person · P0205
Rav Huna רב הונא
Rav's foremost disciple and successor at Sura (second generation, Bavel), under whom the academy reportedly numbered eight hundred scholars. He rose from poverty to preside over Babylonian Jewry's central metivta for four decades; his rulings carry Rav's tradition to the following generations through Rabbah and Rav Yosef.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- רב הונא
- Era
- amoraim
- Generation
- A2
- Received the mesorah from
- Rav, Shmuel
- Transmitted the mesorah to
- Rabbah, Rav Yosef, Rav Giddel, Rabbi Abba
- Teachers
- Rav
- Colleagues
- Rav Chisda
- Students
- Rabbah, Rav Yosef, Rav Giddel, Rabbi Abba
- Children
- Rabbah bar Rav Huna
II. When
- Traditional
- c. 3976–4057 AM
- Academic
- c. 216–297 CE
- Lifespan (traditional)
- ≈81 years
- Precision
- approximate
III. Where
- Places
- Sura
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Among the great sages who received from Rav and Shmuel were Rav Huna, Rav Yehudah, Rav Nachman, and Rav Kahana" — the Rambam's explicit reception statement, the basis of both edges drawn here.
Confidence is for the chain as the Rambam states it. |
rabbinic | ★★★★★ | |
| In the Rambam's forty-link chain, Rav Huna is listed as receiving also from Rabbi Yochanan; no edge is drawn for that link, since Rav Huna's career was Babylonian and direct study under Rabbi Yochanan is a schematic element of the list rather than an attested apprenticeship.
Deliberately claim-only; see the chain-honesty rule. |
tradition reconstruction | ★★☆☆☆ | |
| His beit midrash stood near Mata Mechasya, with Rav Chisda as his colleague at Sura. | tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| "After Shmuel, Rav Huna reigned... forty years, and disseminated much Torah": eight hundred scholars remained when the students dispersed, and he expounded through thirteen interpreters. He died in the Seleucid year 608 (297 CE) and his coffin was carried up to Eretz Yisrael to rest beside Rabbi Chiya's. | tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| Rav Huna came from Drukeret near Sura and was extremely poor in his youth, working in agriculture and with livestock; he later became wealthy.
The encyclopedia synthesizes the talmudic notices of his early poverty and later wealth.
|
rabbinic tradition external | ★★★★☆ | |
| The Bavli describes him as having lived to approximately eighty years of age.
The age is presented within a discussion of lifespan and fortune.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★★☆ | |
| After his death, Rav Huna's body was transported from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael and buried beside Rabbi Chiya.
The Bavli narrates the transport and the selection of the burial place in detail.
|
rabbinic tradition | ★★★★★ |