Yaʿaḳov Meshorer

Yaʿaḳov Meshorer (born August 14, 1935 in Jerusalem ; † June 23, 2004 ibid) was an Israeli numismatist and classical archaeologist . He was instrumental in establishing numismatics as an academic subject in Israel .

Life

Ya'akov Meshorer's interest in antiquity, and in particular in ancient numismatics , was laid down as a child when he frequently found coins outside of Jerusalem. After two years of military service, he entered the kibbutz Chazerim in 1956 . Here he devoted himself more to his numismatic hobby and built a small museum. In 1960 he began his studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , which he completed in 1966 with a master's degree in archeology and Jewish history after having already acquired a bachelor's degree in archeology. He served in the Israeli military during the Six Day War and was injured in the fighting. Later he was a liaison officer to the UN troops . In 1969 he became curator of the numismatic collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and remained in this position until 1993. At the university he received his doctorate in 1971 with a numismatic thesis. From 1975 to 1982 and again from 1990 to 1996 he was the main curator of the museum's archaeological collection. In 1983, Meshorer was also appointed to the professorship for numismatics at the Hebrew University. In 2000 he retired. He died at the age of 69 after battling cancer for six years.

Meshorer's research focus was on the coins of Palestine and its neighboring regions. He was the one who systematically indexed, processed and compiled the coins of Palestine for the first time in several corpora and thus made them accessible to a larger group of users. He published 19 monographs and more than 100 essays. As a member of the board of directors of the Israel Society for Medal and Coins , he was also able to contribute his expertise to the design of the new modern coins of the Israeli state. He was a driving force in orienting the modern coins of the Israeli state on ancient models, thus establishing a direct daily connection between the modern and the past. In the Archaeological Council of the Israel Antiquities Authority he was also active in the preservation of Israeli monuments . He was also involved in the founding of two museums dedicated to Biblical Archeology : the Museum of the Cleveland Jewish Community Center in 1976 and the Hecht Museum of the University of Haifa in 1984 . In 2001 he was awarded the Archer M. Huntington Medal, one of the highest honors in numismatics. At the invitation of the American Numismatic Society and the Jewish Theological Seminary , he stayed in New York , at Duke University in Durham , at the British Museum in London and at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris . In 2003 he was awarded the Irene Levi-sala Book Prize in Archeology of Israel for his book A Treasury of Jewish Coins From the Persian Period to Bar-Kochba . Also in 2003 he was elected honorary member of the Council International Numismatic Commission at the 13th International Numismatic Congress in Madrid . In 2002, the Israel Museum donated the Yaʿaḳov Meshorer Prize , the first winners of which were Andrew Burnett in 2002 and Michel Amandry in 2006 .

Fonts (selection)

German

• Coins, witnesses of the past (= introduction to archeology. ). Benziger, Zurich et al. 1979, ISBN 3-545-32189-4 (translation from: Coins of the Ancient World. ).
• Tell ancient coins. = Les monnaies anciennes. Un témoignage. Israel Museum, Jerusalem 2000, ISBN 965-278-259-9 .

English

• Jewish Coins of the Second Temple Period. Am Hassefer & Massada, Tel Aviv 1967.
• Coins of the Ancient World (= Lerner Archeology Series. Digging Up the Past. ). Retold for young readers by Richard L. Currier. Lerner Publishing Group, Minneapolis MN 1980, ISBN 0-8225-0835-4 .
• Palestine - South Arabia (= Sylloge nummorum Graecorum . The Collection of the American Numismatic Society. 6). American Numismatic Society, New York NY 1981, ISBN 0-89722-187-7 .
• Ancient Jewish Coinage. Volume 1: Persian Period through Hasmonaeans. Amphora Books, Dix Hills NY 1982.
• Ancient Jewish Coinage. Volume 2: Herod the Great through Bar Cochba. Amphora Books, Dix Hills NY 1982.
• City-Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1985, ISBN 965-278-036-7 .
• The Coinage of Aelia Capitolina (= Israel Museum Catalog. 301) Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1989, ISBN 965-278-076-6 .
• with Shraga Qedar: The Coinage of Samaria in the Fourth Century BCE. Numismatics Fine Arts International, Jerusalem 1991, ISBN 0-9626987-1-7 .
• TestiMoney. Israel Museum, Jerusalem 2000, ISBN 965-278-256-4 .
• A Treasury of Jewish Coins. From the Persian Period to Bar Kokhba. Yad Ben-Zvi Press et al., Jerusalem et al. 2001, ISBN 965-217-189-1 .
• with Gabriela Bijovsky and Wolfgang Fischer-Bossert: Coins of the Holy Land. The Abraham and Marian Sofaer Collection at the American Numismatic Society and the Israel Museum (= Ancient Coins in North American collections. 8). 2 volumes. American Numismatic Society et al., New York NY et al. 2013, ISBN 978-0-89722-283-9 .

literature

• Stefan Krmnicek: Meshorer, Yaakov. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , Sp. 813 f.