Catherine Hezser is Professor of Jewish Studies at SOAS, University of London. She holds doctoral degrees from the University of Heidelberg (Dr. theol.) and from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York (Ph.D.). After her Habilitation in Jewish Studies at the Free University Berlin she taught at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Oslo, and the University of London and was a research professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has published numerous books and articles on Jews and Judaism in antiquity, with a focus on social history and daily life, the Talmud Yerushalmi, and Jews within the context of Graeco-Roman and Byzantine-Christian societies.