Makhir was a Babylonian exilarch and rabbinic scholar also known in Babylonia by his Aramaic name Natronai b. Habibai, a scion of the "pure Jewish line" of the exilarch Bostanai (and his wife Adoa). During the years of 763–766 CE his exilarch succession was challenged by Zakkai b. Ahunai, known also as Baboi, of the Persian line. As a result, "the exilarch Natronai went to the West" - or according to variant readings to Tsarfat (France) or Sfarad (Spain). Zuckerman suggests that from the standpoint of Baghdad, this would be consistent with Narbonne, which around these years transited from Spanish to French rule.Zuckerman, Princedom. pp. 79–80. The exilarch succession politics was interdependent with the upheaval in the Umayyad Caliphate and is paralleled with Pepin's three years diplomatic mission to Baghdad, which returned in 768 back to Marseilles and established coalition between the Carolingians and Caliph Al-Mansur against the rebellious Emirate of Córdoba. In the same year, Makhir was invited by the Carolingians to become the first nasi (exilarch) appointed as ruler in Narbonne. The year 768 was significant as it was the year the King Messiah ben Ephraim was expected according to some Jewish Kabbalistic interpretations, as it coincided with the end of seven hundred years of the Second Temple destruction.Zuckerman, Princedom. pp. 102–111.
