רב מתנה

Rav Mattena was an amora who appears throughout the Babylonian Talmud, where he is recorded transmitting the teachings of earlier masters — frequently in the name of Rav and of Shmuel — and offering his own halachic rulings and scriptural derivations. His statements are cited across many tractates, including Niddah, Arakhin, Chullin, Menachot, Sanhedrin, Bava Batra, Bava Metzia, Bava Kamma, Kiddushin, and Avodah Zarah, as well as in the midrashic literature (Bereshit Rabbah) and in later codifications such as Sefer HaChinukh.

His recorded teachings span a broad range of subjects. He addresses laws of tahara (the status of the placenta and afterbirth in Niddah), Temple service and its vessels (the song accompanying the offerings, the salt placed upon sacrifices, the shovel used in the Sanctuary), civil and monetary law (assessing damages, gifts and transfers of property in Bava Batra and Bava Kamma), idolatry and the Roman festival of Kalanda (Avodah Zarah), and capital law (Sanhedrin). He is often noted grounding rulings in a scriptural verse or, at times, in gematria.

He is portrayed as an authority of standing: in Kiddushin he is cited as one whose presence lends support to a ruling. Several figures associated with him — Rabba bar Rav Mattena, Rav Chiyya bar Rav Mattena, Rav Tovi bar Rav Mattena, and Rav Achadvoi bar Rav Mattena — also appear in the cited passages.