{{Short description|Italian-Israeli historian of Ancient Greece (1925–2000)}} {{Infobox person | name = David Asheri | native_name = דוד אשרי | native_name_lang = he | birth_date = 1 November 1925 | birth_place = Florence, Italy | death_date = 3 February 2000 | death_place = Jerusalem, Israel | alma_mater = Hebrew University of Jerusalem | occupation = Historian of ancient Greece }}
'''David Asheri''' (Hebrew: דוד אשרי) (1 November 1925, Florence – 3 February 2000, Jerusalem), born '''David Bonaventura''', was an Italian-Israeli historian. Asheri is regarded as "one of the most distinguished scholars of ancient Greece". He is perhaps best known for his many contributions to the scholarship of Herodotus.
== Life == Asheri was born in Florence into a prosperous Jewish family. His father, Enzo Bonaventura, was a prominent psychologist and intellectual with Zionist sympathies. In 1938, Enzo Bonaventura, because of his Jewish faith, lost his position as Chair of Psychology at the University of Florence under the new race laws.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Herman|first=Gabriel|date=2001|title=David Asheri: 1 November 1925 - 3 February 2000|url=https://scriptaclassica.org/index.php/sci/article/view/3981|journal=Scripta Classica Israelica|language=en|volume=20|pages=335–337|issn=0334-4509}}</ref>
=== Israel === In Jerusalem, Asheri was sent to the Ma’al School. During the War of Independence, he fought with the Moria battalion of the Palmach, the strike force of the Haganah founded in 1941.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Guarnieri|first=Patrizia|date=2020-01-27|title=David Asheri|url=https://intellettualinfuga.fupress.com/en/scheda/asheri-david/1312|journal=Patrizia Guarnieri, 'Intellettuali in Fuga Dall'Italia Fascista. Migranti Esuli e Rifugiati per Motivi Politici e Razziali'|language=en|volume=Intellettuali in fuga dall'Italia fascista}}</ref>
On 13 April 1948 he lost his father. Enzo Bonaventura was a victim of the notorious attack on Hadassah, while he was going to work in the medical convoy escorted by the Haganah militia as it was on its way to the hospital on Mount Scopus. In total, 97 of the 105 passengers died, among them also Anna di Gioacchino Cassuto, the daughter-in-law of professor Umberto Cassuto.<ref name=":1" />
=== Hebrew University of Jerusalem === In 1949 he changed his surname to Asheri, later adopted by his brothers, and forsaking his Italian surname as was normal. In 1952 Asheri enrolled at the Hebrew University, studying history and Greek philosophy. Between 1952 and 1961 he obtained various qualifications including a PhD, while working as a librarian at the National and University Library.<ref name=":0" /> His doctoral thesis, written under the supervision of Professor Alexander Fuks, was described as "a small masterpiece" and "rapidly recognised by the academic community as a starting point for all subsequent studies of landed property in ancient Greece.<ref name=":0" />
He became a professor of Greek and Roman history and, like his father, obtained a permanent position at the Hebrew University, becoming a full professor in 1978. In 1991 Asheri was nominated a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In 1993 he retired, but continued to research and publish his work in a number of academic journals.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Marincola|first1=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VTIyhET2o0MC&q=D.+Asheri&pg=PA150|title=Greek Historians|last2=Marincola|first2=Leon Golden Professor of Classics John|last3=John|first3=Marincola|date=2001-12-13|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-19-922501-9|language=en}}</ref>
He was a visiting lecturer at the University of San Marino and at the University of Florence in the Faculty of Letters, chaired by Guido Clemente. Asheri was a friend of fellow Italian scholars such as Arnaldo Momigliano, who greatly inspired him, and the Roman history scholar Emilio Gabba. For the editorship of ''Einaudi’s I greci'' he collaborated with Salvatore Settis and others.
In 2007 ''Greeks Between East and West: Essays in Greek Literature and History in Memory of David Asheri'' was published by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. It was edited by Gabriel Herman and Israel Shatzman.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/8077151|title=Greeks between East and West: essays in Greek literature and history in memory of David Asheri|date=2007|publisher=Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities|isbn=978-965-208-170-4|editor-last=Herman|editor-first=Gabriel|location=Jerusalem|editor-last2=Shatzman|editor-first2=Israel|editor-last3=Aḳademyah ha-leʼumit ha-Yiśreʼelit le-madaʻim}}</ref>
== Bibliography ==
* 'Carthaginians and Greeks' (Chapter 16), ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', Volume 4, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988)<ref>{{Citation|last=Asheri|first=David|title=Carthaginians and Greeks|date=1988|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-ancient-history/carthaginians-and-greeks/3D8EA1BD4B8D0EE789B4FD9D6D7D1293|work=The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 4: Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, c.525 to 479 BC|volume=4|pages=739–790|editor-last=Lewis|editor-first=D. M.|series=The Cambridge Ancient History|edition=2|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-22804-6|access-date=2021-07-03|editor2-last=Boardman|editor2-first=John|editor3-last=Ostwald|editor3-first=M.|editor4-last=Hammond|editor4-first=N. G. L.}}</ref> * 'Sicily, 478-431 b.c.' (Chapter 7), ''The Cambridge Ancient History'', Volume 5, (Cambridge: CUP, 1992)<ref>{{Citation|last=Asheri|first=D.|title=Sicily, 478-431 b.c.|date=1992|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-ancient-history/sicily-478431-bc/FB99BC0478B5742CAAECA59B8C1B0A4D|work=The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 5: The Fifth Century BC|volume=5|pages=147–170|editor-last=Lewis|editor-first=David M.|series=The Cambridge Ancient History|edition=2|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-23347-7|access-date=2021-07-03|editor2-last=Davies|editor2-first=J. K.|editor3-last=Boardman|editor3-first=John|editor4-last=Ostwald|editor4-first=M.}}</ref> * ''I Greci'', eight-volume history of ancient Greece (Italian), Editor: D. Asheri (Rome, Italy: Einaudi 1996)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Einaudi Bologna - I Greci|url=https://www.einaudibologna.it/grandi-opere/94-approfondimenti/1237-i-greci.html|access-date=2021-07-03|website=www.einaudibologna.it}}</ref> * ''A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV'', co-author (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-commentary-on-herodotus-books-i-iv-9780198149569?cc=gb&lang=en&|title=A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV|date=2007-08-30|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-814956-9|editor-last=Asheri|editor-first=David|location=Oxford, New York|editor-last2=Lloyd|editor-first2=Alan|editor-last3=Corcella|editor-first3=Aldo|editor-last4=Murray|editor-first4=Oswyn|editor-last5=Moreno|editor-first5=Alfonso}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Press|first=Oxford University|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyjaXnWHAEIC&q=The+Cambridge+Companion+to+Herodotus+asheri|title=Herodotus: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide|date=2010-05-01|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-980286-9|language=en}}</ref>
== Notes == <references /> {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asheri, David}} Category:1925 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Academics from Florence Category:Israeli people of Italian-Jewish descent Category:20th-century Italian historians Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Category:Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion faculty Category:Burials at Har HaMenuchot Category:Palmach members Category:Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Category:Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities