The Talmud is not exactly a national literature, but it was a unique bond between the scattered Jews, an unparallelled spiritual and literary instrument for maintaining the identity of Judaism amid the many tribulations to which the Jews were subjected.
The Talmud owed much to many minds.

Externally it was influenced by the nations with which the Jews came into contact.

From the inside, the influences at work were equally various.

Jochanan, Rab, and Samuel in the third century prepared the material out of which the Talmud was finally built.

The actual building was done by scholars in the fourth century.