Baba Rabba

rdf:langString Baba Rabba

rdf:langString Baba II Rabba

rdf:langString Baba II Rabba

rdf:langString Baba II Rabba (Samaritan Aramaic: ࠁࠢࠁࠢࠀ ࠓࠠࠁࠠࠄ Bābāʾ Råbbå, Samaritan Hebrew: ࠁࠢࠁࠢࠀ ࠄࠣࠂࠟࠃࠅࠫࠋ Bābāʾ ʾagā̊dōl; literally "Baba the Great"), was a notable Samaritan High Priest. He is believed to have lived during the late third and early fourth centuries CE; Jeffrey Cohen puts his birth at 288 and his death at 328. The son of the Samaritan High Priest Nethanel III, Baba Rabba was probably born in Kiryat Hagga, modern-day Hajjah, West Bank. Little is known about his life. According to later Samaritan works, he was a religious reformer and together with the scholar Marqah helped codify Samaritan liturgy and worship. He appears to have had connections with the Roman authorities, and may have exercised some temporal authority over the Samaritan community, which appears to have been relatively autonomous during this period. One chronicle places his death at 362 in Constantinople. Baba is also remembered for his actions against Roman (Byzantine) sanctions on the Samaritan community, such as resisting the ban on circumcision imposed on the Samaritans, re-opening and building brand new synagogues throughout Samaria, and administering the country in the midst of its rebellion against the Romans. Per Samaritan chronology, he lived in the "eighth period".