amoraim

The Amoraim were Jewish scholars in Late Antiquity (roughly the 3rd through 5th centuries CE) who studied and elaborated the Oral Torah after the Mishnah was compiled by the Tannaim. They transmitted and interpreted teachings, developing legal analysis (halakha) and narrative material (aggadah). Their discussions were compiled as the Gemara, which, together with the Mishnah, forms the Talmud.

The Amoraim were centered in two major geographies: Babylonia (centered at Sura and Pumbedita) and the Land of Israel (Palestine). The Babylonian Amoraim produced the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli); Palestinian Amoraim produced the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi). Timeframe roughly 200–500 CE.

Notable figures: In Babylonia, early figures include Rav and Shmuel; later prominent Amoraim include Abaye and Rava, with Rav Ashi and Ravina guiding the redaction of the Babylonian Talmud. In Palestine, prominent Amoraim include Rabbi Yohanan and Resh Lakish, among others; their debates and discussions are preserved in the Yerushalmi.

Legacy: The Amoraim shaped halakhic and aggadic literature, expanding and refining the oral law and providing a bridge between the Mishnah and later rabbinic authority. Their discussions form the core of the Talmudic corpus studied in Jewish law, theology, and tradition to this day.