Benjamin Mazar

Benjamin Mazar born Binyamin Zeev Maisler ( born June 28, 1906 in Ciechanowiec, Poland, † September 9, 1995 in Jerusalem) was one of the first Israeli historian and the "father" of biblical archeology in the Holy Land.

Life

Maisler studied in the 1920s archeology and Assyriology at the universities of Berlin and Giessen, where he received his doctorate. In 1929 he emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, where he participated in Bet She'arim 1932 the excavations of the catacombs. These excavations of the catacombs from the 2nd to 4th century AD were the first that took place under Jewish leadership in Palestine. It was suggested among others there also the grave of Rabbi Judah haNasi. In the 1940s Maisler published an atlas of historic biblical sites of Palestine.

From 1943 he taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1951 to 1977 Mazar was a professor of Biblical history and archeology at the Hebrew University. In 1952, he was its rector from 1953 and for eight years the president of the university. During this time Maisler adopted the Hebrew name Mazar. Mazar was the founder of the Archaeological Council of Israel and chairman of the Israel Exploration Society. Mazar was involved in the expansion of the campus of the Hebrew University in Givat Ram and in the establishment and completion of the Hadassah Medical School and of the local hospital.

Mazar began in 1948 with the excavations at Tell Qasile in today's city of Tel Aviv. This was a city of the Philistines. A further excavations he led in En Gedi near the Dead Sea. Between 1968 and 1978 he was responsible for the excavations to the south of the Temple Mount and at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount, where extensive remains of the Second Temple were found.

Mazar is the brother of three-time president of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. From Mazars family come further Israeli archaeologists, such as his son, Ory Mazar, Eilat Mazar his granddaughter, grandson Dan Mazar ( who was convicted in London in 2002 to five years in prison ) and his nephew Amihai Mazar.

Honors

Works (selection)

  • Studies on ancient history and ethnography of Syria and Palestine, casting 1930 ( = dissertation).
  • The Graphic Historical Atlas of Palestine, Part 2200-333 BC, Israel in Biblical Times, Szapiro, Tel Aviv 1942.
  • Bet - Sh'earim, 3 volumes in 1944; Reprint: Massada Press, Jerusalem 1973 for the Israel Exploration Society, ISBN 0-8135-0762-6.
  • Moshe Davis: The Illustrated History of the Jews, Harper & Row, New York 1963.
  • Together with Trude Dothan and I. Dunayevsky: En- Gedi: The First and Second Seasons of Excavations, 1961 - 1962; Department of Antiquities and Museums in the Ministry of Education and Culture, Jerusalem 1966.
  • World History of the Jewish People, Volume 2, Allen, London 1971.
  • Judges. Jewish History Publication Publishers Ltd. , New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA 1971, ISBN 0-813506638.
  • Archaeology in the footsteps of Christianity: New excavations in Jerusalem, Pawlak, Herrsching 1988 ISBN 3-88199-383-5.
  • Along with Eilat Mazar: Excavations in the South of the Temple Mount. The Ophel of Biblical Jerusalem, Qedem: Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, no. 29 1989 ISSN 0333-5844.
  • Biblical Israel: State and People, edited by Shmuel Ahituv; Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, together with the Israel Exploration Society 1992 ISBN 965-223-797-3.
Mandate (international law) Israel Prize Integrated Authority File
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