RAAMAH my, or ; 'Peyaci; but in Ezek. xxvii. 22, ; Alex. 'Pa-vat; Reyna, and Rama), the fourth son of Cush, and the father of Sheba and Dedan (Gen. x. 7 ; i Chron. i. 9). It appears that the descendants of Cush colonised a large part of the interior of Africa, entering that great continent probably by the straits of Babel mandeb. A section of the family, however, under their immediate progenitor Raamah, settled along the eastern shores of the Arabian peninsula. There they founded nations which afterwards became celebrated, taking their names from Raamah's two sons, Sheba and Dedan [Costs]. Though Sheba and Dedan becaine nations of greater importance and notoriety, yet the name Raamah did not wholly disappear from ancient history. Ezekiel, in enu merating the distinguished traders in the marts of Tyre, says, 'The merchants of Sheba and Raanzah, they were thy merchants ; they occupied in the fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold' (xxvii. 22). The eastern pro vinces of Arabia were famed in all ages for their spices. The position of Sheba is well known [SHEBA], and Raamah must have been near it.
There can be little doubt that in the classic name Regma (Peyad.), which is identical with the Sep tuagint equivalent for Raamah, we have a memo rial of the O. 'F. patriarch and of the country he colonised. The town of Regma was situated on the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf, on the northern side of the long promontory which sepa rates it from the ocean. And it is interesting to note that, on the southern side of the promontory, a few miles distant, was a town called Dadena, evidently identical with Dedan. Around Regma Ptolemy locates an Arab tribe of the Anariti (Geog. vi. 7). Pliny appears to call them Epimaraniiee (vi. 26), which, according to Forster (Geo,. of Arabia, i. 64), is just an anagrammatic form of Ramanita, the descendants of Raantahz—an opi nion not improbable. Forster traces the migrations of the nation from Regma along the eastern shores of Arabia to the mountains of Yemen, where he finds them in conjunction with the family of Sheba (Id, pp. 66-71), There the mention of the Rha manila tribe by Strabo, in connection with the expedition of Gallus (xvi., p. 781), seems to cor roborate the view of Forster [SHEBA]. Be this as it may, however, there can be no doubt that the original settlements of the descendants of Raamah were upon the south-western shores of the Persian Gulf. Probably, like most of their brethren, while retaining a permanent nucleus, they wandered with their flocks, herds, and merchandise, far and wide over Arabia, For the different views entertained regarding Raamah, see Bochart, Opp. i. 218 Michaelis, Spicileg. i. 193.—J. L. P.
RAB, properly Abbe Aran', or Abba of Areka, a city on the borders between Susiana and Babylon, on the river Tigris. This eminent expositor of the
Pentateuch was born about 165 A.D., and obtained the Babylonian appellation Rob (11)=the Teaeher, in consequence of the great reverence in which he was held by his numerous disciples ; just as Jehudah the Holy was called in Palestine Rabbi i.e., the Teacher, or Rabbemt orn), i.e., our Teacher. After the death of his father Aibu, he went to Judma and became the disciple of R. Jehu dah, whose redaction of the Mishna he afterwards took back with him to Babylon, where it became the basis of discussion, and of the Babylonian Talmud. Having brought a codex of the Mishna with him, Rab now founded the celebrated college at Sora (219 A. D. ), which maintained its celebrity for nearly Soo years, and which attracted about 1200 students from all parts of Babylon in the life time of its founder. In this college, which was called Be-Rab (213), being an abbreviation of Beth Rub (11 1"02), the school of Rab, the disciples as sembled two months in the year—viz., Adar and Elul—in autumn and spring, for which they were denominated Yarrhe Kalla (15] '111'), the months of assembly; and into it all the people were admitted a whole week before each principal festival, when this distinguished luminary delivered expository lectures for the benefit of the nation at large. So eager were the people to hear him, and so great were the crowds, that many could find no house accommodation, and were obliged to take up their abode in the open air on the banks of the Sora river (Succa, 26 a). These festival discourses were denominated Rigle and during the time in which they were delivered all courts of justice were closed (Baba Kama, 153 a). After holding the presidency of the college for twenty-eight years (219-247 A.D.), and raising the literature and authority of Babylon to that of Palestine, Rab died, A. D. 247, lamented by the whole nation (Berachoth, 43 b ; Sabbath, no a). His contributions to Biblical literature and exegesis are contained in his compilation and redaction of the ancient traditional expositions of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuter onomy, in two volumes, which bear his name—viz., (i.), Siphra of the school of Rab ttlnD), or simplySiphra, being a commentary on Leviticus ; and (ii.), Siphri Rab on Num bers and Deuteronomy. When it is remembered that these works embody the ancient principles of interpretation which guided the authors of the Sept., the Syriac version, the Chaldee paraphrases, etc., their importance to the criticism of the 0. T. will be apparent. An analysis of these works is given in the article MIDRASH. Comp. Graetz, Ge schichte der yuden,vol. iii. p. 312, etc., Berlin 1853; Fiirst, Kultur nod Literal:1r g-eschichte der iss p. 33, etc., Leipzig 1853 ; and by the same author, Bibliotheca iii. 125, etc. See article EDUCATION.-C. D. G.