Rav Chisda
217 CE–309 CE · Amoraim · Sura (Babylonia)
Rav Chisda bar Atta was a leading second-generation Babylonian Amora who headed the academy of Sura in his later years, from roughly 297 CE. A student of Rav Huna, he became one of the most influential teachers of his era, known for his sharp reasoning and prolific teachings on matters of halakhah and aggadah. Rav Chisda was celebrated for his medical knowledge, which he integrated into discussions of Jewish law, and for his keen sense of practical jurisprudence. He trained many distinguished students and his rulings shaped Babylonian Jewish practice. His name appears throughout the Babylonian Talmud as both a teacher and interlocutor in complex legal debates.
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Sura (Babylonia)Babylonia
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Sura (Babylonia) in this era
Under the Sasanian Empire, during the reigns of Ardashir I and his successors, Sura emerged as one of Babylonia's most vital Jewish centers, home to a thriving academy where Rav Chisda would become a legendary figure in the development of the Talmud. The Jewish community of Sura enjoyed considerable autonomy under Sasanian rule; the exilarch (resh galuta) governed internal Jewish affairs, and the academies functioned with remarkable freedom to study, debate, and refine halakha. Scholars gathered in Sura's beth midrash to engage in the intensive dialectical reasoning that would define the Babylonian Talmud, with Chisda himself celebrated for his acute logical mind and mastery of both theoretical law and practical remedies for everyday life. The city sat at a crossroads of Mesopotamian trade, and the Sasanian period was marked by relative stability and cultural flourishing—a golden age for Jewish learning that would not be disrupted until centuries later.
About Sura (Babylonia)
Babylonian Geonic academy
In Sura (Babylonia) at the same time
Rav, Rav Huna, Rav Hamnuna, Rabbah bar Rav Huna, Rabbah bar Bar Chana
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Rav Chisda’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
Rav, Rav Huna, Rav Hamnuna, Rabbah bar Rav Huna, Rabbah bar Bar Chana
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Rav Chisda’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
- Shimon ben Lakish· 200 CE–275 CE
- Rav Yehuda bar Yechezkel (founder of Pumbedita)· 220 CE–299 CE
- Rav Sheshet (the blind)· 220 CE–295 CE
- Rav Kahana (II)· 220 CE–295 CE
- Eleazar ben Pedat· 220 CE–279 CE
- Ulla bar Yishmael· 230 CE–295 CE
- Yose bar Chanina· 230 CE–295 CE
- Ami bar Natan· 230 CE–300 CE
- Shimon bar Abba· 230 CE–300 CE
- Rabbah bar Avuha· 230 CE–290 CE
- Nachman bar Yaakov (son-in-law of Resh Galuta)· 230 CE–320 CE
- Shmuel bar Nachmani· 230 CE–320 CE
- Rabbi Assi· 230 CE–320 CE
- Abbahu of Caesarea· 240 CE–320 CE
- Yitzchak Nappacha (the smith)· 240 CE–320 CE
- Chiyya bar Abba (disciple of R. Yochanan)· 240 CE–320 CE
- Levi (the EY midrashic storyteller)· 250 CE–320 CE
- Yehuda Nesia II (Patriarch)· 250 CE–320 CE
- Rav Safra· 250 CE–320 CE
- Rabbi Helbo· 250 CE–320 CE
- Zeira (Bavel-born EY Amora)· 250 CE–330 CE
- Yonah (Yerushalmi)· 260 CE–330 CE
- Yose (Yerushalmi-era)· 260 CE–330 CE
- Shimon bar Pazi· 260 CE–330 CE
Christian world
Graeco-Roman world
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.