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Anson Rainey

Anson Rainey was an American-born Israeli linguist and archaeologist, a professor at Tel Aviv University known for his study of the Amarna tablets.

1930 to 2011Study of the Amarna tabletsHistorical geography of the Land of IsraelSemitic linguistics at Tel Aviv University

Born: 11 January 1930, Dallas
Died: 19 February 2011, Ramat Gan
Occupation: anthropologist, historian, pedagogue, writer
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of California, Los Angeles, John Brown University

Anson Rainey was born in 1930 in Dallas

Anson Rainey was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1930. His father died that same year, and he was raised by his maternal grandparents. He attended Brown Military Academy in San Diego from 1943 to 1946.

He earned a B.A. in religious education at John Brown University in 1949 and then worked as a social worker in California. At the California Baptist Theological Seminary he took three degrees in Old Testament and Biblical theology. He later studied at UCLA and Brandeis University, and he received his Ph.D. from Brandeis in 1962 with a dissertation on the social structure of Ugarit.

He came to Israel in 1960 and studied Hebrew, archaeology and ancient languages at the Hebrew University. He began teaching Ugaritic and Akkadian at Tel Aviv University, became associate professor in 1970 and full professor in 1981. He also led field trips in historical geography and excavations at sites such as Tel Michal and Tel Beer Sheva.

His main research focused on the Amarna letters. Between 1980 and 1982 he collated the Amarna tablets at the Cairo Museum, and in 1996 he published four volumes on their language.

In 1980 he converted to Judaism and took the name Arie. He lived in Sha'arei Tikva with his wife Tzipora and their son. He died in 2011 and was buried in Barkan.