ImageSize = width:590 height:120 PlotArea = width:570 height:25 left:5 bottom:60 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-250 till:2000 AlignBars = early ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:200 start:-200 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:50 start:-200

Colors =

Define $hx = 15 # shift text to right side of bar

PlotData =

LineData =

Legend = columns:4 left:125 top:25 columnwidth:150

Colors =

</timeline>

Geonim (Hebrew: גאונים‎; also transliterated Gaonim) were the presidents of the two great Babylonian, Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita, in the Abbasid Caliphate, and were the generally accepted spiritual leaders of the Jewish community world wide in the early medieval era, in contrast to the Resh Galuta (Exilarch) who wielded secular authority over the Jews in Islamic lands.

Geonim is the plural of גאון (Gaon'), which means "pride" or "splendour" in Biblical Hebrew and since the 19th century "genius" as in modern Hebrew. As a title of a Babylonian college president it meant something like "His Excellency."