Mar ben R. Huna was one of the first Gaon

Geonim

Geonim 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 who wielded secular authority...

s, and head of the Sura Academy

Sura Academy

Sura Academy was a Jewish Yeshiva Academy in Babylon, one of the two major Jewish academies, along with the Pumbedita Yeshiva Academy, from the beginning of the era of the Amora sages and up till the end of the era of the Geonim. The Yeshiva Academy was founded by the Amora Abba Arika , a disciple...

 in Babylon

Babylon

Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...

 at the end of the rule of the Sassanid Empire

Sassanid Empire

The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...

. He led the re-opening of the Sura Academy (year 591; ד'שנ"א, Hebrew calender; or some believe year 609; ד'שס"ט, Hebrew calender). After some 50 years it became inactive due to Anti-Jewish decrees and pogroms during the Jewish Savora

Savora

A Savora is a term used in Jewish law and history to signify one among the leading rabbis living from the end of period of the Amoraim to the beginning of the Geonim...

 sages era. Mar ben Huna was, according to one opinion based on Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon, the first Gaon of the Sura Academy; and according to another opinion - one of the Savora sages and their era.