Gamaliel VI (c. 370–425) was the last ''
nasi'' of the ancient
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Aramaic: סַנְהֶדְרִין; Greek: , ''synedrion'', 'sitting together,' hence 'assembly' or 'council') was an assembly of either 23 or 71 elders (known as "rabbis" after the destruction of the Second Temple), a ...
.
Gamaliel came into office around the year 400. On October 20, 415, an edict issued by the Emperors
Honorius and
Theodosius II
Theodosius II ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος, Theodosios; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450) was Roman emperor for most of his life, proclaimed ''augustus'' as an infant in 402 and ruling as the eastern Empire's sole emperor after the death of his ...
stripped Gamaliel of his rank of honorary prefect. This decree also banned him from building new synagogues, adjudicating disputes between
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites"" ...
and
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
, converting non-Jews to Judaism, and owning Christian slaves.
Gamaliel probably died in 425, as the
Codex Theodosianus
The ''Codex Theodosianus'' (Eng. Theodosian Code) was a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 42 ...
mentions an edict from the year 426, which transformed the patriarch's tax into an imperial tax after the death of the patriarch. Theodosius did not allow the appointment of a successor and in 429 terminated the Jewish patriarchate.
Gamliel appears to have been a physician.
Marcellus Empiricus, a medical writer of the fifth century, mentioned that "for the spleen there is a special remedy which was recently demonstrated by the patriarch Gamaliel on the basis of approved experiments."
[ van der Horst 2002: 27]
Notes
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamaliel 06
Talmud rabbis of the Land of Israel
Ancient Jewish physicians
People executed by the Roman Empire
5th-century executions
4th-century rabbis
5th-century rabbis
370s births
420s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
5th-century Byzantine physicians
Sanhedrin