(d. 422 CE). Babylonian amora of the sixth generation. Ravina studied under Rava and was closely associated with Ashi at the latter's Mata Meḥasya Academy, helping him "bring the teaching to completion" (BM 86a), generally taken to mean that they began the final redaction of the Talmud, though the process no doubt continued after their deaths. The later closing of the Babylonian Talmud under their inspiration gave it precedence over the Jerusalem Talmud, establishing it as the fountainhead of Jewish learning for all the generations to come.
Ravina's halakhic rulings are quoted hundreds of times in the Talmud, often in disagreement with Ashi. He was known for his devotion to study, "turning night into day" (MK 25b), and was a wealthy man with tenant-farmers on four of his big fields. His nephew
Ravina II was the last of the Babylonian amoraim, his death in 499 ushering in the period of the Savoraim.
