Nathan ben Isaac ha-

Kohen Kohen (, ; , ، Arabic كاهن , Kahen) is the Hebrew word for "priest", used in reference to the Aaronic Priest#Judaism, priesthood, also called Aaronites or Aaronides. They are traditionally believed, and halakha, halakhically required, to ...

ha-Babli was a Babylonian Jewish historian of the 10th century. He was the author of a history of the exilarchate that gives many interesting details in regard to the

exilarch The exilarch was the leader of the Jewish community in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) during the era of the Parthians, Sasanians and Abbasid Caliphate up until the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in 1258, with intermittent gaps due to ongoing polit ...

s, particularly his contemporary Mar Ukba. Extracts from this history were published by Samuel Shullam in his edition of

Zacuto Abraham Zacuto (, ; 12 August 1452 – ) was a Sephardic Jewish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian. Born in Castile, he served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal before fleeing to Tunis. His astrolabe of cop ...

's ''Yuḥasin'' (

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, 1546), as well as by A. Neubauer (''M. J. C.'' ii. 83 et seq.). Shullam's work is the only surviving source for Nathan's history other than an Arabic fragment published by Israel Friedlander.

Jewish Quarterly Review ''The Jewish Quarterly Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering Jewish studies. It is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press on behalf of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (University of P ...

vol 17 pp. 747-761. Since

Nathan ben Jehiel Nathan ben Jehiel of Rome (, 1035 – 1106) was a Jewish Italian lexicographer. He authored the Arukh, a dictionary for Rabbinic Judaism that was the first work to examine Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. He is therefore referred to as "the Arukh." B ...

of Rome, the author of the ''Arukh,'' is quoted in Zacuto's ''Yuḥasin'' (ed. Filipowski, p. 174, London, 1856) as "Nathan ha-Babli of Narbonne," H. Grätz (''Gesch.'' 3d ed., v. 288, 469–471) mistook the latter for Nathan ben Isaac ha-Kohen ha-Babli and ascribed to him an ''Arukh'' similar to that written by Nathan b. Jehiel. Grätz even went so far as to identify Nathan ben Isaac with the fourth of the four prisoners captured by Ibn Rumaḥis (see

Ḥushiel ben Elhanan Ḥushiel ben Elḥanan was president of the beth midrash at Kairouan, Tunisia, toward the end of the 10th century. He was probably born in Italy, but his origins and travels remain obscure, and his eventual arrival in Kairwan is the subject of a ...

), assuming that he settled afterward at

Narbonne Narbonne ( , , ; ; ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and was ...

Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography

* A. Geiger, in ''Hebr. Bibl.'' iii.4; * Henri Gross, ''Gallia Judaica,'' p. 409.

References

* Jews from the Abbasid Caliphate 10th-century Jews 10th-century historians from the Abbasid Caliphate Jewish historians Kohanim writers of Rabbinic literature Babylonian people Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown 10th-century Jews from the Abbasid Caliphate {{Judaism-bio-stub