Ofer Pogorelsky
Department of History
Subject: The Nabataean Realm in Late Antiquity: the provinces of Arabia and Palaestina tertia
Supervisor: Prof. Oded Irshai
Abstract: My research deals with the Nabataean realm (the Negev, the Sinai peninsula and southern Transjordan) in late antiquity, between the 4th-7th centuries CE. I aim at reconstructing the process which this region and its inhabitants went through, following their annexation to the Roman Empire: Christianization (the transition from the Nabataean religion to Christianity), Hellenization (the establishment of Greek language and culture) and urbanization (the foundation of urban settlements and their economic basis). The research draws in particular upon the papyri from Nessana and Petra, as well as inscriptions and relevant literary sources.
Bio: I have a BA in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE program) from the Hebrew University. I did my MA in the department of History as a fellow of the programme for the Study of Late Antiquity and its Legacy. My MA thesis dealt with the impact of pilgrimage on the settlement of the Negev in Byzantine and early Muslim periods, drawn mainly on the Nessana papyri.
I am interested in the social and cultural history of the land of Israel and the Near East in the Roman, Byzantine and early Muslim periods, especially in documentary evidence, i.e. papyri and inscriptions, from this area.
I am a research assistant at the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, a joint project of the Hebrew University and the University of Cologne, Germany.
Mosse Stipend 2017/18