Jonathan Ben-Dov (Ph.D., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2005) is a senior lecturer in the Department of Bible at the University of Haifa. He studies biblical literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Jewish pseudepigrapha, focusing on the nature of Jewish literature as part of the rich texture of the ancient world and on comparing Israelite and early Jewish literature with the Cuneiform corpus from Mesopotamia as well as with Greco-Roman literature. Ben-Dov has developed models for explaining the interconnectedness of ancient cultures. Avoiding the outdated concept of 'influence', he sheds light on models of hybridity and on the creation of national identity.