AD 500

Redaction of the Babylonian Talmud

Traditional close of Amoraic teaching associated with Ravina

The traditional date is tied to a rabbi’s death, not to a surviving manuscript, colophon or publication record.

475, or 499

No contemporary source records the Babylonian Talmud being completed or published in 475.

Rav Sherira Gaon’s chronology places the death of the later Ravina on 13 Kislev, Seleucid year 811 — 499 CE. The 475 of the listing comes from a later chronological reconstruction.

Modern scholarship treats the Talmud’s formation and redaction as a layered process rather than a datable one-day event.

“The end of instruction”

The Talmud itself says that Rav Ashi and Ravina were the “end of instruction” — a line later read as marking the close of the Amoraic period and their role in redaction.

Sources disagree over which Ravina is meant.

The phrase does not by itself prove that the Babylonian Talmud was completed in its present form.

Who supplied the anonymous voice

After approximately 500, generations conventionally called Savoraim continued reworking, explaining and refining the text, including parts of its anonymous connective argument.

Scholars disagree substantially over the dating and extent of that anonymous stratum, with proposals ranging from progressive Amoraic composition through Savoraic or even later Geonic work.

Because the text was transmitted orally and in multiple written forms, “completed” and “final redaction” can describe different stages.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at ~0500.

What the sources leave uncertain

The listed year 475 is not the best-supported traditional date. Rav Sherira's much earlier chronology gives 499, while 475 derives from a later chronological reconstruction.
The phrase 'end of instruction' does not by itself prove completion of the Babylonian Talmud in its present form.
Scholars disagree substantially over the dating and extent of the anonymous stratum: proposals range from progressive Amoraic composition through Savoraic or even later Geonic work.
Because the text was transmitted orally and textually in multiple forms, 'completed' and 'final redaction' can describe different stages.