Shmuel Yeivin

Shmuel Yeivin was born in 1896 in Odesa

Shmuel Yeivin was born in Odesa in 1896 to Nissan and Esther Yeivin. After the 1905 pogrom he moved to the Land of Israel with his mother and sisters, and his father followed in 1908. He studied at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium and graduated in 1914.

After school he was drafted into the Ottoman army and served as an officer in World War I. From 1920 to 1923 he studied archaeology and Arabic at the University of London, and later studied in Berlin.

He excavated in Egypt, Iraq and the Land of Israel, including Beit Shean and Ai. From 1935 to 1942 he was scientific secretary of the Hebrew Language Committee, and he chaired the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society from 1944 to 1946.

With the founding of the state in 1948 he became head of the Department of Antiquities and Museums. He joined Tel Aviv University in 1955 and headed its department of ancient Near Eastern studies from 1961 to 1969. He won the Bialik Prize in 1955 and the Israel Prize in 1968.

He married Batya Stern, and they had 2 children, Yehuda and Efrat. He died in 1982 and was buried at Har HaMenuchot.