Shmuel of Nehardea שמואל ירחינאה
Amora, head of Nehardea, physician and astronomer, author of "dina de-malkhuta dina"
Shmuel headed the ancient academy of Nehardea while Rav founded Sura. Their dispute—"Rav and Shmuel"—runs through the whole Talmud, and the rule is: in matters of the permitted and forbidden the law follows Rav, in monetary matters Shmuel.
He was a physician, treating among others Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, and an astronomer who said "the paths of heaven are as clear to me as the streets of Nehardea"—though he admitted he did not understand comets.
His decisive formula is "dina de-malkhuta dina": the law of the kingdom is law. From it grew the whole legal life of Jews in exile—taxes, contracts and property recognised under the law of the host state. It was not surrender but a frame that let a community live inside a foreign kingdom without dissolving into it.
He was close to the Persian king Shapur I. After Nehardea was destroyed its learning moved to Pumbedita.
Chain of transmission
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi → Shmuel of Nehardea (together with Rabbi Yochanan, Rav (Abba Arikha)) → Rav Huna
A link in Maimonides is a court, not a man, and more than one name may stand in a single link.
On the timeline
Places
Related
Sources
Chazal: Mishnah, Talmud, midrash, Zohar
- Bava Batra 54b — dina demalchuta dina — the law of the state is binding
- Nedarim 20b — a physician and an expert in the paths of the heavens
- Berachot 58b — “the paths of heaven are as clear to me as the streets of Nehardea”
Rishonim
- the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon — his place among the first Amoraim
Basis: tradition.