Personal information

Yoram Cohen is a scholar of the ancient Near East, specializing in Assyriology (PhD Harvard University, 2003). He is a full professor at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, Tel Aviv University. His research interests are 1.) History of Bronze Age Syria; 2.) Ancient Near Eastern Wisdom Literature, and 3.) Intellectual History of the ANE. He is the single author of four books and the author of over 90 articles and reviews. Among his recent publications are Wisdom from the Late Bronze Age. (2013) Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature; The Babylonian šumma immeru Omens: A Study of Textual Transmission, Reception and Standardization. (2020) Zaphon, Münster; (Wasserman, N., co-author) “Mesopotamian Wisdom Literature.” In: W. Kynes (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Wisdom and Wisdom Literature. (2021) New York: Oxford University Press; and “Of Gods and Men: Animal and Plant Disputation Poems and Fables in Babylonia, Persia and Greece.” In: Kelly, A. and Ch. Metcalf (eds.) Of Gods and Mortals. (2021) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 145-153.

Other activities

  • He has published a new Hebrew translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh together with Nathan Wasserman (2026; Carmel Publishing House, Jerusalem).
  • He is editor-in-chief of the Israel Oriental Studies Annual (Brill).
  • Yoram Cohen served as Head of the Haim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology (2022–2026)
  • During 2026–2027, he will be a research fellow at the Institut für Assyriologie und Hethitologie LMU.