To my husband, Dave—
without your love, encouragement, and support, Rashi’s daughters and Rav Hisda’s daughter would still be merely figments of my imagination.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I
thank my outstanding editor at Plume, Denise Roy, who wielded her line edits with scalpel-like precision to cut extraneous and duplicate material so the flow improved and the reader was left eager to learn more. It was an education and a pleasure to work with such a consummate professional.

Kudos to Beth Lieberman for editing advice that never let me forget that the Talmud scenes should be about more than just Talmud, and that my heroine and hero must fulfill their characters’ arcs. Many thanks to my literary agent, Susanna Einstein, who has been negotiating for me since the early days of my career. My daughter, Emily, a voracious reader of historical fiction, spent hours critiquing my early drafts and never hesitated to lambast any scenes that didn’t measure up to her exacting standards.

I must also acknowledge the myriad of scholars who offered their assistance, with special appreciation to my Talmud study partners, Henry Wudl of HUC and Janet Sternfeld Davis of AJU.

Last, but not least, I offer love and gratitude to my husband, Dave. He had no idea that after thirty-five years of marriage to a chemist with regular working hours, he would abruptly be catapulted into living with an author who stayed up into the early hours writing, traveled all over the country (sometimes for weeks at a time), and whose income was erratic to say the least. He bore all this disruption with patience and a sense of humor, much better than I would have done if our situation had been reversed.

TIME LINE

450 BCE	Cyrus the Great allows Ezra and captured Jews to return to Zion from Babylonia, but many remain there.
332 BCE	Alexander the Great defeats Persian king Darius, Judea and Babylonia become Greek provinces.
167 BCE	Hasmonean/Maccabean revolt in Judea (basis of Hanukah). Judea again ruled by Jewish kings.
63 BCE	Pompey conquers Hasmonean state, Judea now ruled by Rome.
ca. 40 BCE	Hillel comes to Jerusalem from Babylonia and founds school to teach Torah.
37 BCE	Herod becomes client king of Judea, dies in 4 BCE.
6 CE	Judea becomes Roman province.
35	Jesus crucified.
66	Judean Jews rebel against Rome.
70	Judean rebellion fails. Temple in Jerusalem destroyed.
132	Bar Kokhba revolt against Rome, in Judea.
135	Bar Kokhba revolt is crushed. Judea renamed Palestina.
200	Mishna (Oral Law) redacted by patriarch, Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi.
220	Rav returns to Babylonia from Eretz Israel. He and Samuel establish Torah schools in Sura and Pumbedita, respectively.
226	Sasanian Persians conquer Parthia.
230	Hisda born in Babylonia.
241	Shapur 1 becomes king of Persia.
250	Jews agree to accept Persian law in Jewish courts. Jews receive autonomy within that limitation.
260	Shapur 1 defeats Rome, captures emperor Valerian.
270	Rava (Abba bar Joseph) born in Babylonia. Rav’s grandson Nehemiah becomes exilarch (through 313).
284	Diocletian becomes Roman emperor (through 305).
292	Narseh becomes king of Persia.
296	Narseh declares war on Rome.
298	Narseh defeated; Persia loses Armenia and upper Euphrates. Persian capital Ctesiphon sacked.
301	Narseh abdicates in favor of son Hormizd II.
307	Constantine, a Christian, becomes emperor of Rome.
309	Hormizd II dies. Persian crown placed on pregnant wife’s belly.
310	Shapur II born and declared king of Persia.
313	Mar Huna becomes exilarch (through 337). Constantine issues Edict of Milan and makes Christianity an official religion in Rome.
325	Roman Palestina administered by Christians. Last remaining Torah school in Tiberias is closed.
328	Shapur II crowned king of Persia and immediately attacks Arabs.
337	Constantine dies. Roman throne divided among his three sons.
350	Jerusalem Talmud complete.
359	Shapur II begins war with Rome.
361	Julian the Apostate becomes emperor of Rome, declares war against Persia and begins to rebuild Temple in Jerusalem.
363	An earthquake in Israel destroys Sepphoris and the partially rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. Rome defeated at Samara. Death of Emperor Julian.
380	Christianity established as Rome’s only official religion.
400	Yazdgerd becomes king of Persia, marries a Jewish princess, and inaugurates golden age of Sasanian kingdom.
424	Rav Ashi dies, and redacting of the Babylonian Talmud begins.
425	Rome abolishes office of Nasi (patriarch) in Palestina.
500	Death of Ravina, head of Sura school and last sage named in the Babylonian Talmud.
570	Birth of Mohammed.
630	Rise of Islam.
638	Omar captures Jerusalem. Jews allowed to live there for the first time in nearly five hundred years.
642	Palestina, Syria, Egypt, and Babylonia fall to Muslim Arabs.
650/700	Stammaim (anonymous editors) produce the final form of the Babylonian Talmud

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Abba bar Joseph (b. 270)—
a.k.a. Rava; Hisdadukh’s second husband, from Machoza

Abaye—
Rava’s best friend and study partner in Pumbedita

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