Abraham Schalit

Abraham Schalit was born in 1898 in Zolochiv

Abraham Haim Schalit was born on 13 June 1898 in Zolochiv, a town in Galicia. At the time it was part of Austria-Hungary.

He studied at the University of Vienna, where he wrote his doctorate under the classical philologist Adolf Wilhelm. His dissertation, completed in 1925, dealt with the life of Josephus. Josephus remained a central subject of his research throughout his career.

Schalit immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1929 and at first found no academic post. His wife and son were killed in the Holocaust. In 1950 he joined the faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he later became a professor and taught until he retired in 1966.

His major works dealt with Herod and Josephus. He first saw Josephus as a patriot who supported the rebels against Rome, and later viewed him as a pragmatist. He also wrote for and edited the Hebrew Encyclopedia, the Biblical Encyclopedia and the Encyclopaedia Judaica.

He kept researching and publishing after his retirement. He received the Israel Prize in 1960 and the Tchernichovsky Prize for translation. He died on 21 August 1979.