Rotem Avneri Meir
20182024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Description of research and teaching

Rotem Avneri Meir (PhD, Helsinki) specializes in ancient Jewish history and religion with broader interests in the politics and cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. He is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires at the University of Helsinki. Drawing from the field of empire studies and building on social-scientific methodologies, his work retraces how imperial powers shaped local communities, cultures, and religious practices in the Southern Levant during the Late Persian and Hellenistic periods.

Rotem recently completed his PhD that examined the emergence of the Hasmonean dynasty within the Seleucid empire, highlighting how the early Hasmonean dynasts (namely, Jonathan, Simon, and Hyrkanos; ca. 160–110 BCE) conceived their hegemony in Judea within the context of existing imperial court circles rather than as a replacement for the Seleucid Empire.

In his current project, Rotem explores how ancient communication and information systems affected the way local Jewish communities experienced and understood social and political power, the divine, and the self in the Persian and Hellenistic periods.

Education/Academic qualification

History and Cultural Heritage, PhD, University of Helsinki

… → 2023

Award Date: 12 Dec 2023

Ancient History, MA, Tel Aviv University

… → 2017

Award Date: 27 Nov 2017

Fields of Science

  • 615 History and Archaeology
  • Hellenistic Period
  • Classics
  • Ancient Near Eastern Studies
  • Second Temple Judaism
  • Seleukid Empire

International and National Collaboration

Publications and projects within past five years.