Anonymous. SEDER OLAM RABA VESEDER OLAM ZUTA [Two Midrashic chronologies]. With Megilath Ta’anith and Sepher Hakaballah, etc. by Abraham b. David of Posquieres (RAVa”D)

(MIDRASH).

Cornelio Adelkind for Marco Antonio Giustiniani

Venice

1545

Second Edition. Printer’s device on title (Yaari no. 16)

Vinograd, Venice 249; Haberman, Adelkind 28; Adams S-845

Attributed to Yose b. Chalaphta, the Seder Olam Raba is mentioned in the Talmud. It was the first text to establish the era “from the Creation of the World” or, Anno Mundi. Alexander Marx attempted a critical edition (unfinished) of the book, with a German translation, in 1903. The Megilath Ta’anith is of Tannaitic origin and is particularly useful as an historical parallel to the facts presented by Josephus. The Seder Olam Zuta probably dates to the early medieval period. Abraham Zacuto included large portions of it in his Sepher Yuchasin. A scholarly edition of the Seder Olam Zuta has yet to appear