Rav | Rav Papa | Sayyid Mar'ashi Najafi | Rav Shela |
Halivni posits that during the time of Ravina and Rav Ashi, they compiled a Gemara that was much smaller than the Gemara known today, and which likely was similar to the Mishna and to the Tosefta.
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The Talmud says that Ravina and Rav Ashi were the ‘end of instruction’ which is understood by many to mean that they compiled the Talmud.
The key work of these academies was the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud, started by Rav Ashi and Ravina, two leaders of the Babylonian Jewish community, around the year 550.