HILLEL (c. 50 BCE–early first century CE), Jewish sage and teacher. Although several modern scholars claim that Hillel, known as "the Elder," had Alexandrian roots, there is no reason to doubt the Talmudic tradition that he was a native of Babylonia. Hillel was a disciple of Shemaʿyah and Avṭalyon, who preceded Hillel and his colleague Shammai as the two leading teachers, or "pairs" (zugot), in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem (Palestinian) Talmud reports (Pes. 6.1, 33a, where Hillel is called "the Babylonian") that Hillel was designated nasiʾ (patriarch, i.e., head of the court) in recognition for having been able to resolve a difficult question of Jewish law on the basis of a tradition he heard from Shemaʿyah and Avṭalyon. The later patriarchs were regarded as descendants of Hillel, who in turn was said to have been a scion of the house of David (J.T., Ta...