After a long period of study in Palestine, the Babylonian sage Rav returns to Babylon. In the tradition of the Babylonian sages, this date inaugurates a new era, the period of the Talmud: “When Rav came to Babylon, we became there like the Land of Israel” (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin, 1:1). According to them this date also marks the creation of the two great Babylonian yeshivot – the Nehardea Academy (later transferred to Pumbedita) headed by Shmuel, and that of Sura, founded by Rav himself.