Abot deRabbi Nathan Reference library
Catherine Hezser
The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity
...extra-canonical tractates of the Babylonian Talmud , that is, it appears in the printed editions of the Talmud but is not an original part of it. It is based on the Mishnah tractate Abot and contains traditions which comment on, embellish, and supplement the earlier text. The tradents and editors were mostly interested in internal rabbinic matters, such as the transmission of Torah learning, relationships between teachers and students, and proper rabbinic etiquette. The document is written in Mishnaic Hebrew and transmitted in two major versions (A is longer...
Talmud Reference library
Catherine Hezser
The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity
...process until the time of the first manuscripts in the Middle Ages. Others (Milikowsky) continue to distinguish between the editors, who composed the document, and the scribes who wrote the manuscripts. The development of the Talmud was a complex process which involved many tradents (transmitters), editors, and scribes, and lasted many centuries. One can reckon with many stages of collection and editing and successive changes to the text once it existed in written form. Since no copyright existed in Antiquity, scribes were free to change the text in...
