HAMNUNA I.:
Babylonian amora of the third century; senior to Joseph b. Ḥiyya (Ket. 50b; Tosef., Ket. s.v. 
). He was a disciple of Rab (Abba Arika), from whom he received instruction not only in the Halakah (B. Ḳ. 106a), but also in ethics ('Er. 54a; comp. Ecclus. [Sirach] xiv. 11 et seq.). He seems to have been prominent among his fellow students, following Rab's example. What the master directed others to do or to omit, he directed his colleagues. "Charge your wives," said he, "that when standing by the dead they pluck not their hair out [for grief], lest they transgress the inhibition, 'Ye shall not make any baldness between your eyes for the dead'" (Deut. xiv. 1; Yer. Ḳid. i. 61c; comp. Yer. Ma'as. iv. 51c.; Yer. Suk. iv. 54b). Hehonored Rab's memory not only by citing him as an authority ('Er. 77b, et al.), but also by endeavoring to prevent deviations from customs once established by Rab. When a scholar came to Ḥarta de-Argaz and decided a ritualistic point contrary to the opinion of Rab, Hamnuna excommunicated him, arguing that the scholar should not have ventured to act thus at Rab's last residence (Shab. 19b). In Haggadah he is not often met with. Once he quotes a saying of Rab's ('Ab. Zarah. 19b).
