Benjamin Henri Isaac (Ben Isaac; he, בנימין איזק; born May 10, 1945) is the Fred and Helen Lessing Professor of Ancient History Emeritus at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. He is 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 ...

and of the American Philosophical Society

Early life and education

Isaac was born in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, where his parents settled in 1942 after fleeing the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He grew up in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and studied classics, ancient history and archaeology at

Amsterdam University The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

. In 1972, he moved to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and began teaching at

. In 1980, he received his PhD (summa cum laude) for a thesis on the Greek settlements in Thrace until the Macedonian conquest. He has held visiting appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ (twice), All Souls College, Oxford, Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C.,

Churchill College Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities. In 1958, a trust was establish ...

Cambridge, the National Humanities Center, North Carolina, Harvard University and the Collège de France.

Career

Isaac's research covers the period from the 6th century BCE until the 7th century CE. It deals with Greek and Roman history and with Jewish history from the 2nd century BCE onward. He has been member of a team surveying the Roman roads in Judaea/ Palaestina with

Moshe Fischer Moses ( el, Μωϋσῆς),from Latin and Greek Moishe ( yi, משה),from Yiddish Moshe ( he, מֹשֶׁה),from Modern Hebrew or Movses (Armenian: Մովսես) from Armenian is a male given name, after the biblical figure Moses. According to ...

and

Israel Roll Israel Roll (1937 - June 2010) was an Israeli archaeologist and academic. Archaeology career Israel Roll was the director of the Apollonia-Arsuf excavations and one of the directors of the Roman Temple dig at Kedesh. He completed his bachelor's ...

, and of a group preparing a corpus of ancient inscriptions in all relevant languages from the region, the

Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae (CIIP) is a corpus of all ancient inscriptions from the fourth century BC to the seventh century CE discovered in Israel – i.e. “a multi-lingual corpus of the inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad.� ...

. His work on the imperial Roman army and imperialism, The Limits of Empire: the Roman Army in the East, traces various functions of the provincial army. It was commonly assumed that the main function of the Roman army was the defence of the frontier provinces against foreign enemies. Isaac argues that it had two different tasks, internal police functions and preparation for further expansion. Rome had an

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

of offence and expansion rather than preservation of the status quo and defence. In this connection Isaac has argued that the concept of an imperial frontier was irrelevant in Roman terms. The Empire was not a territorial concept, but one that expressed rule over peoples and cities. Another topic of this book is the question whether Rome had a “ Grand strategy” as had been argued. Isaac has shown that this reflects a modern concept that could not apply to ancient reality. His book on the ideological roots of racism argues that racism must be distinguished from other forms of prejudice and stereotypes. It is a rationalization and systematization of prejudice first encountered in the 5th century BCE in Greece as a result of the development of abstract thinking in contemporary philosophy and medical science. The concept of environmental determinism was developed at this time and has been accepted as valid until very recently. It assumes that geography, climate and other external realities impose definite and unchangeable qualities, physical and mental on entire groups of people. As such it preceded social Darwinism as an attempt to rationalize group prejudice. It played a role too in imperialist

because it was used to distinguish between superior and inferior peoples. These concepts were taken over by Roman authors and by those who, in later times, used them for similar or related purposes. Thus Isaac argues that the history and development of racism as an ideology has roots going back to Graeco-Roman antiquity. Isaac is the author of numerous articles.; He is also member of a team working on the publication of a corpus of all ancient inscriptions from Judaea /

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. From 2015 until 2022 he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Israeli classics journal ''Scripta Classica Israelica.'' In 2021 a book was published in his honour: J. Price, M. Finkelberg, Y. Shahar (eds.), "Rome: an Empire of Many Nations, New Perspectives on Ethnic Diversity and Cultural Identity" (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Awards and recognition

* In 2008, Isaac received the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, for history.

Personal life

Isaac is married and has three children.

References

External links