Person
Mar Rav Shmuel, head of Sura מר רב שמואל, ראש ישיבת סורא
head of Sura from 4493
Mar Rav Shmuel took Sura in 4493 (733). In the list he stands without a town and without a father's name—by his own name alone, which is rare: a head of the academy is usually named either for his father or for his place, so as not to be confused with another.
And he is easy to confuse: there are many Shmuels in the Babylonian tradition, beginning with Shmuel of Nehardea himself, the contemporary of Rav. So in our entry the seat is added to the name: Mar Rav Shmuel, head of Sura—the one whose gaonate falls in 4493–4511, and no one else.
The list goes no further: no responsum, no tradition. Which is why the whole care of this entry is not to confuse him with another Shmuel.
On the timeline
4349 · 589 CEThe Beginning of the Geonic Era4510 · 750 CEThe Flowering of the Geonic Age and the Sheiltot of Rav Achai
Places
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon — the list of the heads of Sura by name and year
- Seder Tannaim ve-Amoraim — the list of the Savoraim and the first heads of the academies, put together about a century before the Epistle: the same chain, attested independently of Sherira
Basis: documents and evidence.