Sylvie Honigman

Sylvie Honigman (Hebrew: סילבי הוניגמן; born 1965) is an academic and author. Her research interests include the Hellenistic period, Greek historiography in the Hellenistic period, Jews in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, and Jewish literature in Greek. Since 2003, she has been a senior lecturer at Tel Aviv University. She has authored two books along with many articles.

Education Honigman obtained all her degrees from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne: a bachelor's degree in history in 1986, a master's degree in ancient history in 1990, and a doctorate in ancient history in 1995. Her doctoral dissertation, "Les Orientaux dans l'Égypte grecque et romaine: onomastique, identité culturelle et statut personnel" ("Orientals in Ptolemic and Roman Egypt: Onomastics, cultural identity and personal status"), was supervised by Professor Joseph Mélèze-Modrzejewski.

Notably, she has idiosyncratic views downplaying the reliability of the books of Maccabees as a source on the Maccabean Revolt compared to other historians. She has argued that the persecution of traditionalist Jews under Antiochus IV Epiphanes was greatly overstated in the surviving sources, and the conflict was more due to economic factors than religious ones. While other historians have been skeptical about her strongest claims, her work is generally considered a useful addition to the field.

Works