Machoza מחוזא
The rich trading town on the Tigris to which Rava moved the academy—a merchants' city from which the Talmud learned to think about money.
Machoza stood on the Tigris by the bridge, opposite the royal capital of Ctesiphon—and lived by trade. The Talmud eyes its people with a smile: beer? no, they drink wine; the wives do not work; the sons are pampered. Yet it was here, among merchants and notes of credit, that the Talmud's property law gained its subtlest pages.
After Abaye's death (4098) Rava moved the academy here from Pumbedita, and until his death Machoza led all Babylonia. In 4123 (363 CE) the emperor Julian burned the town on his Persian campaign; the academy never returned, but "the men of Machoza" remain the Talmud's standing characters in Rava's examples.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Berakhot 59b — the people of Machoza before Rava
- Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon — Rava and the academy at Machoza
Basis: Talmud and midrash.