Benedikt Isserlin
Encyclopedia
Benedikt S. J. Isserlin (1916 - October 23, 2005) was former Reader and Head of the Department of Semitic Studies at the University of Leeds
.
in 1916, Isserlin left Germany in the early 1930s, completing his secondary schooling in Switzerland
and then briefly studying history at university there before entering the University of Edinburgh
in 1935, where he read History and Archaeology. In the course of an illustrious undergraduate career, he was awarded five medals, prizes in both political science and history, and a scholarship.
Graduating with first class Honours in 1939, he moved to Magdalen College, Oxford
to read Oriental Languages, specialising in Hebrew and Arabic; he had begun the study of the first of these whilst at Edinburgh. He proved an equally brilliant student at Oxford, achieving another First in 1943. Dr Isserlin then taught German at the King Alfred School in Wantage
for several years, returning to Oxford
in 1947 as Kennicott Hebrew Fellow, a post he was to hold for the next three years. During the latter stages of his tenure of this appointment, he was awarded a Scarborough Grant, enabling him to visit a number of Mediterranean countries to pursue his nascent archaeological interests. During this period, he was trained in archaeological methods by Dame Kathleen Kenyon, an experience which he always gratefully acknowledged as having greatly influenced his approach to the excavations he went on to direct himself.
Dr Isserlin was awarded a BLitt by Oxford in 1951 and in October of that year took up an appointment in the Department of Semitic Languages and Literatures at the University of Leeds
, as Assistant Lecturer in Hebrew. He was promoted to Lecturer in the following year. Dr Isserlin was a remarkably proficient linguist, fluent in more than ten languages. His textbook Hebrew Work Book for Beginners proved to be a very successful introduction for those new to that language. Embracing archaeological, linguistic and historical scholarship, his research interests encompassed an unusually wide range, including Biblical and Phoenician archaeology; Arabic dialects; Ancient Semitic history; and the origins of the alphabet.
One of his many interests was in the study of Semitic place names as a historical and philological source, and in 1954 he was awarded his DPhil by Oxford for a thesis on place names in ancient Palestine and the evidence these offered for the study of the movements and settlements of peoples.
in Israel
. He himself directed fieldwork on this University’s expedition to Jaffa
in 1952 and, in 1955, on the Oxford expedition to Motya
, a small island off western Sicily. Motya was to become one of the most significant sites for Dr Isserlins’s scholarship. He developed a special interest in Phoenician archaeology and in 1960 conducted excavations of the harbour site of Mikhmoret
in Israel; and then, from 1961 until 1972, directed a series of archaeological excavations and investigations at Motya, in collaboration with colleagues from a number of other academic institutions in this country, the USA and Australia. Motya: a Phoenician and Carthaginian city in Sicily, the first volume, by Dr Isserlin and his co-director, Joan du Plat Taylor, of the final report of the excavations, was published in 1974. It found a very favourable reception both here and overseas. The book and a series of articles produced by Dr Isserlin were widely praised as a most important contribution to the study of the Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean. His interest in the Phoenicians led him to pursue the traces of their enterprise in other areas, including Spain (Malaga) and Portugal (the Azores).
A variety of other research interests claimed Dr Isserlin’s attention. Building on the work carried out for his doctoral thesis, he made highly original and important contributions to the study of Semitic place names and onomastics. He also collaborated with Professor Joseph Aquilina of the University of Malta
in carrying out a full descriptive and analytical survey of contemporary spoken Maltese
, a language which is a complex derivative of mainly Arabic and some Romance languages; the first volume of A Survey of Contemporary Dialectal Maltese came out in 1981. And he contributed a section on the origin of the alphabet to the Cambridge Ancient History.
Apart from his own numerous, diverse and highly respected scholarly publications, Dr Isserlin, erudite and courteous in equal measure, provided much inspiration, stimulus and encouragement to colleagues and students alike. In April 1960, he was appointed Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Semitic Studies. He devoted much of his time to nurturing the development of the Department, which continued to grow in prestige and reputation; research flourished, with graduates under his supervision – many of whom have gone on to hold senior appointments in their home countries – producing important work in fields including Arabic dialects and folk-lore, and Semitic philology and archaeology.
under the title A Volume of Oriental Studies presented to Benedikt S J Isserlin was compiled for him by a distinguished range of international scholars. The University conferred a Readership on Dr Isserlin in 1977 and he served as President of the British Association for Jewish Studies in 1982. He was also a founding member, and later President, of the Leeds Oriental Society.
Dr Isserlin retired from his University appointment in 1981. The Senate resolution adopted at the time paid tribute to Dr Isserlin’s outstanding gift for inspiring collaborators; to the dedication and humility with which he had guided his Department for more than two decades; to his friendliness and self-deprecating humour; and to his insatiable curiosity - which, in the words of the author, ‘could face one on Red Route with unnerving questions of scholarship’. In retirement, Dr Isserlin continued to pursue his scholarly interests and enthusiasms with unflagging zeal, and to be a regular and welcome visitor to the University to which he had contributed so much for thirty years.
in 500 BC across the narrowest part of the Mount Atlas peninsula in Northern Greece. 1998 saw the publication of what proved to be Dr Isserlin’s last major work, his book The Israelites, a wide-ranging and comprehensive survey of ancient Israel from the late 13th century BC to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, which, in the words of one reviewer, ‘seems to encompass almost effortlessly the latest and best scholarship’. The book is dedicated to the memory of Dr Isserlin’s wife, Hilda, who provided great encouragement and support for his work over the years, and played an active rôle on many of his excavations.
Dr Isserlin is survived by his son, Raphael, a Leeds graduate and himself an archaeologist, who produced many of the line drawings for his father’s last book.
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
.
Education
Born in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
in 1916, Isserlin left Germany in the early 1930s, completing his secondary schooling in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
and then briefly studying history at university there before entering the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in 1935, where he read History and Archaeology. In the course of an illustrious undergraduate career, he was awarded five medals, prizes in both political science and history, and a scholarship.
Graduating with first class Honours in 1939, he moved to Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
to read Oriental Languages, specialising in Hebrew and Arabic; he had begun the study of the first of these whilst at Edinburgh. He proved an equally brilliant student at Oxford, achieving another First in 1943. Dr Isserlin then taught German at the King Alfred School in Wantage
Wantage
Wantage is a market town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. The town is on Letcombe Brook, about south-west of Abingdon and a similar distance west of Didcot....
for several years, returning to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
in 1947 as Kennicott Hebrew Fellow, a post he was to hold for the next three years. During the latter stages of his tenure of this appointment, he was awarded a Scarborough Grant, enabling him to visit a number of Mediterranean countries to pursue his nascent archaeological interests. During this period, he was trained in archaeological methods by Dame Kathleen Kenyon, an experience which he always gratefully acknowledged as having greatly influenced his approach to the excavations he went on to direct himself.
Dr Isserlin was awarded a BLitt by Oxford in 1951 and in October of that year took up an appointment in the Department of Semitic Languages and Literatures at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, as Assistant Lecturer in Hebrew. He was promoted to Lecturer in the following year. Dr Isserlin was a remarkably proficient linguist, fluent in more than ten languages. His textbook Hebrew Work Book for Beginners proved to be a very successful introduction for those new to that language. Embracing archaeological, linguistic and historical scholarship, his research interests encompassed an unusually wide range, including Biblical and Phoenician archaeology; Arabic dialects; Ancient Semitic history; and the origins of the alphabet.
One of his many interests was in the study of Semitic place names as a historical and philological source, and in 1954 he was awarded his DPhil by Oxford for a thesis on place names in ancient Palestine and the evidence these offered for the study of the movements and settlements of peoples.
Research
Dr Isserlin took part in a number of excavations of importance for Old Testament research, including those at HazorHazor
Hazor is the name of several places in the biblical and modern Israel:Biblical locations:* Tel Hazor, site of an ancient fortified city in the Upper Galilee, among the most important Caananite towns, and the largest ancient ruin in modern Israel and UNESCO World Heritage Site.* Hazor, A town in...
in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He himself directed fieldwork on this University’s expedition to Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
in 1952 and, in 1955, on the Oxford expedition to Motya
Motya
Motya , was an ancient and powerful city on an island off the west coast of Sicily, between Drepanum and Lilybaeum...
, a small island off western Sicily. Motya was to become one of the most significant sites for Dr Isserlins’s scholarship. He developed a special interest in Phoenician archaeology and in 1960 conducted excavations of the harbour site of Mikhmoret
Mikhmoret
Mikhmoret is a moshav in central Israel. Located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea around nine kilometres north of Netanya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hefer Valley Regional Council...
in Israel; and then, from 1961 until 1972, directed a series of archaeological excavations and investigations at Motya, in collaboration with colleagues from a number of other academic institutions in this country, the USA and Australia. Motya: a Phoenician and Carthaginian city in Sicily, the first volume, by Dr Isserlin and his co-director, Joan du Plat Taylor, of the final report of the excavations, was published in 1974. It found a very favourable reception both here and overseas. The book and a series of articles produced by Dr Isserlin were widely praised as a most important contribution to the study of the Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean. His interest in the Phoenicians led him to pursue the traces of their enterprise in other areas, including Spain (Malaga) and Portugal (the Azores).
A variety of other research interests claimed Dr Isserlin’s attention. Building on the work carried out for his doctoral thesis, he made highly original and important contributions to the study of Semitic place names and onomastics. He also collaborated with Professor Joseph Aquilina of the University of Malta
University of Malta
The University of Malta is the highest educational institution in Malta Europe and is one of the most respected universities in Europe. The University offers undergraduate Bachelor's Degrees, postgraduate Master's Degrees and postgraduate Doctorates .-History:The University of Malta was founded in...
in carrying out a full descriptive and analytical survey of contemporary spoken Maltese
Maltese language
Maltese is the national language of Malta, and a co-official language of the country alongside English,while also serving as an official language of the European Union, the only Semitic language so distinguished. Maltese is descended from Siculo-Arabic...
, a language which is a complex derivative of mainly Arabic and some Romance languages; the first volume of A Survey of Contemporary Dialectal Maltese came out in 1981. And he contributed a section on the origin of the alphabet to the Cambridge Ancient History.
Apart from his own numerous, diverse and highly respected scholarly publications, Dr Isserlin, erudite and courteous in equal measure, provided much inspiration, stimulus and encouragement to colleagues and students alike. In April 1960, he was appointed Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Semitic Studies. He devoted much of his time to nurturing the development of the Department, which continued to grow in prestige and reputation; research flourished, with graduates under his supervision – many of whom have gone on to hold senior appointments in their home countries – producing important work in fields including Arabic dialects and folk-lore, and Semitic philology and archaeology.
Honours
In honour of his sixtieth birthday, and reflecting the esteem and affection felt for him, a FestschriftFestschrift
In academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
under the title A Volume of Oriental Studies presented to Benedikt S J Isserlin was compiled for him by a distinguished range of international scholars. The University conferred a Readership on Dr Isserlin in 1977 and he served as President of the British Association for Jewish Studies in 1982. He was also a founding member, and later President, of the Leeds Oriental Society.
Dr Isserlin retired from his University appointment in 1981. The Senate resolution adopted at the time paid tribute to Dr Isserlin’s outstanding gift for inspiring collaborators; to the dedication and humility with which he had guided his Department for more than two decades; to his friendliness and self-deprecating humour; and to his insatiable curiosity - which, in the words of the author, ‘could face one on Red Route with unnerving questions of scholarship’. In retirement, Dr Isserlin continued to pursue his scholarly interests and enthusiasms with unflagging zeal, and to be a regular and welcome visitor to the University to which he had contributed so much for thirty years.
Post-retirement
Together with Dr John Uren of the School of Civil Engineering, as well as colleagues at the Universities of Glasgow and Thessaloniki, he became involved in lengthy geophysical and geoarchaeological investigations aimed at locating the canal reputedly built by King XerxesXerxes I of Persia
Xerxes I of Persia , Ḫšayāršā, ), also known as Xerxes the Great, was the fifth king of kings of the Achaemenid Empire.-Youth and rise to power:...
in 500 BC across the narrowest part of the Mount Atlas peninsula in Northern Greece. 1998 saw the publication of what proved to be Dr Isserlin’s last major work, his book The Israelites, a wide-ranging and comprehensive survey of ancient Israel from the late 13th century BC to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, which, in the words of one reviewer, ‘seems to encompass almost effortlessly the latest and best scholarship’. The book is dedicated to the memory of Dr Isserlin’s wife, Hilda, who provided great encouragement and support for his work over the years, and played an active rôle on many of his excavations.
Dr Isserlin is survived by his son, Raphael, a Leeds graduate and himself an archaeologist, who produced many of the line drawings for his father’s last book.
Publications
- The Israelites, London: Thames and Hudson, 1998. ISBN 0-500-05082-1