person · P0273

Rav Tzemach bar Paltoi רב צמח בר פלטוי

Gaon of Pumbedita for nineteen years and, the Iggeret notes, the maternal grandfather of its author's father — the succession and the historian's own pedigree in one line. Geonic tradition remembers him as an early lexicographer of the Talmud.

I. Who

Hebrew
רב צמח בר פלטוי
Era
geonim
Parents
Rav Paltoi bar Abaye

II. When

Traditional
gaon of Pumbedita c. 4632–4650 AM
Academic
gaon c. 872–890 CE
Lifespan (traditional)
≈70 years
Precision
approximate

III. Where

Places
Pumbedita

V. How do we know

ClaimEvidenceConfidenceSources
"In the year 1183 [Seleucid; 872 CE] reigned Mar Rav Tzemach the gaon bar Mar Paltoi the gaon — and he is the father of the mother of our father the gaon — and he reigned nineteen years." tradition ★★★★☆
No source names his teacher; his father Rav Paltoi bar Abaye — himself a head of the academy per the Iggeret — stood at the head of his formation. Kinship the Iggeret states; reception it does not — recorded as inference one remove from attestation.
Derived by era-and-institution (and household) inference, not attested.
reconstruction ★★☆☆☆