David Asheri (1 November 1925,
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
- 3 February 2000,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
), born David Bonaventura, was an Italian-Israeli historian. Asheri is regarded as "one of the most distinguished scholars of ancient Greece". He is perhaps best known for his many contributions to the scholarship of
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
.
Life
Asheri was born in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
into a prosperous Jewish family. His father, Enzo Bonaventura, was a prominent psychologist and intellectual with
Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
sympathies. In 1938, Enzo Bonaventura, because of his Jewish faith, lost his position as Chair of Psychology at the
University of Florence
The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled.
History
The first universi ...
under the new
race laws.
Israel
In
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, Asheri was sent to the Ma’al School. During the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List o ...
, he fought with the
Moria battalion of the Palmach, the strike force of the
Haganah founded in 1941.
On 13 April 1948 he tragically lost his father. Enzo Bonaventura was a victim of the notorious
attack on Hadassah, while he was going to work in the medical convoy escorted by the Haganah militia as it was on its way to the hospital on
Mount Scopus
Mount Scopus ( he, הַר הַצּוֹפִים ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ar, جبل المشارف ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or ) is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Je ...
. In total, 97 of the 105 passengers died, among them also
Anna di Gioacchino Cassuto, the daughter-in-law of professor
Umberto Cassuto
Umberto Cassuto, also known as Moshe David Cassuto (16 September 1883 – 19 December 1951), was an Italian historian, a rabbi, and a scholar of the Hebrew Bible and Ugaritic texts, Ugaritic literature, in the University of Florence, then at the ...
.
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
In 1949 he changed his surname to Asheri, later adopted by his brothers, and forsaking his Italian surname as was normal. In 1952 Asheri enrolled at the
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...
, studying history and Greek philosophy. Between 1952 and 1961 he obtained various qualifications including a
PhD, while working as a librarian at the
National and University Library.
His
doctoral thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
, written under the supervision of Professor
Alexander Fuks
Alexander Fuks (30 May 1917 – 29 November 1978) was a German-born, later Israeli historian, archaeologist and papyrologist. He worked with Victor Tcherikover and Menahem Stern on the standard edition of Jewish papyri. He was a specialist in the ...
, was described as "a small masterpiece" and "rapidly recognised by the academic community as a starting point for all subsequent studies of landed property in
ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
.
He became a professor of
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
history and, like his father, obtained a permanent position at the Hebrew University, becoming a full professor in 1978. In 1991 Asheri was nominated a member of the
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on re ...
. In 1993 he retired, but continued to research and publish his work in a number of academic journals.
He was a visiting lecturer at the
University of San Marino and at the
University of Florence
The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled.
History
The first universi ...
in the Faculty of Letters, chaired by
Guido Clemente. Asheri was a friend of fellow Italian scholars such as
Arnaldo Momigliano
Arnaldo Dante Momigliano (5 September 1908 – 1 September 1987) was an Italian historian of classical antiquity, known for his work in historiography, and characterised by Donald Kagan as "the world's leading student of the writing of history i ...
, who greatly inspired him, and the Roman history scholar
Emilio Gabba.
For the editorship of ''Einaudi’s I greci'' he collaborated with
Salvatore Settis and others.
In 2007 ''Greeks Between East and West: Essays in Greek Literature and History in Memory of David Asheri'' was published by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. It was edited by
Gabriel Herman and
Israel Shatzman.
Bibliography
* 'Carthaginians and Greeks' (Chapter 16), ''
The Cambridge Ancient History
''The Cambridge Ancient History'' is a multi-volume work of ancient history from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, published by Cambridge University Press. The first series, consisting of 12 volumes, was planned in 1919 by Irish historian J. B. Bur ...
'', Volume 4, (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.
Cambridge University Pre ...
, 1988)
* 'Sicily, 478-431 b.c.' (Chapter 7), ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', Volume 5, (Cambridge: CUP, 1992)
* ''I Greci'', eight-volume history of ancient Greece (Italian), Editor: D. Asheri (Rome, Italy: Einaudi 1996)
* ''A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV'', co-author (Oxford:
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 2011)
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asheri, David
1925 births
2000 deaths
People from Florence
Israeli people of Italian-Jewish descent
20th-century Italian historians
Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni
Hebrew Union College faculty