Simcha Gross's book, "Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity," aims to reshape the understanding of the talmudic period by exploring the interactions between Babylonian Jewry and the Sasanian empire.

Despite the vast knowledge found in the Babylonian Talmud about classical Jewish life, law, and culture from the 3rd to the 6th century C.E., there has been little surviving historical context beyond the text itself.