Dr Shoni Lavie-Driver

lavie driver shoni
Early Career Reseracher, New College

Qualifications: BA, MPhil, and PhD in Classics from Jesus College, University of Cambridge

Link to college page: Shoni-Lavie-Driver

 

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Academic Background

I received a BA, MPhil, and PhD in Classics from Jesus College, University of Cambridge. I have also been a visiting researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Bologna. I came to Oxford as the Esmée Fairbairn Junior Research Fellow in Classics at New College in October 2025.

Research Interests

The key questions of my research are: who spoke which languages in Roman Judaea-Palaestina, what did people think about them, and how did all this change over time? Did, for example, ancient Jews living in this Roman province ever speak Latin, or did they dislike it as a foreign, imperial language? Was Hebrew just another ‘barbarian’ language to non-Jews? To answer these questions, I use all available sources, including inscriptions, Jewish rabbinic literature, Christian religious texts, and works of history written in Greek and Latin.

I began investigating Roman Judaea-Palaestina during my PhD on ‘Language in Roman Caesarea Maritima’, which focused on the provincial capital. I hope to publish a monograph derived from this in the coming years. In my postdoctoral research, I shall now examine Roman Jerusalem, both before and after its destruction, and the presence of Greek and Latin in rabbinic literature.

Research Keywords

Roman Palestine; Sociolinguistics; Rabbinic Literature; Early Christianity; Epigraphy

Teaching

At the University of Cambridge, I taught Ancient Greek to undergraduates for four years. I also gave lectures and led seminars on the language of Early Latin inscriptions and literature. At Oxford, I have so far taught on Jewish history in the Roman period and Biblical Hebrew.

Publications

Full Publications: Dr Shoni Lavie-Driver

Selected Publications: