became a thriving center of Jewish learning in the second century. The Jewish community there enjoyed considerable autonomy under Parthian rule, with a recognized Jewish leadership (the Exilarchate) managing internal affairs and collecting taxes on behalf of the crown. While Jerusalem remained the spiritual heart of Judaism, Babylonian Jewry grew in numbers and influence, establishing academies where Tannaitic teachings were studied and debated with increasing sophistication. The community was prosperous enough to support learned sages, and trade routes connecting Babylonia to the Mediterranean ensured cultural exchange. R. Natan HaBavli lived during an era when Babylonian Jewry was consolidating its own identity, gradually building the intellectual foundations that would eventually produce the Babylonian Talmud—a development that would reshape Jewish learning for all future generations.
About Babylonia (region)
Babylonia was the region of Mesopotamia (central and southern Iraq) that, after the exile of Judah, became one of the principal homes of the Jewish people. Already in the Second Temple period it had an established community -- the sage Hillel the Elder came from Babylonia to the Land of Israel -- and in the Talmudic era its academies, led by figures such as Rav (Abba Arikha), made it the dominant center of rabbinic Judaism.
In Babylonia (region) at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Natan HaBavli’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Natan HaBavli’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
- Anonymous (Sefer Yetzirah author)· 200 BCE–500 CE
- Eleazar ben Chisma· 70 CE–140 CE
- Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava· 75 CE–135 CE
- Shimon ben Azzai· 90 CE–135 CE
- Shimon ben Zoma· 90 CE–135 CE
- Yehoshua ben Korcha· 100 CE–190 CE
- Yochanan HaSandlar (the Cobbler)· 100 CE–170 CE
- Rabbi Nehorai· 100 CE–170 CE
- Shimon ben Gamliel II· 100 CE–165 CE
- Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai· 100 CE–160 CE
- Yehuda bar Ilai· 110 CE–180 CE
- Eleazar ben Shamua· 110 CE–180 CE
- Nechemia· 110 CE–180 CE
- Eliezer ben Yaakov (II)· 110 CE–180 CE
- Rabbi Yose ben Halafta· 110 CE–180 CE
- Rabbi Meir· 110 CE–175 CE
- Beruriah bat Chananyah ben Teradion (wife of R. Meir)· 110 CE–170 CE
- Symmachus ben Joseph· 120 CE–190 CE
- Eliezer ben Shimon (son of Rashbi)· 130 CE–200 CE
- Yehudah HaNasi (Rabbi)· 135 CE–217 CE
- Yose ben Yehuda· 140 CE–210 CE
- Shimon ben Eleazar· 140 CE–210 CE
- Pinchas ben Yair (son-in-law of Rashbi)· 140 CE–220 CE
- Chiyya bar Abba (the Elder)· 150 CE–220 CE
Graeco-Roman world
Christian world
Scientists
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.