Nahman Avigad

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Nahman Avigad, 1950

Nahman Avigad (

archaeologist
.

Biography

Avigad studied architecture in what is now the town of Brno, Czech Republic. Avigad emigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1926. He married Shulamit (née Levin) Avigad in 1928. He worked in the excavations of the Beth Alpha synagogue and the Hamat Gader synagogue.

Avigad earned his PhD in 1952, with a dissertation on the tombs of the

Hebrew University
from 1949 and until his retirement in 1974.

He directed the dig at

Dead Sea scrolls.[1]

In 1969, Avigad was invited to undertake the excavation of the

Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Nea Church. Among the most exciting finds was the remnants of the Broad Wall twice mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah. Built to defend Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah in the late 8th century BCE, there remains an 80-foot (24 m) stretch of wall, 23 feet (7.0 m) thick, rising from bedrock west of the Temple Mount. Nearby, Avigad also unearthed the Israelite Tower, a remnant of Jerusalem's Iron Age fortifications attesting to the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.[2]

Avigad published on many topics, notably on

Hebrew seals. One of the seals found by him in 1964 has been tentatively identified as belonging to Queen Jezebel, mentioned in the Bible:[3] however, this identification is contested by others.[4]
According to Bible scholar Frank Moore Cross, Avigad "was Israel's most distinguished epigraphist in his generation, and one of the great figures in the history of Hebrew and Jewish epigraphy."[5]

Awards

Bibliography

A complete bibliography and a biography can be found in the festschrift published in Avigad's honor: Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies. Vol. 18, Nahman Avigad. Eds. B. Mazar and Y. Yadin. Jerusalem, The Israel Exploration Society and the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University 1985.

Popular books
  • "Discovering Jerusalem" (1983)

See also

References

  1. ^ Nahman Avigad and Yigael Yadin. A Genesis Apocryphon: A Scroll from the Wilderness of Judaea. Jerusalem: Magnes Press and Heikhal ha-Sefer, 1956.
  2. ISBN 978-1-58983-066-0
    .
  3. Science Daily
    , October 29, 2007. Accessed November 1, 2007.
  4. American Schools of Oriental Research
    , October 12, 2007. Accessed November 1, 2007.
  5. ^ http://www.basarchive.org/bswbBrowse.asp=3fPubID=3dBSBA&Volume=3d18&Issue=3d03&ArticleID=3d03&UserID=3d0& [dead link]
  6. ^ "List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933-2004 (in Hebrew), Tel Aviv Municipality website" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-17.
  7. ^ "Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1977 (in Hebrew)".
  8. ^ "Recipients of Yakir Yerushalayim award (in Hebrew)". Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. City of Jerusalem official website
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