The History Department is among the oldest and largest at the Hebrew University. The department's legacy was founded on the basis of the belief that all human actions in the past are important and worthy of reflection and understanding. Understanding the past gives us the tools not only to find our bearings in the present, but also a methodological system with which to gaze into the future.

The History Department aims first and foremost to give its students tools that will enable them to take part in a historical, intellectual and cultural discourse and train them so that they may become professional historians.

Curriculum

The curriculum for undergraduate students is based on a division into two periods: Pre-Modern and Modern. The department focuses on European history, but keeps a broad perspective, and its students are encouraged to take historical courses from other departments.

The staff at the History Department offers students a broad spectrum of different approaches, both in terms of teaching methods and in terms of fields of research; among them are political, social and economic history, gender issues, daily lives, and the history of minorities, history captured through photography and film, history of science and education, history of religions, and more.

The History department encourages ambition and excellence, and students who excel receive prizes and scholarships for their efforts. Personal programs with a special curriculum can also be planned for students with exceptionally high grades. The best students are encouraged to apply, after the first year, to the School of History's program for outstanding students.

Topics Taught at the Department

Pre-Modern

• Greek History and Historiography
• Athenian Democracy, Religion and Ritual in Classical Greece
• The Roman Republic, Politics, Government and Society
• The Late Roman Republic
• The Early Principate
• The Roman Empire: Administration and Government, Papyrology of the Judean Desert
• Economical History of the Middle Ages
• The High Middle Ages
• History of Paris
• Men and Women in the Middle Ages
• Food and Cooking in the Middle Ages
• The Early Middle Ages in Europe
• History of Europe in the Middle Ages
• History of Feelings and Emotions
• The Crusades and Military History
• Religious History of the Middle Ages

Modern

• Modern Philosophy and History
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• History of the Cinema
• Religious and Cultural History of the Early Modern Period
• Cultural and Intellectual History of the 19^th and 20^th Centuries
• Modern Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
• Military History and Strategy
• Women in History
• American History
• History of Modern Germany
• France: Culture and Society in the Early Modern Period
• History of Modern Britain
• History of Sports
• Jews and Christians in Early Modern Europe
• Modern German History
• The Reformations of the Sixteenth Century
• History of the Soviet Union and Modern Russia
• History of Communication
• U.S. history in the Colonial Period
• U.S. history since the Civil War
• U.S. in the Sixties
• History of the Social Sciences
• Israeli Military History
• The Scientific Revolution
• English Society and Culture in the Long 18^th Century
• Gay and Lesbian History