extinction of the patriarchal office (about 425). But Tiberias did not therefore cease to be a seat of learning, although very little of its subsequent activity is known. The Tiberian punctuation Further importance was gained by Tiberias as the seat of the Masoretic traditions and innovations; for there in the seventh century was introduced that system of punctuation which was destined to aid so efficiently in the proper reading and understanding of the biblical text. This system, which achieved universal recognition, is called the "Tiberian punctuation". At Tiberias flourished, about the middle of the eighth century, the Masorite Phinehas, called also Rosh Yeshiva ("Head of the Academy"), and Asher the Great, forefather of five generations of Masorites (Nehemiah ben Asher, Moses ben Nehemiah, Asher ben Moses, Moses ben Asher, and Aaron ben Moses), was to a certain extent his contemporary. The last-named Aaron ben Moses ben Asher (briefly called Ben Asher), a contemporary of Saadia Gaon, brought the Tiberian school of Masorites to a distinguished end. Tiberias thereafter ceased to play any part in Jewish learning, until, in the twelfth century, it emerged for a brief period, and again in the sixteenth century, when it became the object of the pious ambition of Don Joseph Nasi of Naxos. See also Talmudic Academies in Babylonia Firuz Shapur, modern-day Anbar, a town adjacent or identical to Nehardea; academy of Pumbedita was moved to this town for half of the 6th century Mahuza, modern-day Al-Mada'in; the academy of Pumbedita was relocated to Mahuza during the time of the Amora sage Rava Nehardea Academy (in Nehardea) Pumbedita Academy (in Pumbedita for most of its history, near modern-day Fallujah) Pum-Nahara Academy Sura Academy, in Sura (city) - the political center of Jewish Babylonia after Nehardea Notes References Bacher, Wilhelm. "Academies in Palestine". Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906. Chazal Jewish education Jews in the Land of Israel Talmud Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire Syria Palaestina