Pt1 Talmudic Jewish Geography: The Boundaries of Babylonia, Lineage Purity, and the Cities of the Ten Lost Tribes (Kiddushin 71b-72a)
This is the first part of a three-part series.1
Outline
Rav Pappa the Elder's Lineage Geography: Classifying the Purity and Degeneration of Lineage in Babylonia, Media, Meshan, and Elam
Babylonia’s Boundaries in the Context of Lineage Purity
Middle Tigris (Eastern border): River Azak or Nahrawan
Upper Tigris (North-eastern border): Ukbara and Awana; or Mushekanei
Lower Tigris (South-eastern border): Lower Apamea
Upper Euphrates (North-western border): Tulbaknei; or Bei Perat Bridge; or Gizma Ford
Euphrates (Western border): Biram
The Glory of Lineage: Regions and Towns of Distinction in Babylonia (Sea District, Shunya, Guvya, Tzitzora, and Borsippa)
"Between the Rivers" (Upper Mesopotamia): Shot Mishot
Lineage and Exile: Locations Linked to the Assyrian Exile of the (Lost) Ten Tribes
Part 1: The Status of Nahavand
Part 2: The Cities of the (Lost) Ten Tribes: Ḥillazon; Hadiab; Ginzak; Ḥamadan; and Nahavand
Part 3: The Surrounding Towns of Nahavand: Mushekhei, Ḥosekei, and Rumekei
‘Three Ribs in the Bear’s Mouth’ (Daniel 7:5): Regions of Frequent Power Shifts Between the Persian and Roman Empires—Ḥillazon, Hadiab, and Nusaybin
Six Prophetic Insights by R' Yehuda HaNasi on Babylonian Places and Events: Homanya, Masgariya, Birka, Birta d’Satya, Akra d’Agma, and the Births of Adda bar Ahava and Rav Yehuda
Appendix #1 - Table Summarizing Some Identified Toponyms
Appendix #2a - Bear-Like Persians and Other Cultural Metaphors: Perspectives on Nations, Magi, and Babylonian Torah scholars (Kiddushin 72a, sections #9-10)
Appendix #2b - Continuity of Righteous Leaders: The Principle of Succession Among Sages (Kiddushin 72b, section # 2)
The Passage
Rav Pappa the Elder's Lineage Geography: Classifying the Purity and Degeneration of Lineage in Babylonia, Media, Meshan, and Elam
Rav Pappa the Elder (רב פפא סבא), citing Rav, categorizes different regions by their lineage status, using metaphors of health and sickness:2
Babylonia is healthy (בריאה; i.e. free from suspicion)
Meshan is dead (מיתה; i.e. entirely flawed)
Media is sick (חולה; i.e. mostly unflawed)
אמר רב פפא סבא, משמיה דרב:
בבל – בריאה.
מישון – מיתה.
מדי – חולה.
עילם – גוססת.
[...]
Rav Pappa the Elder says in the name of Rav:
Babylonia is healthy with regard to lineage and clear of suspicion.
Mishon is dead, meaning that all its inhabitants have flawed lineage.
Media is sick,
and Eilam is moribund.
[...]
Babylonia’s Boundaries in the Context of Lineage Purity
The Talmud discusses the geographic boundaries of Babylonia as they relate to lineage purity.
See Aharon Oppenheimer, By the Rivers of Babylon: Perspectives on the History of Talmudic Babylonia (Hebrew), Chapter 1, p. 38, my translation:
The delineation of Babylonia’s boundaries for lineage purposes is the focus of a very detailed discussion in the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin (=our sugya). Among other things, the border points are established along the upper Tigris and lower and upper Euphrates.
Most of the Jewish settlement in Babylonia naturally concentrated in the fertile region between the Euphrates and the Tigris, and evidently these rivers were designated as the boundaries of Jewish Babylonia. This assumption is reinforced by two additional pieces of evidence: first, the Euphrates is considered the eastern boundary of the idealized Eretz Yisrael; second, the border points mentioned along the Tigris align with the provincial boundaries of Babylonia during the Sasanian period.
Thus, it emerges that the boundaries of Babylonia for lineage purposes are the Euphrates and the Tigris, leaving the Talmudic discussion to grapple with questions such as: how far do the boundaries extend along the rivers, both upstream and downstream, or which areas outside these boundaries also maintain their purity of lineage.
Map of Sasanian Asoristan (=Babylonia / Mesopotomia) and its surroundings4
Middle Tigris (Eastern border): River Azak or Nahrawan
Rav defines it as extending to the River Azak, while Shmuel defines it as extending to Nahrawan.5
עד היכן היא בבל?
רב אמר: עד נהר עזק,
ושמואל אמר: עד נהר יואני.
After having determined that those from Babylonia are presumed to have unflawed lineage, the Gemara clarifies what the borders of Babylonia are with regard to this issue.
Until where does the width of Babylonia extend?
Rav said: Until the River Azak, which empties into the Euphrates.
And Shmuel said: Until the River Yo’ani, which also empties into the Euphrates.
Upper Tigris (North-eastern border): Ukbara and Awana; or Mushekanei
Rav says it reaches Bagda6 and Awana,7 whereas Shmuel says it reaches Mushekanei.8
The Talmud questions this, pointing out that R' Ḥiyya bar Abba cited Shmuel as saying that Mushekanei is like Babylonia9 with regard to lineage.10
The Talmud resolves the question by saying that Shmuel's intent when stating “until Mushekanei” was inclusive.11
לעיל בדיגלת עד היכא?
רב אמר: עד בגדא ואוונא.
ושמואל אמר: עד מושכני.
ולא מושכני בכלל?!
והאמר רבי חייא בר אבא, אמר שמואל: מושכני הרי היא כגולה ליוחסין!
אלא: עד מושכני, ומושכני בכלל.
The Gemara asks: Until where does the border extend upward, meaning northward, on the Tigris?
Rav said: Until the places called Bagda and Avna.
And Shmuel said: Until Mushekanei.
The Gemara asks: But according to Shmuel, isn’t Mushekanei included in Babylonia?!
But didn’t R' Ḥiyya bar Abba say that Shmuel says: Mushekanei is like the exile, meaning it is like Pumbedita in central Babylonia, with regard to lineage?
Rather, Shmuel meant: Until and including Mushekanei.
Lower Tigris (South-eastern border): Lower Apamea
The Talmud now discusses the southern border along the Tigris River, identifying it as extending to the city of Lower Apamea.12
The Talmud states that there are two cities named Apamea—Upper and Lower—distinguished by the lineage of their residents: one has unflawed lineage, while the other is flawed.
These cities, separated by a parasang, maintain strict social separation, avoiding even the smallest interactions, like lending fire.13
The way to identify14 the flawed Apamea is its use of the Meshan dialect.15
לתחתית בדיגלת עד היכא?
אמר רב שמואל: עד אפמייא תתאה.
תרתי אפמייא הויין:
חדא עיליתא וחדא תתייתא,
חדא כשירה, וחדא פסולה,
ובין חדא לחדא פרסה,
וקא קפדי אהדדי, ואפילו נורא לא מושלי אהדדי.
וסימניך: דפסולתא -- הא דמישתעיא מישנית.
The Gemara asks: How far does the border extend downward, meaning southward, on the Tigris?
Rav Shmuel said: Until the city of Lower Appamya.
The Gemara comments: There are two cities called Appamya,
the upper one and the lower one.
In terms of the lineage of their residents, one is unflawed and the other is flawed,
and they are separated by a distance of a parasang [parsa].
And they are particular with regard to one another. The residents of the two cities avoid each other to the extent that they do not even loan each other fire, to prevent them from developing a closeness with each other.
And your mnemonic to remember which is which is that the unfit one is that one that speaks the Mishon dialect. As stated above, Mishon is considered dead with regard to lineage.
Upper Euphrates (North-western border): Tulbaknei; or Bei Perat Bridge; or Gizma Ford
Rav says it reaches Tulbaknei, Shmuel says the bridge known as “Bei Perat Bridge”,16 and R' Yoḥanan specifies the “Crossing17 of Gizma (גיזמא)”.
Abaye or Rav Yosef are critical (“cursing” - לייט) of Rav’s border definition.
לעיל בפרת עד היכא?
רב אמר: עד אקרא דתולבקני.
ושמואל אמר: עד גישרא דבי פרת.
ורבי יוחנן אמר: עד מעברת[א] דגיזמא.
לייט אביי, ואיתימא רב יוסף, אדרב.
[...]
The Gemara further clarifies: How far does the border extend upward, meaning northward, on the Euphrates?
Rav said: Until the fortress of Tulbaknei.
And Shmuel said: Until the bridge over the Euphrates.
And R' Yoḥanan said: Until the crossing at Gizma.
The Gemara relates: Abaye would curse, and some say it was Rav Yosef that would curse, one who ruled in accordance with the opinion of Rav, as he held that Rav extended the border too far north.
[...]
Euphrates (Western border): Biram
Abaye asked Rav Yosef about the western border18 of the Euphrates; he’s understood by Rav Yosef to be implicitly inquiring about its implications for lineage of the residents of the town of Biram.
Rav Yosef responded that Biram’s residents are presumed to have unflawed lineage, as evidenced by marriages between those of pure lineage in Pumbedita and women from Biram.
אמר ליה אביי לרב יוסף: להא גיסא דפרת עד היכא?
אמר ליה:
מאי דעתיך?
משום בירם?
מייחסי דפומבדיתא מבירם נסבי.
[...]
Abaye said to Rav Yosef: Until where does the border extend on this western side of the Euphrates?
Rav Yosef said to him:
What are you thinking? Why do you ask?
Is it due to the town of Biram?
Even those of pure lineage who live in Pumbedita marry women from Biram, which demonstrates that the residents of Biram are presumed to have unflawed lineage.
[...]
On the topic of Talmudic contemporary geography, compare also my pieces related to the province of Huzistan. And see my piece on the Talmud’s interpretation of cities in the biblical Table of Nations in the Book of Genesis.
See my Appendix (#1, which will appear at the end of this series) for modern-day locations of all these places
The Talmud subsequently clarifies the distinction between "sick" and goses ("on the verge of death"), emphasizing the likelihood of recovery (and, metaphorically, the decline in lineage status); I omit that section.
From: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sasanian_Asoristan_and_its_surroundings.svg
Author: HistoryofIran, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
נהר יואני; Oppenheimer, pp. 51-52: Nahrawan, a town 20 km northeast of Baghdad. See Nahrawan Canal - Wikipedia.
See ibid., p. 52, that the discussion in this section is re Eastern border, Middle Tigris.
אוונא. Now Tell Ishnayt, see Oppenheimer ibid.
גולה - literally: “[the] Exile, [the] Diaspora”.
יוחסין; see Hebrew Wikitionary, “יֹחַס“ (yoḥas): “pedigree, lineage“,
And see Hebrew Wikipedia, “עשרת היוחסין“, my translation:
The "Ten Lineages" (עשרת היוחסין) is a term given to the ten categories under which families returning to Eretz Ysrael during the Return to Zion (c. late 6th century BCE) were classified.
This concept primarily appears in the context of marriage connections, but also in the socio-political internal hierarchy.
The term stems from Mishnah_Kiddushin.4.1: (I slightly adjusted Steinsaltz translation)
עשרה יוחסין עלו מבבל:
כהני,
לויי,
ישראלי,
חללי,
גרי,
וחרורי,
ממזרי,
נתיני,
שתוקי,
ואסופי.
There were ten categories of lineage, with varying restrictions on marriage, among the Jews who ascended from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael with Ezra before the building of the Second Temple. They are as follows:
I.e. to include Mushekanei within the boundary. Compare Wikipedia, “inclusive”, sense #2: “Including the extremes as well as the area between.“
And compare the common talmudic uncertainty regarding "up to and including" or "up to but not including" (עד ועד בכלל; עד ולא עד בכלל), see Hebrew Wikipedia, “ועד בכלל“.
See my appendix for the identity of this place.
The lending of fire may be related to Zoroastrian fire rituals, which are hinted at a number of times in the Talmud.
מישנית; a variant of Aramaic; since Meshan has compromised lineage, as stated by Rav Pappa the Elder in the first section. Compare my piece on the extended talmudic passage criticizing the Galilean dialect of Aramaic.
מעברתא - i.e. ford.
להא גיסא - literally: “to this [other] side”.