Person
Rav Ravya bar Abaye רב רביא בר אביי
head of Pumbedita around 4470
Rav Ravya bar Abaye headed Pumbedita around 4470. Around 4479 the seat passes to Rav Natronai bar Nechemya, and after him come Geonim about whom a great deal more is known.
Of Rav Ravya himself the sources give only the name, the patronymic and an approximate year. In some lists a second reading stands beside his name—Muronai; the discrepancy is old and unresolved, and we do not resolve it but note it.
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 Pumbedita 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.