Ifra Hormiz and the Use of Mini-Corpora in the Study of the Babylonian Talmud

Abstract:Ifra Hormiz is mentioned in five short stories in the Babylonian Talmud, each time accompanied by a description: "the mother of Shapur Malka," Shapur the king. This essay examines the stories about Ifra Hormiz from a literary angle. It suggests that an intratalmudic, comparative, literary analysis of these stories can offer a new perspective on their creation, and that we can better reveal and highlight the differing agendas and motifs of stories that have similar literary nuclei when we examine them as part of a broader corpus of similar stories. This analysis will shed light on the stories' anonymous authors, their intended audiences, and the ways they chose to address gender issues and their attitude toward the Persian rulers of their times.