Avot De-Rabbi Natan

("Avot" according to Rabbi Nathan). Extra-canonical tractate of 41 chapters providing an early commentary on and amplification of Mishnah Avot, including moral sayings by tannaim which are absent from Avot. This tractate, like the one on which it was based, is entirely aggadic. It often illustrates the sayings of Avot with parables and anecdotes drawn from the lives of the sages who are mentioned in Avot. The identity of the R. Nathan, to whom it is traditionally ascribed ,remains obscure. A commentary on some old version of Avot was produced by a certain Rabbi Nathan (perhaps R. Nathan Ha-Bavli) who lived in the second-third century CE. Internal evidence suggests that Avot de-Rabbi Natan was edited in the late third or early fourth century. The text has come down in two versions, with significant differences. One is found in standard editions of the Babylonian Talmud, following Tractate Avot at the end of Order Nezikin. The other, consisting of 48 chapters, was first published in full by Solomon Schechter. The work, frequently quoted by post-talmudic authorities, is a prime source for the study of Aggadah.

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