are not entirely unprejudiced. As narrator of the history of Halakhah in the course of the first millennium. The literary topoi of his historical account have some parallels to the Islamic historical genre – the ṭabaqāt. As a chronicler, he exposes monumental documented information about the rabbis and the Babylonian communities, especially the Jewish seats of learning (academies) at Sura and Pumpeditha. Sherira also relates to the persecution under Yazdegerd II. Apparently, he also refers to some mythical imagery while reconstructing the chronology of the Halakhah as a profound historical picture. This letter is included in the Ahimaaz Chronicle, but it has also been edited from manuscripts by B. Goldberg and under the title "Iggeret Rab Sherira Gaon"; also by J. Wallerstein, under the title "Sherirae Epistola." The best edition of this letter prior to 1900 is that by Adolf Neubauer. The best modern source for the letter is the edition of B.M. Lewin, in which the French and Spanish recensions are printed side by side. Most later editions are based on one or other of these. All dates appended in Sherira's work are according to the Seleucid era counting. Modern translations of the Iggeret have converted these dates into their corresponding Gregorian calendar date for easy comprehension. Another letter by Sherira, also addressed to Jacob ben Nissim of Kairouan, deals with the various titles given to the Talmudic sages, as "Rabban," "Rabbi," "Rab," and "Mar," and explains why some sages are simply mentioned by their names, without the addition of any titles. Editions The Iggeret exists in its original Aramaic both in "French" and "Spanish" recensions. The "French" recension is written completely in Aramaic, while the "Spanish" recension (now at the Vienna National Bibliothek, Ms. Hebr. 120) is a 13th or 14th-century copy written on paper, in what appears to be North African or Greek rabbinic script, measuring 270 x 202 mm, and composed of a higher proportion of Hebrew. The two recensions appear to differ on the question of whether the Mishnah was recorded in writing by Rabbi Judah haNasi. The Spanish recension definitely says that it was. The French recension appears to say that it was not, and this was the traditional view among Ashkenazi Jews. However, the notes to a recent edition of the French recension argue that the French wording is also consistent with the Mishnah having been written down. The scholarly consensus, up to