The last two Gaonim of any importance lived in Pumbeditha. They were Sherira, who died in 999, and his son, Hay Gaon, who died in 1038. From the former we possess a very important historical treatise on the development of Rabbinic law known as the epistle of Sherira Gaon. It was written at the request of a man in Morocco, and was inspired by apologetic motives to prove that the law had been handed down unaltered from generation to generation. From Hay Gaon we have various Talmudic works, many responsa, and a didactic poem. Their contemporary was Samuel ibn Hofni, a rationalistic writer, who rejected the belief in the miracles related in the Talmud. Otherwise the age of the Gaonim is characterized by a blind faith, not only in Bible and Talmud, but also in popular superstitions and in the preservation of superstitious customs. Hay was succeeded by Hezekiah, who after holding his office for two years was put to death by the Caliph in 1040. After this time the office lost all significance. Names of a few of those who held office after this time are found, but nothing is known of their activity, nor has any literary work of this age come down to us. The blind faith which characterized the period of the Gaonim aroused considerable opposition, culminating in the foundation of a religious sect called the Karaites, ‏‎בני מקרא‎‏ “Sons of the Bible.” Their founder was Anan ben David (760) who claimed the Bible as the only authority for faith and practice, and therefore rejected all Rabbinic law. His successors founded a congregation in Jerusalem, and very soon spread in the East. The most prominent teachers of the Karaites are Benjamin of Nehawend, and Salman ben Jeroham, the latter of whom carried on a literary controversy with Saadya. Judah Hadassi, in the thirteenth century wrote ‏‎אשכל הכפר‎‏ the standard work of the Karaite law, written in rhymed prose. Other important Karaite scholars are Aaron ben Elijah, who died in 1369, the author of ‏‎גן עדן‎‏, a compendium of the religious law, and ‏‎עץ חיים‎‏, a work on religious philosophy. In the fifteenth century Elijah Bashjazi wrote another compendium of the Karaite religion entitled ‏‎אדרת אליהו‎‏. By this period a large Karaite community settled in Lithuania, where Isaac of Troki wrote a very able polemical treatise directed against Christianity, known as ‏‎חזוק אמונה‎‏. In 1698, Jacob Trigland, professor at Leyden, made inquiries concerning the Karaites by means of a letter addressed to their chief sent through an ambassador to Poland. He received a reply, ‏‎דודמרדכי‎‏, written by Mordecai ben Nissim. This was, for a long time, the only source of information on the history of the Karaites. The last Karaite author of any consequence was Abraham Firkovitch (1787-1874) of Russia, who discovered and published important Karaite documents. Some of these, however, he forged in the interest of the Karaite claim that the Karaites represent the original Judaism from which the Rabbanites seceded.