Yigael Yadin nee Sukenik (he changed his name at Ben Gurion’s request based upon Genesis 49:16, “Dan yadin amo – the tribe of Dan will judge his nation”) was a warrior, scholar, and statesman who achieved great success and fame in three distinct areas. First, he was an outstanding military commander who played an important role in achieving Israel’s birth as a Jewish state and served as Israel’s chief of staff; second, he was a world-renowned archaeologist who achieved great fame for the two greatest archaeological finds of modern Israel, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Masada; and third, he was a statesman who founded a new Knesset party and served as Israel’s deputy prime minister. [...]This article has a long account of the life and work of Yadin and a shorter one of his father, Eliezer Sukenik. For more on Yadin and the Bar Kokhba letters, see here, here and here. For the complicated problem of the archaeology of the fall of Masada, see here, here, here, and follow the links.
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