University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Professor Aaron Koller
Regius Professor of Hebrew
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Gonville and Caius College
Official University Profile: University of Cambridge – Aaron Koller
Expertise: Biblical Hebrew; Semitic Languages and Linguistics; Ancient Hebrew Philology; Jewish Aramaic; Hebrew Bible; Northwest Semitic Languages; Material Culture of the Ancient Middle East; Jewish Intellectual History; Second Temple Judaism; Rabbinic Literature; Medieval Biblical Interpretation; Manuscript Studies.
Member of Editorial Board of European Hebrew Journal
CURRICULUM VITAE
Academic Profile
Professor Aaron Koller is Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge, in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. His academic work focuses on Semitic languages, Hebrew Bible, the material culture of the ancient Middle East, and Jewish intellectual history from the Iron Age through the Middle Ages.
He wrote his doctorate on ancient Hebrew terms for tools. The resulting book was a study of agriculture, woodworking, and masonry in the ancient world. His later work includes major studies on Esther in ancient Jewish thought, the Akedah in modern Jewish thought, the history of writing, the alphabet, Semitic philology, Aramaic dialectology, rabbinic literature, and medieval biblical interpretation.
Professor Koller has published on a wide range of subjects, including the history of the idea of a “word,” the history of alphabetical order, Egyptian wisdom literature and its later echoes, Talmudic manuscripts, Rabbinic Hebrew, Aramaic dialectology, and the Qur’an’s use of rabbinic literature.
He has held research fellowships and visiting appointments at Oxford University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research. His current project is a history of the alphabet, tentatively titled Alphabetica: A Global History of the World’s Most Successful Invention.
QUALIFICATIONS
B.A., Yeshiva University.
Ph.D., Yeshiva University, 2009.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
Professor Aaron Koller was Professor of Near Eastern Studies at Yeshiva University, where he studied and taught Semitic languages, biblical literature, the history of biblical interpretation, and Jewish intellectual history.
He was elected Regius Professor of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge.
At Cambridge, he is Regius Professor of Hebrew in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and is associated with Gonville and Caius College.
RESEARCH
Professor Koller studies the languages and history of the Near East from the Late Bronze Age through rabbinic times. His work brings together Hebrew Bible, Semitic philology, ancient Near Eastern material culture, Jewish intellectual history, and the study of textual traditions.
His research includes biblical literature, the history of biblical interpretation, Semitic languages, Jewish Aramaic, Rabbinic Hebrew, manuscript studies, and the history of writing. In recent years, he has focused especially on the history of writing and the alphabet.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Semitic Languages
Hebrew Bible
Biblical Hebrew
Ancient Hebrew Philology
Jewish Aramaic
Northwest Semitic Languages
Levantine Archaeology
Material Culture of the Ancient Middle East
Second Temple Judaism
Rabbinic Literature
Jewish Intellectual History
Medieval Biblical Interpretation
Manuscript Studies
History of Writing
History of the Alphabet
TEACHING AND SUPERVISION
Professor Koller is available to supervise doctoral students.
Professor Koller is available to supervise master’s students.
His teaching and supervision cover Hebrew Bible, Semitic languages, ancient Near Eastern studies, Jewish intellectual history, biblical interpretation, Aramaic, rabbinic literature, and the history of writing.
PUBLICATIONS
Selected Publications
The Ancient Hebrew Semantic Field of Cutting Tools: A Philological, Archaeological, and Semantic Study. Washington, DC, 2012.
Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Unbinding Isaac: The Significance of the Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought. Jewish Publication Society / University of Nebraska Press, 2020.
“The Evolving Definition of ‘Word’ in Early Northwest Semitic Writing.” Journal article, 2024.
“Textualization and Phonetization in Early Near Eastern and Aegean Writing.” Journal article, 2025.
“Alphabetical Order and Alphabetical Thinking in the East and West.” In Interconnected Traditions, 2025.
Edited Books
Talmuda de-Eretz Israel: Archaeology and the Rabbis in Late Antique Palestine. Edited by Steven Fine and Aaron Koller. De Gruyter, 2014.
Moshe Bar-Asher, Studies in Classical Hebrew. Translated and edited by Aaron Koller. De Gruyter, 2013.
Studies in Mishnaic Hebrew and Related Fields. Edited by Elitzur A. Bar-Asher Siegal and Aaron Koller. Yale University, 2017.
Iran, Israel, and the Jews: Symbiosis and Conflict from the Achaemenids to the Islamic Republic. Edited by Aaron Koller and Daniel Tsadik. Wipf and Stock, 2019.
Semitic, Biblical, and Jewish Studies in Honor of Richard C. Steiner. Edited by Aaron J. Koller, Mordechai Z. Cohen, and Adina Moshavi. Bialik and Yeshiva University Press, 2020.