flourished from 998 to 1038, were the authors of many works on the
Talmud, the Bible, and other branches of Jewish literature. Hai Gaon was
also a poet.

The language used by the Gaonim was at first Hebrew and Aramaic, and the
latter remained the official speech of the Gaonate. In course of time,
Arabic replaced the Aramean dialect, and became the _lingua franca_ of
the Jews.

The formal works of the Gaonim, with certain obvious exceptions, were
not, however, the writings by which they left their mark on their age.
The most original and important of the Gaonic writings were their
"Letters," or "Answers" (_Teshuboth_). The Gaonim, as heads of the
school in the Babylonian cities Sura and Pumbeditha, enjoyed far more
than local authority. The Jews of Persia were practically independent of
external control. Their official heads were the Exilarchs, who reigned
over the Jews as viceroys of the caliphs. The Gaonim were the religious
heads of an emancipated community. The Exilarchs possessed a princely
revenue, which they devoted in part to the schools over which the Gaonim
presided. This position of authority, added to the world-wide repute of
the two schools, gave the Gaonim an influence which extended beyond
their own neighborhood. From all parts of the Jewish world their
guidance was sought and their opinions solicited on a vast variety of
subjects, mainly, but not exclusively, religious and literary. Amid the
growing complications of ritual law, a desire was felt for terse
prescriptions, clear-cut decisions, and rules of conduct. The
imperfections of study outside of Persia, again, made it essential to
apply to the Gaonim for authoritative expositions of difficult passages
in the Bible and the Talmud. To all such enquiries the Gaonim sent
responses in the form of letters, sometimes addressed to individual