I N M E M O R I A M
V I C T O R A. T C H E R I K O V E R (1894—1958)
On J a n u a r y 17th, 1958, p a s s e d a w a y V i c t o r A. T c h e r i k o v e r ,
Professor of A n c i e n t H i s t o r y a n d t h e H e a d of t h e D e p a r t m e n t of
H i s t o r y of t h e U n i v e r s i t y of J e r u s a l e m . T c h e r i k o v e r was b o r n
in Russia in 1894, a n d a f t e r h a v i n g g r a d u a t e d in t h e U n i v e r s i t y
of Moscow, he w e n t t o t h e U n i v e r s i t y of Berlin f o r f u r t h e r
histo-rical studies; t h e r e he h a d t h e a d v a n t a g e of b e e i n g a p u p i l of E d .
M e y e r a n d U . W i l c k e n . B y t h e l a s t - n a m e d scholar he w a s f i r s t
d r a w n i n t o t h e field of Hellenistic h i s t o r y a n d p a p y r o l o g y ,
sub-j e c t s f o r which he m a i n t a i n e d his e n t h u s i a s m t o t h e e n d of his life.
I n 1925 he o b t a i n e d his D o c t o r ' s degree a n d in 1927 his f i r s t b o o k ,
Die hellenistischen Städtegründungen, was p u b l i s h e d , a w o r k b y
w h i c h he won a wide r e p u t a t i o n . I n 1925 he w e n t t o J e r u s a l e m
a n d was a p p o i n t e d i n s t r u c t o r in A n c i e n t H i s t o r y in t h e r e c e n t l y
f o u n d e d H e b r e w U n i v e r s i t y . T h u s he b e c a m e t h e pioneer of
tea-ching a n d research in A n c i e n t H i s t o r y "and Classics in J e r u s a l e m .
I n 1947 he was a p p o i n t e d t o t h e chair of A n c i e n t H i s t o r y a t t h e
H e b r e w U n i v e r s i t y . As a t e a c h e r a n d l e c t u r e r he was second t o
n o n e in t h e H e b r e w U n i v e r s i t y b e i n g endowed w i t h o u t s t a n d i n g
t a l e n t t o c o m m u n i c a t e his knowledge a n d t o inspire his p u p i l s w i t h
a love f o r t h e s u b j e c t s he himself e n j o y e d . As a m a n he was k i n d —
h e a r t e d a n d f r i e n d l y t o all w h o c a m e in p e r s o n a l c o n t a c t w i t h h i m .
Tcherikover h a d wide historical i n t e r e s t s a n d as a n U n i v e r s i t y
t e a c h e r he used to l e c t u r e on almost all p e r i o d s of Greek a n d
Ro-m a n a n t i q u i t y , b u t his w r i t t e n c o n t r i b u t i o n since 1927 w a s chiefly
c o n f i n e d to research in J e w i s h h i s t o r y in t h e Hellenistic a n d early
R o m a n age. A b o v e all he strove t o u n d e r s t a n d a n d explain t h e
i m p a c t of Hellenistic civilization on t h e E a s t a n d its consequences
for t h e J e w s b o t h in P a l e s t i n e a n d in t h e D i a s p o r a . H e p u b l i s h e d
over m a n y y e a r s b o t h in H e b r e w a n d in E n g l i s h a long series of
articles dealing w i t h v a r i o u s a s p e c t s of J e w i s h h i s t o r y in t h e
Hel-lenistic a n d R o m a n p e r i o d . A m o n g t h e m : Third Bk. of Maccabees
10
M. STERNas a historical source of Augustus' time, Zioń X Jerusalem 1945
(in Hebrew), Antiochia in Jerusalem Y. N. Eptein Jubilee book
Jerusalem 1950 (in Hebrew), Was Jerusalem a Greek Polis under
the Procurators ? (Palestinian studies presented to Prof. M. Schwabe),
Jerusalem 1951 (in Hebrew), Jewish Apologetic literature
reconsi-dered (Eos X L V I I I , 3 = Symbolae R. Taubenschlag dedicatae I I I
Warsaw 1957) His main achievement in t h a t field is his book The
Jews and the Greeks in the Hellenistic Period, a clear detailed and
admirably written study which was issued in Hebrew in 1930;
a second and largely revised edition as well as an English
transla-tion which will make this i m p o r t a n t work available for the
scho-larly world a t large were completed b y Tcherikover shortly before
his death and will appear soon.
Tcherikover early grasped the importance of papyrology for
the study of Jewish-Hellenistic history. His first paper connected
with papyrology proper was his Palestine under the Ptolemies
(Mis-raim 1937 p. 9—90), a lucid study of the Zenon p a p y r i relating to
Palestine. His other papyrological contributions comprise: Jewish
religious influence in the Adler papyri? (Harvard Theological
Re-vieiv, v. 35 (1) 1942, Syntaxis and laographia, (Journal of Juristic
Papyrology v. ΙΛ
Γ1950), The Sambathions, (Scripta
Hierosolymi-tana, v. I); Studies in Classics and Jewish Hellenism 1954.
About 25 years ago Tcherikover formulated his big scheme of
mustering all the papyrological evidence bearing on Jews and
J u d a i s m , and publishing a Corpus of Jewish p a p y r i and ostraca.
W i t h indefatigable energy he commenced his work in the field of
papyri, marshalling all the scattered evidence and commenting
upon it. This undertaking gave b i r t h at f i r s t to a book on The Jews
in Egypt in the Hellenistic-Roman age in the light of the papyri, 1945
(in Hebrew with an English summary). Encouraged b y the
suc-cess of this book, Tcherikover continued his big enterprise
ener-getically sided b y his pupil and friend, A. Fuks. The f i r s t volume
of the Corpus Papyrorum Judaicarum was published in Oxford in
1957. I t contains the invaluable historical Prolegomena and all the
Ptolemaic p a p y r i and ostraca which have any direct connection
with the Jews according to the objective criteria established b y
Tcherikover himself. To every document included there is
atta-ched a meticulous bibliography and a commentary p u t t i n g the
document in its proper historical context. The second volume (to
be published in 1959) will contain all the documents relating to
I N MEMORIAM V. A. TCHERIKOVER
