When was the Talmud written?

An oral tradition first

For centuries the explanation of the Torah was taught by heart: the Oral Torah. After the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) and the persecutions that followed, the sages feared it would be forgotten. Maimonides explains in the introduction to his Mishneh Torah that this is why Rabbi Judah the Prince gathered the teachings and edited the Mishnah, around 200 CE.

Gemara in two centres

The generations after the Mishnah – the Amoraim – discussed it in the academies of the Land of Israel and of Babylonia. Their discussions, together with the Mishnah, form the Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi), shorter and less polished, was closed around 400 CE, when conditions in the Land of Israel became very hard. The Babylonian Talmud (Bavli) continued to grow for about another century.

The close of the Bavli

The Talmud itself says: “Rabbi and Rabbi Natan are the end of the Mishnah; Rav Ashi and Ravina are the end of instruction (hora’ah)” (Bava Metzia 86a). Rav Ashi died in 427 and the last Ravina around 500 CE; the Savoraim who followed added finishing touches. From then on the Babylonian Talmud became the basis of Jewish law.

In print

The Talmud was copied by hand for a thousand years. The first complete printed edition appeared in Venice (Daniel Bomberg, 1520–1523); its page layout, with Rashi and Tosafot around the text, is still used, so that a reference such as “Berachot 2a” is the same page in every edition.