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Naphtali Lewis (14 December 1911 – 11 September 2005) was an Americanpapyrologist who published extensively on subjects ranging from the ancientpapyrus industry to government inRoman Egypt. He also wrote several social histories ofPtolemaic and Roman Egypt to make his research more accessible to non-specialists. He was married to the psychoanalystHelen Block Lewis (1913–1987), and they had two children, John Block Lewis andJudith Lewis Herman, a physician who followed in her mother's professional footsteps.[1][2]
Lewis did his undergraduate studies in classical languages and French atCity College of New York (AB,magna cum laude 1930) and earned an MA atColumbia (1932). He generally found the lectures rather mechanical but his curiosity in what was to become the object of a lifelong research interest was stirred where he did course work in his final year, when he read, together withMeyer Reinhold andMoses Finkelstein, theZenon papyri under the direction ofWilliam Linn Westermann.
Lewis pursued further postgraduate studies in Europe with a fellowship from theAmerican Field Service.[3] After receiving a certificate at theUniversity of Strasbourg (1933), he went to Paris where he pursued his studies on papyrology under Paul Collart, and more generally, trained as an historian underGustave Glotz.[3] His first work, a doctoral thesis in French, wasL'industrie du papyrus dans l'Égypte gréco-romaine (Paris, 1934), a study of the papyrus plant and how it was manufactured and used for writing.[4] He published an English version of his thesis much later in 1974 under the titlePapyrus in Classical Antiquity. He spoke French fluently but with a Bronx accent.
He then moved to Rome and furthered his research for 2 years at theAmerican Academy in Rome, working on theFouad papyri.[3] He also managed to travel widely at this time, visiting the Mediterranean, travelling through theLevant andPalestine and sojourning in Istanbul and Athens.
On returning to the United States, where the effects of theDepression made employment difficult, he did odd jobs and filled part-time posts until, in 1938, Casper Kraemer managed to get him a post atNew York University on the recommendation that he conduct research on theKaranis papyri. There he made a lifelong friendship withLionel Casson.[3] When WW2 broke out he became a translator for the Engineer Corps, and later head of war research atColumbia University.[3]
From 1947 until 1976 Lewis taught atBrooklyn College (whence he retired as Distinguished Professor) and was also involved in theCity University's Graduate School. He served as president of theAmerican Society of Papyrologists (1965–1969) and as president of theAssociation Internationale de Papyrologues (1974–1983). His wife was summoned in 1953 to be interrogated during theSecond Red Scare to respond to interrogations about possible Communist connections, but refused to answer, pleading theFifth Amendment.[2]
After his wife's death in 1987, Lewis suffered a heart attack, but on regaining his health married Ruth Markel, who was to predecease him, passing away in 2004.[3] In retirement, he continued to conduct research and publish, and also taught papyrology and ancient history as a visiting professor at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara.[5]
