GAON (plur. Geonine). The transition from ancient to mediaeval Judaism was accomplished by four successive groups of rabbis (of whom the Geonim were the last), whose teaching safeguarded tradition and whose advice or decisions were often invoked far beyond the limits of their schools or communities. With the end of the Geonim centralized authority in Judaism passed away and gave place to congregationalism. The age of codification succeeded and the general acceptance of codes pre vented local autonomy from drifting into sectarianism. The invention of printing finally stereotyped the last code (Joseph Caro's Shulhan `Arukh, q.v.) and retarded development. The f our groups were:— I. The Tannd'im (sing. Tannd, or teacher, from Aramaic Tend, he taught; the root corresponds to the Hebrew Shanah, hence Mishnah) were the scholars whose teaching is recorded in the Mishnah (see TALMUD). The last tannd'im belong to three gen erations (a) A.D. 70-10o. Representative name, Johanan ben Zakkai who, leaving the beleaguered Jerusalem, founded a school at Jamnia in Judaea and saved Judaism from perishing with the Temple. (b) I00-130. Representative name `Aqiba (q.v.) who died a martyr in the fight for freedom against Hadrian. (c) 130 16o. Representative name, Judah the Prince, compiler of the Mishnah. The schools moved to Galilee (Usha, Sepphoris).
II. 'Amord'im, lit. speaker, the spokesman of a Tannd, who repeated his discourses. But after the Mishnah was compiled the 'Aurora became an independent teacher. The age of the 'Amord'im lasted from the 2nd to the 5th centuries and their work was the Gemara. In 350 the Palestinian schools decayed and were suc ceeded by the Babylonian schools at Nehardea, Sura and Pum beditha. Representative names, Rab (or Abba Arika, Samuel (18o-257) who arranged the calendar, and Ashi (352-427) who, with Rabina (d. 499) , may be said to have compiled the Talmud.
III. The Saboraim (properly Sebhord'e, plu. of Sdbhorei, a Iii. The Saboraim (properly Sebhord'e, plu. of Sdbhorei, a reasoner) during the 6th century effected slight supplementary work. It was an era of persecution and creative thought was hampered. The Gaon Sherira enumerates 12 Saboraim.
IV. The Geonim (Gaon =Excellency, probably for Geon Ya`aqobh, Ps. xlvii. 5) from the end of the 6th to the I ith cen turies effected the transference of the centre of Judaism from Asia to Europe. The Gaonate was civilly subject to the Exilarch but throughout the diaspora enjoyed a wide authority. Their Responsa are of great importance and they standardized the liturgy. Among the great Geonim may be mentioned Sherira (ben Hanina of Pumbeditha, d. I000), author of the famous circular letter addressed to Jacob ben Nissim of Kairowan in which the history of the Talmudic and Gaonate periods is set forth ; Amram (ben Sheshna, of Sura, d. 875), the first authority to arrange a complete domestic and synagogal liturgy; and Sa`adia (q.v.) of Sura (892-942) who fought Karaism (see KARAITES), translated the scriptures into Arabic, compiled a dictionary and was a master of philosophy. The last Geonim of Sura and Pumbeditha were Samuel ben Hofni (d. 1034) and Hai (d. 1038) respectively.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—See the relevant articles in Jew. Encycl. and Bibliography.—See the relevant articles in Jew. Encycl. and Hastings, Encycl. Rel. and Eth. (where lists of Tanna'im and Geonim are given) . J. Mann's Jews in Egypt and Palestine (Oxford, 1922) is a mine of information about details of the Gaonate. For general readers the histories of H. Graetz (Philadelphia, 1891), of Margolis and Marx (ib. 1927) and I. Abrahams (Short Hist. of Jew. Lit., 'gob), will be found useful. Benjamin of Tudela, who travelled in 1165, speaks of the Gaonate (Eng. trans. by M. Adler, see pp. 39 sqq. Lond., 1907) .