After Abba Arikha and
Samuel of Nehardea died at the end of the first generation of the Amoraim, along with the designation of
Rav Huna as dean Sura, Judah bar Ezekiel went to the city of
Pumbedita and had established a new yeshiva there. The yeshiva of Pumbedita, founded approximately in 260 CE, continued the tradition of Nehardea and became synomymous with his teaching. The Pumbedita Academy was active for about 800 years over the course of the eras of the
Amoraim,
Savoraim, and
Geonim up until the days of
Hai Gaon. At the time, the
academies of Pumbedita and
Sura became the most influential and dominant yeshivas of the Jewish communities' world, and all
Torah decrees and other religious rulings were issued from these Yeshivas to all the
Jewish diaspora. Pumbedita Academy served as a field of growth to the greatest Jewish sages for generations to come, among them:
Rabbah bar Nahmani ("Rabbah"),
Rav Yosef b. Hiyya,
Abaye and Amora sage
Rava, Savora sages
Rabbah Jose and
Simuna, and Geonim Rab Rabbah Gaon and Paltoi ben Abbaye Gaon, as well as
Sherira Gaon and his son,
Hai Gaon. Pumbedita Academy was at its peak during the third and fourth generation of the Amoraim. During the days of the Amora sage
Rava, Pumbedita Academy moved to Mahuza (, modern
al-Mada'in), but after his death, it returned to Pumbedita. The academy declined after Rava's death in 353 and many rabbis from Pumbedita founded academies in other cities in Babylonia. Later, with the sealing of the
Talmud by
Ravina II Sura, the era of the Savoraim (499-589) began, in which most part of that period, proper studying on a regular basis no longer took place in Sura, only in Pumbedita. During the era of the Geonim, the two Talmudic academies were correspondingly active as well. One of Pumbedita's Gaons and dean of the Academy, Hai Gaon (approximately in years 988-990), moved the academy to
Baghdad because the number of Jews making a living from agriculture was growing smaller and they were migrating to the big cities, mainly to Baghdad (apart from the phenomenon of Jewish
emigration out of
Babylonia). However, the academy's name remained "Pumbedita Academy" despite its relocation. The last period of Pumbedita Academy growth took place during the days of
Sherira Gaon and his son, Hai Gaon. Thousands of letters with
halachic issues attached were received at Pumbedita, addressed to the heads of the Academy from all around the
Jewish diaspora. The Geonim of the Academy worked hard to respond to their questions. Along with Hai Gaon's death ( 1038), the era of the Geonim ended.
Hezekiah Gaon and
Bostanai were appointed deans of Pumbedita Academy, the only men to be simultaneously a Gaon and
Exilarch. Twenty years later, Hezekiah Gaon, by some accounts, was tortured to death by the Muslim
Buyid dynasty and Pumbedita Academy closed. ==List of Pumbedita academy's deans==