Israel Shatzman (; 25 November 1934 – 24 October 2017) was an Israeli historian. He served as a Professor of History at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

starting in 1976. He has also been a Fellow at the

Israel Institute for Advanced Studies The Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (; IIAS, or IAS in Israel) is a research institute in Jerusalem, devoted to academic research in physics, mathematics, the life sciences, economics, and comparative religion. It is a self-governing body, ...

, Vice President for Academic Affairs at the

Open University of Israel The Open University of Israel (, ''Ha-Universita ha-Ptuha'') is a distance education, distance-education university in Israel. It is one of ten public universities in Israel recognized by the Council of Higher Education (CHE). Open University ...

(1979-1984), Director at the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; ; ), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; ), is the library dedicated to collecting the cultural treasures of Israel and of Judaism, Jewish Cultural heritage, heritage. The library holds more ...

(1990-1997), and served two two-year stints as President of the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies. He took emeritus status at Hebrew University in 2003. Shatzman was a scholar of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

and has written extensively on the Roman military. He also has covered

Judea Judea or Judaea (; ; , ; ) is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the pres ...

in antiquity, both during the pre-Roman

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

and the rule of the

Hasmonean kingdom The Hasmonean dynasty (; ''Ḥašmōnāʾīm''; ) was a ruling dynasty of Judea and surrounding regions during the Hellenistic times of the Second Temple period (part of classical antiquity), from BC to 37 BC. Between and BC the dynasty rule ...

, as well as the integration into the Roman empire as Roman Judea.

Biography

Shatzman was born on 25 November 1934 in Binyaminah, then a part of

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

in the south Carmel region of northern Israel, near

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. The famous rabbi

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter (‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the ...

was an uncle of his mother. After his mandatory service in the Israeli army, he moved to Jerusalem in 1956 where he studied Ancient History at the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

. There, he studied under Alexander Fuks and Chaim Wirszubski, where he concentrated on both the

of Greek influence in the Eastern Mediterranean as well as the

Roman era In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. During his post-doctorate, he spent two years at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where he worked with Peter Brunt and wrote his book ''Senatorial Wealth and Roman Politics'', considered the authoritative work on the topic for the time. He served as head of the department of history at the newly-established University of the Negev from 1970 to 1974. He returned to teach at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1976, and acquired a full professorship in 1985. He served as an editor of the academic journal ''Scripta Classica Israelica'' for volumes 1-5 and 10, as well as two terms as president of the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies (which publishes ''Scripta Classica Israelica''). He served as Director at the

from 1990 to 1997. That time period was after the end of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

which eased communication and travel to Eastern Europe, and he took advantage of the opportunity to acquire and document various preserved Hebrew manuscripts from the former Eastern Bloc. He was a Fellow at the

in 1995–1996. He took emeritus status at Hebrew University in 2003 and retired from teaching, but continued to publish research and articles. A ''

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was published in Shatzman's honor in 2009 for his 75th birthday. Shatzman married his wife Tehiya in 1959, also from Binyaminah. He died on 24 October 2017 after a three-year struggle with illness. He was survived by his wife, three daughters, and three granddaughters.

Selected works

English-language Books * * Articles and chapters * * * Festschrift *

References

External links

Works by Israel Shatzman
on Worldcat, includes his many Hebrew-language books and articles {{DEFAULTSORT:Shatzman, Israel 1934 births 2017 deaths Israeli historians Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem