"Benjamin Mazar was a prominent historian and archeologist who pioneered a synthesis of biblical research with historical geography in Israel (…)

 A scholar of Jewish history in the biblical period and a former president of the Hebrew University, Professor Mazar was best known in Israel for directing large-scale excavations along the ancient western and southern walls of the area known to Jews as the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The decade-long dig near the Jewish shrine of the Western Wall was begun after Israel captured the Old City in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It yielded finds going back to the period of the First Temple in the seventh and eighth centuries B.C.

The decade-long dig near the Jewish shrine of the Western Wall was begun after Israel captured the Old City in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It yielded finds going back to the period of the First Temple in the seventh and eighth centuries B.C.

"His main contribution was the synthesis of biblical and archeological research," said Professor Mazar's nephew, Amihai Mazar, also an archeologist. "He laid the foundations for integrative research that combined the study of archeology, the Bible, ancient Near Eastern sources and historical geography."

Professor Mazar was born in Russia in 1906. He received a doctorate at University of Giessen in Germany before moving in 1929 to Palestine, then under British mandate, where he became secretary of the Palestine Exploration Society.

He joined the Hebrew University in 1943, and in 1951 he was appointed professor of the history of the Jewish people in the biblical period and the archeology of Palestine. He became rector of the university in 1952 and served as president from 1953 to 1961 before retiring in 1974.

In 1968 he was awarded Israel's highest cultural award, the Israel Prize, for his work in the field of Jewish studies. He was a founder of Israel's first Government department of antiquities and became president of the Israel Exploration Society in 1959.

He directed excavations at several sites in Israel, and published more than 300 articles and collections of his writings. Two volumes appeared in English: "Biblical Israel: State and People," published by the Magnes Press in Jerusalem in 1982, and "The Early Biblical Period: Historical Essays," published in Jerusalem in 1986 by the Israel Exploration Society. He was also chief editor of the Biblical Encyclopedia.

Professor Mazar is survived by a son, Ori Mazar, a brother, Hanoch Mazar, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren."

 

Written by Joel Greenberg in The NY Times, September 11, 1995, Section D, Page 13.