Avot of Rabbi Natan - Authorship

Authorship

Nathan the Babylonian, whose name appears in the title of the work under treatment, cannot possibly have been its only author, since he flourished about the middle of the 2nd century, or a generation prior to the author of the Mishnah. Besides, several authorities are quoted who flourished a long time after R. Nathan; for instance, Rabbi Joshua ben Levi. The designation "De-Rabbi Nathan" may be explained by the circumstance that R. Nathan is one of the first authorities mentioned in the opening chapter of the work (but not the first, that being Yose ha-Galili). Perhaps the school of the tannaite R. Nathan originated the work, however. Probably due to political differences that Rabbi Nathan had with Shimon ben Gamliel, Rabbi Nathan's name does not appear in the version of Avot compiled by redactor of the Mishna Rebbi (the son of the aforementioned Shimon ben Gamliel). However, it is known that Rabbi Nathan made an independent collection (Cashdan 1965), and it is possible that Avot de-Rabbi Nathan derives from that source.

It is also called Tosefta to Abot (see Horowitz, Uralte Toseftas, i. 6, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1889; Brüll's Jahrbücher, ix. 139 et seq.). The two recensions of the work in their present shape evidently have different authors; but who they were cannot be ascertained. Probably they belonged to the period of the Geonim, between the 8th and 9th centuries.