David Ayalon (1914 – 25 June 1998) was an Israeli historian of Islam and the Middle East, specializing in the Mamluk dynasties of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

. Within Israel he was best known for the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

dictionary he co-compiled in 1947.

Life

Born David Neustadt in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, he grew up in

Zichron Ya'akov Zikhron Ya'akov ( he, זִכְרוֹן יַעֲקֹב, ''lit.'' "Jacob's Memorial"; often shortened to just ''Zikhron'') is a town in Israel, south of Haifa, and part of the Haifa District. It is located at the southern end of the Carmel mount ...

and

Rosh Pinna Rosh Pina or Rosh Pinna ( he, רֹאשׁ פִּנָּה, lit. ''Cornerstone'') is a local council in the Korazim Plateau in the Upper Galilee on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'an in the Northern District of Israel. It was established as Gei ...

. After completing secondary school in Haifa, Ayalon went in 1933 to study at the recently founded

Hebrew University in Jerusalem 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 ...

. Despite service in the British Army 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 opposing ...

, he gained his PhD in 1946 under the supervision of

Leo Aryeh Mayer Leo Aryeh Mayer ( he, ליאון אריה מאיר, 12 January 1895 – 6 April 1959), was an Israeli scholar of Islamic art and rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Biography Mayer was born in 1895, in the city of Stanisławów, Gali ...

. In the late 1940s he changed his name to David Ayalon. Ayalon founded the department of modern

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

studies there in 1949, and was its head until 1956. From 1963 to 1967 he led the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University. He contributed articles to the ''

Encyclopedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published i ...

''. A notable work late in Ayalon's career was ''Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans''.

Death

Ayalon died of cancer at 84 in 1998. He was survived by his wife, Professor Myriam Rosen-Ayalon of Hebrew University, a leading authority on Islamic art and archeology.

Works

* (with Pesach Shinar) Arabic-Hebrew Dictionary of Modern Arabic, 1947. * ''Gunpowder and firearms in the Mamluk kingdom: a challenge to a mediaeval society'', 1956 * ''Studies on the Mamlūks of Egypt (1250–1517)'', 1977 * ''The Mamlūk military society'', 1979 * ''Outsiders in the lands of Islam: Mamluks, Mongols, and eunuchs'', 1988 * ''Islam and the abode of war: military slaves and Islamic adversaries'', 1994 * ''Eunuchs, caliphs and sultans: a study in power relationships'', 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayalon, David 1914 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Israeli historians Scholars of medieval Islamic history Historians of Egypt People from Haifa Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni