Shemariah ben Elhanan was head of the yeshivah of Cairo, Egypt, about the end of the 10th century.
Shemariah was sold by his captor at Alexandria, where he was afterward ransomed by rich Jews.
As to the native place of the captured scholars, the general opinion, more particularly with regard to Shemariah, is that the four were Babylonians, I.H.
This opinion, at least with regard to Shemariah b. Elhanan, is confirmed by a fragment of a responsum[4] apparently addressed by Sherira Gaon to Jacob ben Nissim at Kairwan,[5] in which Shemariah is spoken of as the head of the yeshivah of Nehardea and as a high authority in rabbinics.
Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography: Besides the sources mentioned, Grätz, Gesch.