Pumbedita (sometimes
Pumbeditha,
Pumpedita, or
Pumbedisa; ) was the name of a city in ancient
Babylonia close to the modern-day city of
Fallujah. The city had a large
Jewish population and was famed for its
Talmudic academy scholarship that, together with the city of
Sura, gave rise to the
Babylonian Talmud. The academy there was founded by
Judah ben Ezekiel in the late third century. The academy was established after the destruction of the academy of
Nehardea. Nehardea, being the capital city, was destroyed during the Persian-Palmyrian war.