Mar Rab Hanan of Iskiya

Mar Rav Hanan of Iskiya is known almost entirely from the Epistle of Rav Sherira Gaon, the history of the Babylonian academies written in 987. Sherira records that after a period of turmoil in Persian Babylonia, Rav Hanan became head of the academy of Pumbedita around 589, and he is counted as the first of the Geonim there. Little else is known about him, and even the location of Iskiya is uncertain.

His appointment marks the start of the Geonic period, which lasted until the death of Hai Gaon of Pumbedita in 1038. The title Gaon, short for Rosh Yeshivat Ge'on Ya'akov, "head of the academy, the pride of Jacob" (from Psalm 47), belonged to the heads of Sura and Pumbedita, who answered questions sent from across the Jewish world in their responsa and became the recognized authorities on the Talmud.