Person
Rabbi Berechiah רבי ברכיה
the most quoted aggadist of the later Midrashim
His teacher in aggadah was Rabbi Helbo; he knew Rabbi Levi and Abba bar Kahana in person. He disputed points of law with Mana the Younger, and from that it is inferred that he lived to a great age.
He lived in the Land of Israel, but since he cites Babylonian scholars and knows the details of their household life, he was probably a Babylonian by birth.
There is no life of him, but there is a count in the books. The Jewish Encyclopedia finds his name sixty-eight times in the Pesikta, sixty-one in Pesikta Rabbati, seventy-three in the Buber Tanhuma and eighty-five in Midrash Tehillim.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Pesikta, Tanhuma, Midrash Tehillim — the sayings of Rabbi Berechiah
Scholarship
- The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) — the century, the teachers, the count of citations in the Midrashim, and the Babylonian origin
- Jewish Encyclopedia, "Berechiah II" — the count of mentions across the midrashim
Basis: Talmud and midrash.