Oded Lipschits | |
---|---|
עודד ליפשיץ | |
Born | 1963 |
Spouse | Yael (Moreno) Lipschits |
Awards | EMET Prize (2021) Emet Prize (2022) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Jewish History, Archaeology |
Main interests | Judah and the Southern Levant in the 1st millennium |
Oded Lipschits (born May 15, 1963) is an Israeli professor in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Studies at Tel Aviv University. In 1997 he earned his Ph.D. in Jewish History under the supervision of Nadav Na'aman. He has since become a Senior Lecturer and Full Professor at Tel Aviv University and served as the Director of the Tel Aviv Institute of Archaeology since 2011. Lipschits is an incumbent of the Austria Chair of the Archeology of the Land of Israel in the Biblical Period and is the Head and founder of the Ancient Israel Studies Masters program in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East Studies. [1]
Most of Lipschits' research relates to the history, archaeology, and biblical account of the Southern Levant, specifically narratives related to the development of Judah within its local and regional setting, as well its transformation under imperial control i.e., Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia. Together with his colleagues, Lipschits has directed several archaeological excavations including Ramat Rachel (2004–2010), Tel Azekah (2012–) and Tel Moza (2018–). [1] Oded Lipschits is credited with authoring and co-authoring over a dozen books and several hundred articles. [2] He has organized and lectured in over 200 local and international conferences worldwide [3] and has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, grants, and scholarships, [4] including the EMET Prize in the field of Archaeology (2022). [5]
In 2024, he received an "honorary doctorate" from the University of Zurich for his research on the history and archeology of Israel and Judah during the biblical period.6
Oded Lipschits was born in Jerusalem in 1963, and served in the IDF between 1981 and 1985 (in the military reserve until 2008) and ultimately discharged with the rank of major. Lipschits is married to Yael (Moreno) Lipschits and lives in Alon HaGalil. They have four children. [1]
Lipschits began his studies in archaeology and Jewish history at the Tel Aviv University in 1985, and received his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Department of Jewish history, Tel Aviv University. The subject of his doctoral dissertation was “The ‘Yehud’ Province under Babylonian Rule (586-539 B.C.E.): Historic Reality and Historiographic Conceptions”, which he wrote under the supervision of Nadav Na'aman. After graduating, Lipschits received the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship for outstanding post-Doctoral researchers and in 2002–2003 completed his post-doctorate in the Faculty of Theology at Heidelberg University. [1]
In 1998 Lipschits became a faculty member and in 2002 he received the title of Senior Lecturer with tenure from the Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University. In 2007 he became Associate Professor, and in 2012 was appointed a Full Professorship at the Tel Aviv University. Lipschits has established and has since headed the MA program in Ancient Israel Studies and International MA program for the History and Archaeology of the Holy Land. He has served since 2011 as the director of the Tel Aviv Institute of Archaeology. [1] Lipschits has supervised more than 50 MA students and 20 Ph.D., students. [6]
The primary focus of Lipschits' research is the Southern Levant, and the land of Judah in the Iron Age, Persian, Hellenistic and Hasmonean periods.
Through his application of Biblical criticism, critical studies of historical sources and archaeological data, Lipschits has maintained that contrary to the conservative interpretation of the Biblical narrative, the country during this period was shaped by the presence of foreign empires, starting in the 8th century BCE with the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This stands in contrast to the understanding of Jewish history as divided into First and Second Temple periods, with a settlement and cultural "gap" in the mid-6th century, explained by the Biblical narrative of the Babylonian exile. Lipschits has demonstrated in his book The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem: Judah Under Babylonian Rule (2004) that significant parts of Judah remained inhabited during the Babylonian rule. This work which is based on his doctoral dissertation has granted him the Ish-Shalom Prize for the Best 'First-Fruit' Book in the Research of the History of Israel. [1] Although his revolutionary thesis was not accepted by all scholars, his critics have praised the book for its extent, organization and detail, citing it as one of the most comprehensive works on the subject to date, that is important and worthy of study. [7]
From 2004 to 2010 Oded Lipschits has co-directed the excavations at Ramat Rachel with Manfred Oeming of the Heidelberg University. The expedition unearthed a royal palace and garden, that existed south of Jerusalem from the 7th–2nd centuries BCE. The excavation has provided essential archaeological data on the 6th and 5th century BCE. Lipschits has demonstrated in a series of articles that during the Persian rule the administrative and economic center of the Judean province has shifted from Tell en-Nasbeh north of Jerusalem, to Ramat Rachel, and not to Jerusalem as previously thought. [1]
Together with David S. Vanderhooft of Boston University, Lipschits has pioneered a comprehensive study of the Judean stamp seals during the Persian rule with consideration to their use as a chronological marker and their importance in illuminating the economy of Judah in that period. This project was summarized in the book The Yehud Stamp Impressions: A Corpus of Inscribed Impressions from the Persian and Hellenistic Periods in Judah, which granted the authors the G. Ernest Wright Award of the American Schools of Oriental Research for the most substantial volume dealing with material culture from the Ancient Near East (2012). [8] Lipschits then continued the study with his colleagues, expanding the framework to the first appearance of stamp seals in Judah, such as the LMLK seals and published a book titled Age of Empire: The History and Administration of Judah in the 8th-2nd Centuries BCE in Light of Storage-Jar Stamp Impressions. [1]
Since 2010, Lipschits is co-directing the Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition together with Yuval Gadot and Manfred Oeming. Tel Azekah is located in the Shfela and understood as multi-period site with occupational levels that span the Early Bronze Age to the Roman period. The site has revealed monumental remains from the Middle Bronze Age, key desctruction contexts from the Late Bronze Age III, and shed light on the presence and history of the Kingdom of Judah in the region. [9]
Since 2018, Lipschits has co-directed the Tel Moza Expedition Project with Shua Kisilevitz. Tel Moza is a key site located a walking distance from Jerusalem. The focus of the project is a temple complex dated to the Iron Age IIA period (10th-9th centuries BCE), which existed parallel to Jerusalem. [10]
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from the early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan's hill country during the late second millenium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two Israelite kingdoms in the mid-first millenium BCE. This history unfolds within the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The earliest documented mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient Israelite culture evolved from the pre-existing Canaanite civilization. During the Iron Age II period, two Israelite kingdoms emerged, covering much of Canaan: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.
The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands of Judea, the landlocked kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. Jews are named after Judah, and primarily descend from people who lived in the region.
The Israelites were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. They were also an ethnoreligious group.
The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred in multiple waves: After the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BCE, around 7,000 individuals were deported to Mesopotamia. Further deportations followed the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple in 587 BCE.
Lachish was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah region of Israel, on the south bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. The current tell (ruin) by that name, known as Tel Lachish or Tell ed-Duweir, has been identified with the biblical Lachish. Today, it is an Israeli national park operated and maintained by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. It lies near the present-day Moshav of Lakhish.
Israel Finkelstein is an Israeli archaeologist, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University and the head of the School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures at the University of Haifa. Finkelstein is active in the archaeology of the Levant and is an applicant of archaeological data in reconstructing biblical history. Finkelstein is the current excavator of Megiddo, a key site for the study of the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Levant.
Azekah was an ancient town in the Shephela guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron.
Ramat Rachel or Ramat Raḥel is a kibbutz located in central Israel. An enclave within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries, near the neighborhoods Arnona and Talpiot, and overlooking Bethlehem and Rachel's Tomb, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2022, it had a population of 550.
Aren Maeir is an American-born Israeli archaeologist and professor in the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University. He is director of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project.
KhirbetQeiyafa, also known as Elah Fortress and in Hebrew as Horbat Qayafa, is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley and dated to the first half of the 10th century BCE. The ruins of the fortress were uncovered in 2007, near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, 30 km (20 mi) from Jerusalem. It covers nearly 2.3 ha and is encircled by a 700-meter-long (2,300 ft) city wall constructed of field stones, some weighing up to eight tons. Excavations at site continued in subsequent years. A number of archaeologists, mainly the two excavators, Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor, have claimed that it might be one of two biblical cities, either Sha'arayim, whose name they interpret as "Two Gates", because of the two gates discovered on the site, or Neta'im; and that the large structure at the center is an administrative building dating to the reign of King David, where he might have lodged at some point. This is based on their conclusions that the site dates to the early Iron IIA, ca. 1025–975 BCE, a range which includes the biblical date for the biblical Kingdom of David. Others suggest it might represent either a North Israelite, Philistine, or Canaanite fortress, a claim rejected by the archaeological team that excavated the site. The team's conclusion that Khirbet Qeiyafa was a fortress of King David has been criticised by some scholars. Garfinkel (2017) changed the chronology of Khirbet Qeiyafa to ca. 1000–975 BCE.
The siege of Jerusalem was the final event of the Judahite revolts against Babylon, in which Nebuchadnezzar II, king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, besieged Jerusalem, the capital city of the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem fell after a 30-month siege, following which the Babylonians systematically destroyed the city and Solomon's Temple. The Kingdom of Judah was dissolved and many of its inhabitants were exiled to Babylon.
The return to Zion is an event recorded in Ezra–Nehemiah of the Hebrew Bible, in which the Jews of the Kingdom of Judah—subjugated by the Neo-Babylonian Empire—were freed from the Babylonian captivity following the Persian conquest of Babylon. In 539 BCE, the Persian king Cyrus the Great issued the Edict of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and the Land of Judah, which was made a self-governing Jewish province under the new Persian Empire.
Yehud Medinata, also called Yehud Medinta or simply Yehud, was an autonomous administrative division of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. It constituted a part of Eber-Nari and was bounded by Arabia to the south, lying along the frontier of the two satrapies. Spanning most of Judea—from the Shephelah in the west to the Dead Sea in the east—it was one of several Persian provinces in Palestine, together with Moab, Ammon, Gilead, Samaria, Ashdod, and Idumea, among others. It existed for just over two centuries before the Greek conquest of Persia resulted in it being incorporated into the Hellenistic empires.
Yehud was a province of the Neo-Babylonian Empire established in the former territories of the Kingdom of Judah, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in the aftermath of the Judahite revolts and the siege of Jerusalem in 587/6 BCE. It first existed as a Jewish administrative division under Gedaliah ben Aḥikam, who was later assassinated by a fellow Jew. The Fast of Gedaliah, a minor fast day in Judaism, was established in memory of this event, and is lamented by observant Jews even to this day.
Tel Motza or Tel Moẓa is an archaeological site in Motza, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It includes the remains of a large Neolithic settlement dated to around 8600–8200 BCE, and Iron Age Israelite settlement dating to around 1000 to 500 BCE and identified with the biblical Mozah mentioned in the Book of Joshua. In 2012, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of a temple from the Iron Age IIA levels at Motza, contemporary with the First Temple in Jerusalem.
Jacob L. Wright is a biblical scholar currently serving as professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University. Prior to his Emory appointment, Wright taught at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), one of the foremost research-oriented public universities in Europe, for several years. His areas of expertise include Biblical Archaeology, warfare in the Ancient Near East, and the literary and redaction history of the Hebrew Bible canon. He has published extensively throughout his career, authoring several books and dozens of articles which span topics such as Ezra-Nehemiah, the Persian period, warfare in the Ancient Near East; as well as the material culture of the ancient Levant, the unique role of women in the Hebrew Bible, and larger themes such as defeat, peoplehood, and national identity in the Hebrew Bible. Areas of concentration in war studies include war commemoration, urbicide and ritual violence, and feasting and gift-giving.
Matthew J. Adams is an archaeologist who specializes in the Near East. He earned his degrees at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Los Angeles. He served as the director of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem (2014–2022), and is the current the president of American Archaeology Abroad, Inc. He has worked on several archaeological projects in the past, and is currently director of the Jezreel Valley Regional Project, Co-Director of the Megiddo Expedition along with Israel Finkelstein and Mario Martin, and co-director of the Solomon's Pools Archaeological Project with Mark Letteney.
The Book of Joshua lists almost 400 ancient Levantine city names which refer to over 300 distinct locations in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Each of those cities, with minor exceptions is placed in one of the 12 regions, according to the tribes of Israel and in most cases additional details like neighbouring towns or geographical landmarks are provided. It has been serving as one of the primary sources for identifying and locating a number of Middle Bronze to Iron Age Levantine cities mentioned in ancient Egyptian and Canaanite documents, most notably in the Amarna correspondence.
Tel Yarmuth or Khirbet Yarmuk is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Israel located 25 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem and near modern Beit Shemesh. It is a large primarily single-period site and has been suggested as possibly being the city of Jarmuth, being only a tentative identification, as it is based solely on the similarity of the Hebrew name with the Arabic name and its areal location.
Nadav Na'aman is an Israeli archaeologist and historian. He specializes in the study of Near East in the second and first millenniums BC. His research combines the history of the Ancient Near East, archaeology, Assyrology, and the study of the Bible. He possesses broad knowledge in all these four branches of research.
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