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Gabriel Herman

Gabriel Herman was an Israeli historian and professor of ancient history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known for his work on ancient Greek social history.

1947 to 2024Ancient Greek social historyResearch on ritualised friendshipStudies of Athenian democracy

Born: 10 May 1947, Târgu Mureș
Died: 18 November 2024
Occupation: historian, classical scholar, professor
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Cambridge

Gabriel Herman was born in 1947 in Târgu Mureș

Gabriel Herman was born in 1947 in Târgu Mureș, in Transylvania, Romania. He moved to Israel as a teenager and finished high school at Kugel High School in Holon.

In the army he served as an infantry officer and was discharged as a lieutenant. He later left the reserves as a captain.

He earned a BA in classics in 1974 and an MA in 1976, both at the Hebrew University. He then went to Darwin College, Cambridge, and received his PhD in 1985 under Sir Moses Finley, with a thesis on ritualised friendship and the Greek city.

He taught at the Hebrew University from 1978 and became full professor in 2010, and he headed its history department from 2004 to 2008. His research studied friendship, social structure and the Athenian democracy, using tools from the social and life sciences. His 1987 book from Cambridge University Press examined the bond the Greeks called xenia.

He won the Polonsky Prize in 2005. He was married to Ora, a news editor at Kol Israel, who died in 2018. He died on November 18, 2024, and was survived by 3 children.