ARCHIPHERECITES(ἀρχιθερεκίται):

Grecized form of the Aramaic = "heads of the school" (pirḳa, literally "chapter," hence "discourse"). The name occurs in Justinian's "Novella," No. 146, Περὶ 'Εβραίων, of the year 553, in which the Archipherecites, the elders, and the teachers are forbidden to use their power of anathema in order to prevent the reading of the Greek version of the Bible in place of the Midrashic or Targumic interpretation.

Bibliography:
  • Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, iii. 359, note 7;
  • Kriegel, Corpus Juris, iii. 640.
  • Compare Academies in Palestine.
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