Nithai of Arbela

Nithai Of Arbela a Jewish savant, flourished first as a colleague of Joshua ben-Perachia, and later as the president of the Salihedrim (from B.C. 140-110); but beyond his recorded maxim (Pirke Aboth, 1:7), "Distance thyself from an evil neighbor; attach not thyself to a wicked man; and do not think thyself exempt from punishment," we know nothing of his works or words. See for the limited information extant, Frankel, Hodegetica in Mischnam, p. 33 sq. (Leipsic, 1859); Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 3:88 sq.; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u.s. Sekten, 1:232; Edersheim, History of the Jewish Nation, p. 120. (B.P.)