Study Avodah Zarah folio 10A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
״שית שנין יתירתא״, סבור רבנן קמיה דרבה למימר: האי שטר מאוחר הוא, ניעכביה עד דמטיא זמניה ולא טריף. אמר רב נחמן: האי ספרא דוקנא כתביה, והנך שית שנין דמלכו בעילם, דאנן לא חשבינן להו, הוא קחשיב (ליה) [להו], ובזמניה כתביה.
a date that had 6 additional years relative to the correct scribal date, which takes for its starting point the beginning of Greek rule. The rabbis who studied before Rabba thought to say: This is a postdated promissory note, which can be used only from the date it specifies. Therefore, let us hold it until its time arrives so that the creditor will not repossess property that the debtor sold prior to the date that appears in the note. Rav Naḥman disagreed and said: This promissory note was written by an exacting scribe, and those 6 years are referring to the years when the Greeks ruled only in Elam. We do not count them, as Greek rule had not yet spread throughout the world, but he does count them. And therefore he wrote in the promissory note the correct time, as the date does in fact match the year in which the promissory note was written.
דתניא, רבי יוסי אומר: שש שנים מלכו בעילם, ואחר כך פשטה מלכותן בכל העולם כולו.
Rav Naḥman cites a proof for his resolution: As it is taught in a baraita that R' Yosei says: The Greeks ruled for 6 years in Elam alone, and afterward their dominion spread throughout the entire world. It is the later event that serves as the basis for the dating system used by most scribes.
מתקיף לה רב אחא בר יעקב: ממאי דלמלכות יונים מנינן? דלמא ליציאת מצרים מנינן, ושבקיה לאלפא קמא ונקטיה אלפא בתרא, והאי מאוחר הוא! אמר רב נחמן: בגולה אין מונין אלא למלכי יונים בלבד.
Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov objects to Rav Naḥman’s answer: From where is it known that we count years according to the Greek rule, and that this promissory note was dated according to a system that uses the Greek rule as a starting point and was written by an exacting scribe? Perhaps we count the years using the exodus from Egypt as the starting point, which occurred 1,000 years before the start of the Greek rule, and in this case the scribe left out the first 1,000 years from the time of the exodus and held on only to the last 1,000 years, omitting the thousands digit and writing merely the hundreds, tens, and single digits. And if so, this promissory note is postdated. Rav Naḥman said in response: The practice is that in the exile we count years only according to the Greek kings.