Kiddushin

but now the Persians have set it higher.1 Abaye said to R. Joseph: How far does it extend on this [sc. the west] side of the Euphrates? Said he to him: What is your motive [in asking]: on account of Biram?2 The most distinguished [families] of Pumbeditha took [wives] from Biram! R. Papa said: Just as they differ over family purity, so they differ over divorce.3 But R. Joseph said: They differ only in respect to genealogy, but as for divorce, all agree that it is as far as the second willow clump beyond the bridge.4 Rami b. Abba said: Habil Yamma5 is the glory6 of Babylon.7 Shunya8 and Gubya9 are the glory of Habil Yamma. Rabina said: Zizura10 too. It was taught likewise: Hanan b. Pinhas said: Habil Yamma is the glory of Babylon: Shunya and Gubya and Zizura are the glory of Habil Yamma. Said R. Papa: But nowadays Cutheans11 have become mixed up with them. That [however] is not so: one [a Cuthean] sought a wife from them, but they did not give him.12 What is Habil Yamma? — Said R. Papa: The Euphrates land near Borsif.13 A certain man said: ‘I come from Shot-Mishot.’14 R. Isaac Nappaha15 stood up on his feet and declared: Shot-Mishot lies between the rivers.16 And what if it is situated between the rivers? — Said Abaye in the name of R. Hama b. ‘Ukba in the name of R. Jose son of R. Hanina: Between the rivers is as the Exile [sc. Babylon] in respect of genealogy. And where is that situated? — Said R. Johanan: From Ihi de Kira and upwards. But R. Johanan said: [The upper limit of Babylon is] as far as the ford of Gidama?17 — Said Abaye: A strip issues [beyond that limit].18 R. Ika b. Abin said in the name of R. Hananel in Rab's name: Halwan and Nahawand are as the Exile in respect to genealogy.19 Said Abaye to them [his disciples]: Disregard him: a yebamah has fallen to him there.20 Is it then my [dictum]? he replied; it is R. Hananel's! So they went and enquired of R. Hananel, who said to them: Thus did Rab say: Halwan and Nahawand are as the Exile in respect to genealogy. Now, he differs from R. Abba b. Kahana, who said: What is meant by, [and the king of Assyria carried Israel away into Assyria,] and put them in Halah, and in Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes?21 Halah is Hulwan; Habor is Adiabene;22 the river of Gozan is Ginzak;23 the cities of the Medes are Hamadan24 and its environs; others state, Nahawand and its environs. What are its environs? — Said Samuel: Karag, Moschi,25 Hidki and Rumki. Said R. Johanan: And all these are unfit.26 Now, it was assumed that Moschi is identical with Moxoene [so the difficulty arises]: Surely R. Hiyya b. Abin said in Samuel's name, Moxoene is as the Exile in respect to genealogy? — Hence Moschi is distinct from Moxoene. And three ribs were in his mouth between his teeth:27 Said R. Johanan: This refers to Hulwan, Adiabene and Nesibin,28 which it [Persia] sometimes swallowed and sometimes spat out.29 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear:30 R. Joseph recited: This refers to the Persians, who eat and drink like a bear, are fleshy like a bear, overgrown with hair like a bear, and have no rest like a bear. When R. Ammi saw a Persian riding he would say: ‘There is a wandering bear!’ Rabbi said to Levi:31 ‘Shew me the persians.’ — ‘They are like the armies of the House of David,’ he replied. ‘Shew me the Guebers.’32 — ‘They are like the destroying angels.’ ‘Shew me the Ishmaelites.’ — ‘They are like the demons of the privy.’ ‘Shew me the scholars of Babylon.’ — ‘They are like the Ministering Angels.’ When Rabbi was dying he said: ‘There is [a town] Humania33 in Babylon, which consists entirely of Ammonites; there is Misgaria34 in Babylon, consisting entirely of mamzerim; there is Birka35 in Babylon, which contains two brothers who interchange their wives; there is a Birtha di Satya36 in Babylon: to-day they have turned away from the Almighty: a fishpond overflowed on the Sabbath, and they went and caught the fish on the Sabbath, whereat R. Ahi son of R. Josiah declared the ban against them, and they renounced Judaism.37 There is a Fort Agama38 in Babylon wherein dwells Adda b. Ahabah: attested in his presence. R. Papa maintains that the controversies on the boundaries of Babylon apply to this too. fertile district, as it actually was. ibid p. 125. and fourth centuries from Syria and Mesopotamia into Babylon.] This is not very plausible (Rashi). (Sonc. ed.) p. 748, n. 7. ‘Between the rivers’ is the Talmudic idiom for a region of island formation, and here applies to the Euphrates region from Hit (Ihi de Kira) to Anah. parasangs from Bagdad. Nahawand was situated in the middle of Media, about fourteen parasangs from Hamadan in a southerly direction. Its Jewish community may have consisted then of Babylonian colonists, and hence the genealogical purity here ascribed to it. Obermeyer, pp. 106-8. an important Jewish community; ibid. p. 129. information about the people of that country.]