Parallel dialectical structures in Amoraic construction of <i>sugyot</i>

Scholarship on the Babylonian Talmud has long noted various forms of parallelism, usually involving repeated content, wording or narrative units. This article isolates a different, largely overlooked, phenomenon: ‘parallel dialectical structures’ – recurrent argumentative frameworks in which the same sequence of dialectical moves is redeployed across multiple sugyot , while the specific Halakhic content, wording and starting assumptions inserted into those structural slots vary. These structures are defined primarily by their shared formal argumentative pattern, distinguishing them from other types of Talmudic parallels. Focusing on two case studies, the article demonstrates that the duplication and adaptation of such set structures can be attributed to identifiable fourth- and fifth-generation Babylonian Amoraim, showing that dialectical frameworks functioned not merely as a late redactional ‘wrapper’, but as an integral medium of Amoraic learning, transmission and literary composition. Two appendices present full critical editions of the examined texts.