The religious development during the period from the Bar-Kokba Revolution up to the Chris tianization of the Roman empire shows a grow ing tendency towards legalism. Jehuda Hanassi (i. e., prince, patriarch) 035-216) won an impor tant place in Jewish history by the compilation of the rabbinical law, called Mishna, which, origi nally intended as a compendium of the rabbinical interpretation of the biblical law, and of other traditional customs, by and by began to be con sidered part of the Sinaitic revelation.
R. Jchuda met with no serious opposition in his attempt to establish a religious authority, but soon after his death conditions changed. His son, Gamaliel III (A. C. 216-230, was a mere figure head; and so the position of the patriarch which the son inherited from the father became a shad ow, until Theodosius II (A. C. 425) abolished it altogether. • Economic and political adversities drove a great numbcr of Jews to Babylonia, where al ready during the third century the schools of Sura and Pumbeditha became strong rivals of their sister institutions in Tiberias and Seppho ris. About the middle of the fourth century the last Palestinian authorities died out. Their suc cessors gave all their attention to the edifying explanation of Scripture, called Aggada. At the same time the talmudical law was further devel oped in Babylonia, where the Rabbis Ashe (dicd 427) and Abina (died 499) compiled the Talmud of Babylonia. The Talmud consisted of two parts, the 1Iishna •and the Gemara ; the former being the law and the latter a discursive com mentary on it. Both together form the Talmud. The lectures on the Mishna, compiled in the Pales tinian school, formed the Talmud of Jerusalem ; those compiled by R. Ashe and R. Abina, form thc Babylonian Talmud. The latter always has been thc more popular book and was considered a higher authority.
In the Roman empire the Jews from the time of Constantine (312) were subjected to legal dis criminations. A very short interval was the reign of Julian (361-363), who, according to ecclesi astical writers, intended to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. The edict of Ravenna (Feb. 28, 38o), promulgated by Theodosius I, which made Rome a Christian empire, affected the condition of the Jews very unfavorably, although the emperor pro tected them against occasional outbreaks of mobs, stimulated by fanatical ecclesiastics. Because of the dispersion of the Jews the last prerogative of the patriarch, the announcement of the fest:vals, was surrendered; 11 (A. C. 325) being the
last to use it.
In Babylonia the Jews were politically organ in.d under an exilarch, Resh Galutha, who was their representative at thc court of the Persian king, and, later on, of the Calif. Their spiritual head was the president of onc of the great schools. The religious and national revival fol lowing upon thc return to power of the Parsees (226) brought great suffering upon the Jews, but thcir situation was more favorable than that of thcir brethren under the Christian rule of Rome.
:1 he situation in the Byzantine cmpire was no wise better than in the wcstcrn part of the old Roman empire and in the various Gcrmanic states which had formcd on its ruins. Thc greatest suf ferings wcre experienced under thc Visigoths in Spain, where church councils decreed thc laws which became typical for medieval legislation on the Jews, and it was only the invasion of the Arabs which changed their condition for the better.
The literary activity had from thc beginning of the cighth century its seat in the schools of Sura and Pumbeditha. Our rabbinical works, especially the homiletical literature, called thc Midrash, date in their present shape from this pe riod, which extends from 75o to io4o, and is called the period of the Geonim, from Gaon, ex cellency, which was the title of the college-presi dent. At the same time a number of practical guide-books, for civil, liturgical, and dietary laws were written, and the first manual for public worship was compiled by the Gaon Amram (A. C. 85o). We also meet at that time the first traces of a theosophical literature (Kabala), of which probably the oldest specimcn is a book of creation (Sephar lezirah.) The strict adherence to traditional authority vvhich is characteristic of the Babylonian schools of this period aroused a fierce opposition, led by Anan (A. C. 76o), who found a grcat following. The sect, originated by him, called itself Sons of the Bible, Karaites. They rejected all authority outside of the Bible. They still cxist in very small numbers, chiefly in southern Russia. Their last literary authority was Abraham Firkowitsch (1786-1874), who has madc for himself an unen viable reputation by extensive forgeries of tomb stones and manuscripts in the interest of Kara itic glory. At the same time when this schism occurred Judaism made an important conquest by the conversion of the Chazars, a Tartaric na tion whose Khan Bulan, with his court and a great majority of his people, embraccd the JON. ish religion.