Rabbi Natan haBavli רבי נתן הבבלי

Rabbi Natan came to the Land of Israel from Babylon, where his father was exilarch, and took the office of av beit din—head of the court—under the Nasi Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel at Usha.

The Talmud preserves a rare account of a quarrel among the sages at court: Rabbi Natan and Rabbi Meir plotted to catch the Nasi out in ignorance of tractate Uktzin, the matter came to light, and both were for a time removed from the house of study (Horayot 13b). The story is valuable for showing that the Nasi's authority was not unconditional and was contested.

Two compilations carry his name: Avot de-Rabbi Natan, an early expansion of tractate Avot in which the sayings grew stories around them, and the thirty-two rules for interpreting aggadah, printed in later editions as the baraita of Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yose haGelili but linked with him as well.

The sources give no years; the generation is the fifth of the Tannaim, a contemporary of Rabbi Meir and of Rabbi Yehuda haNasi in his youth.