This is part of a 2024 Association for Jewish Studies panel celebrating the publication of Gross, Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity (Cambridge Press, 2024). Read the full forum here.I noted the first three essays in the series here and links.... I want to respond to Gross’s call to read Bavli narratives differently – neither as pure literary creations nor as sources for historical fact, but as sites in which the rabbis are actively navigating their relationship with empire by incorporating and responding to imperial ideas and motifs. And indeed, this story provides an excellent example of Gross’s model of moving past the accommodation vs. resistance binary, as it demonstrates different Jewish figures adopting and responding to Sassanian norms as they jockey for authority. ...
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