Jews

=== Babylon and Rome ===
{{further|History of the Jews in the Roman Empire|Talmudic academies in Babylonia}}

The [[Jewish diaspora]] existed well before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and had been ongoing for centuries, with the dispersal driven by both forced expulsions and voluntary migrations.<ref>[[Erich S. Gruen]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=t1IR4WtFjGUC&pg=PA3 Diaspora: Jews Amidst Greeks and Romans] [[Harvard University Press]], 2009 pp. 3–4, 233–34: 'Compulsory dislocation, .…cannot have accounted for more than a fraction of the diaspora. … The vast bulk of Jews who dwelled abroad in the Second Temple Period did so voluntarily.' (2)' .Diaspora did not await the fall of Jerusalem to Roman power and destructiveness. The scattering of Jews had begun long before-occasionally through forced expulsion, much more frequently through voluntary migration.'</ref><ref name="AHJ-GM"/> By 200 BCE, Jewish communities already existed in [[Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]] ("[[History of the Jews in Iraq|Babylonia]]" in Jewish sources). In the two centuries that followed, Jewish populations were also present in [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], [[Greece]], [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]], [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]], and, beginning in the middle of the first century BCE, in the city of [[Rome]].<ref name="Smallwood">{{cite book |author=E. Mary Smallwood |title=The Cambridge History of Judaism: The early Roman period, Volume 3 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=978-0521243773 |editor1=William David Davies |chapter=The Diaspora in the Roman period before AD 70 |editor2=Louis Finkelstein |editor3=William Horbury |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AW2BuWcalXIC&q=Diaspora+before+70&pg=PA168}}</ref><ref name="AHJ-GM"/> Later, in the first centuries CE, as a result of the [[Jewish–Roman wars|Jewish-Roman Wars]], a large number of Jews were taken as captives, sold into slavery, or compelled to flee from the regions affected by the wars, contributing to the formation and expansion of Jewish communities across the [[Roman Empire]] as well as in [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] and Mesopotamia.

After the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]], the Jewish population in [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]], now significantly reduced in size, made efforts to recover from the revolt's devastating effects, but never fully regained its previous strength.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Ehrlich |first=Michael |title=The Islamization of the Holy Land, 634–1800 |publisher=Arc Humanities Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-64189-222-3 |location=Leeds, UK |pages=3–4 |oclc=1302180905 |quote=The Jewish community strove to recover from the catastrophic results of the Bar Kokhva revolt (132–135 CE). Although some of these attempts were relatively successful, the Jews never fully recovered. During the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, many Jews emigrated to thriving centres in the diaspora, especially Iraq, whereas some converted to Christianity and others continued to live in the Holy Land, especially in Galilee and the coastal plain. During the Byzantine period, the three provinces of Palestine included more than thirty cities, namely, settlements with a bishop see. After the Muslim conquest in the 630s, most of these cities declined and eventually disappeared. As a result, in many cases the local ecclesiastical administration weakened, while in others it simply ceased to exist. Consequently, many local Christians converted to Islam. Thus, almost twelve centuries later, when the army led by Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the Holy Land, most of the local population was Muslim.}}</ref><ref>Oppenheimer, A'haron and Oppenheimer, Nili. ''Between Rome and Babylon: Studies in Jewish Leadership and Society''. Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 2.</ref> In the second to fourth centuries CE, the region of [[Galilee]] emerged as the new center of Jewish life in [[Syria Palaestina]], experiencing a cultural and demographic flourishing. It was in this period that two central rabbinic texts, the [[Mishnah]] and the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], were composed.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Leibner |first=Uzi |url=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/43969 |title=Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern Galilee |date=2009 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |isbn=978-3-16-151460-9 |pages=321–324; 362–371; 396–400; 414–416 |hdl=20.500.12657/43969 |language=English}}</ref> However, as the Roman Empire was replaced by the [[Historiography of Christianization of the Roman Empire|Christianized]] Byzantine Empire under [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]], Jews came to be persecuted by the church and the authorities, and many immigrated to communities in the diaspora. In the fourth century CE, Jews are believed to have lost their position as the majority in [[Syria Palaestina]].<ref name="Kessler20102">{{cite book |author=Edward Kessler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87Woe7kkPM4C&pg=PA72 |title=An Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-521-70562-2 |page=72 |quote=Jews probably remained in the majority in Palestine until some time after the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century. [...] In Babylonia, there had been for many centuries a Jewish community which would have been further strengthened by those fleeing the aftermath of the Roman revolts.}}</ref><ref name=":12" />

The long-established Jewish community of Mesopotamia, which had been living under [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and later [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] rule, beyond the confines of the Roman Empire, became an important center of [[Jewish studies|Jewish study]] as Judea's Jewish population declined.<ref name="Kessler20102" /><ref name=":12" /> Under the political leadership of the [[exilarch]], who was regarded as a royal heir of the House of David, this community had an autonomous status and served as a place of refuge for the Jews of [[Syria Palaestina]]. A number of significant [[Talmudic academies in Babylonia|Talmudic academies]], such as the [[Nehardea Academy|Nehardea]], [[Pumbedita Academy|Pumbedita]], and [[Sura Academy|Sura]] academies, were established in Mesopotamia, and many important ''[[Amoraim]]'' were active there. The [[Babylonian Talmud]], a centerpiece of Jewish religious law, was compiled in Babylonia in the 3rd to 6th centuries.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=Talmud and Midrash (Judaism) :: The making of the Talmuds: 3rd–6th century |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581644/Talmud-and-Midrash/34869/The-making-of-the-Talmuds-3rd-6th-century#ref=ref24372 |access-date=28 October 2013}}</ref>