Nahman Avigad, 1905–1992

Nahman Avigad is dead. He died of cancer on January 28, 1992, at age 86. For much of his professional life he lived in the shadow of E. L. Sukenik, Yigael Yadin’s father, whom he served as assistant in such excavations as Beth Alpha and Hammat Gader. Sukenik, from all reports, was a demanding, often autocratic man; Avigad was quiet, shy and retiring. Sukenik died in 1953. Avigad blossomed. Between 1953 and 1955, Avigad directed excavations at Beth She‘arim, uncovering a series of catacombs containing Jewish burials of the second and third centuries C.E., including what may be the […]