Monday, 13th November 2006
DR SIAM BHAYRO (University College London)
IS IT POSSIBLE TO WRITE A HISTORY OF ISRAEL?
It should be possible to write the History of Ancient Israel. The Land of Israel has been excavated more than any other area on earth and scholarly enquiry into the peoples, customs and languages of the region has been a constant feature of the Western Academy. And yet, even the existence of Ancient Israel has been called into question. Every piece of evidence is scrutinised, and every interpretation is bitterly contested in an increasingly politicised approach to the subject. So have we now reached the point of no return? Can a History of Ancient Israel be written?
Siam Bhayro gained a PhD from the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London for his research into the Book of Enoch. For the next two years he worked on the Dictionary of Classical Hebrew at the University of Sheffield before working as Lector in Semitics in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University. He now works in the Genizah Research Unit of the University of Cambridge.
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