Dan Shapira

Dan Shapira is an interdisciplinary historian and philologist at Bar-Ilan University. He is working currently on medieval and early modern Jewish minority communities, the Crimea, and the Khazars.

The Floating Space City of the Jews
In a tradition preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, Jews unhappy with the Temple of Jerusalem imagined a mythological paradise rooted in Zoroastrian mythology instead
byDan Shapira
Is the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia?
Not even the head of the Ethiopian church is allowed to see it
byDan Shapira
Who Were the Hasmoneans?
A Jewish populist movement that rejected Greece in favor of Iran, only to be conquered by Rome
byDan Shapira
Is the Taliban Jewish?
Our History Detective columnist investigates the supposed Hebrew origins of the Pashtun tribe
byDan Shapira
Are Syrian Jews Arabs?
Our History Detective columnist traces the story of Syrian Jews, and Jews from Syria
byDan Shapira
Forging History
In the second installment of his column, our ‘History Detective’ columnist dives into the falsifications of Abraham Firkovich, who invented an entire history that most Jews have never heard of
byDan Shapira
Inventing the Karaites
In the first installment of a two-part column, our ‘History Detective’ columnist begins tracing the story of Abraham Firkovich, the most prolific Jewish forger of all time
byDan Shapira
A Brief History of the Jews of Bukhara and Central Asia
Our ‘History Detective’ columnist maps out the geographic and literary timeline of the Bukharan Jews
byDan Shapira
The Glory of the Kings
Our ‘History Detective’ columnist provides a chronological dictionary of key people and terms that tells the story of Ethiopian Jews
byDan Shapira
So, Who Were the Khazars?
Neither the genetic ancestors of Ashkenazi Jewry nor a myth. Introducing the new ‘History Detective’ column.
byDan Shapira