The Babylonian Talmud, the version of Tanakh, Mishnah, and Gemarrah commentary that is most well known today is influenced by many outside sources, including Roman traditions that found their way into the lives of our rabbis of old. Compared to the Jerusalem Talmud, the one created and redacted in Babylon contains laws of how to live as a minority—a tool essential to the Jewish people after the genocide of the Bar Kochba revolts in Judea. The Jerusalem Talmud is not as applicable to Jewish life after this time because it was made in a city where Jews had been the minority for many, many years.

A book by Richard Kalmin, Migrating Tales, contains historical evidence of the Talmud's creation, and the stories behind the narrative's travel and migration. The book accentuates the subtle details of historical times: for example how the rabbis acted as the leaders of the Jewish community, even though it is likely that there were other, more important political figures in power. Additionally, living in the midst of the Roman empire, it is no surprise that tradition and culture assimilated very fast into cultures, and that Rome became a melting pot of civilizations—many of which ceased to exist as a separate entity from Rome. It is miraculous that within these confines, a minuscule percentage of the population, being influenced by hellenism, Christianity, paganism, and other regional cultures, that we managed to stay our own nation of Israel, and that our teachings have survived to this very day.

http://marginalia.lareviewofbooks.org/here-there-and-everywhere-by-amit-gvaryahu/