Yonatan ben Uziel
50 BCE–50 CE · Zugot · Jerusalem
Yonatan ben Uziel was a leading disciple of Hillel and one of the most prominent scholars of the late Second Temple period. Active in Jerusalem, he was renowned for his mastery of Torah and his interpretive genius. Yonatan is best remembered as the traditional author of Targum Yonatan, the Aramaic paraphrase of the Prophets, which became one of the most influential translations in Jewish tradition. His interpretive method and textual innovations shaped how generations of Jews understood Scripture. Though little is recorded of his personal sayings in the rabbinic sources, his legacy endured primarily through the targum bearing his name and the reverence accorded him by later Tannaim.
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JerusalemירושליםJudea
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Jerusalem in this era
Under Herod the Great and his sons, Jerusalem was a city of magnificent building projects and deep Jewish anxiety. Herod's temple renovation—an engineering marvel that dominated the skyline—stood as a monument to his power and a source of both pride and resentment among the Jewish people, who saw in it both grandeur and a reminder of foreign rule. The Jewish community was internally fractious, split between Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, each interpreting Torah in different ways as Roman suzerainty tightened. Yonatan ben Uziel, working in this fervent interpretive moment, composed his Aramaic paraphrase of the Prophets—a targum meant to make scripture accessible to Jews whose Hebrew was weakening—precisely as the Second Temple stood at its architectural peak and the question of how to remain Jewish under occupation consumed the leading sages.
About Jerusalem
Jerusalem, in the Judean hills, is a sacred city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hebrew Bible it is King David's capital and the site of Solomon's Temple; the First Temple was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, rebuilt from about 516 BCE, by Rome in 70 CE. Christians revere it as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and, in their faith, his resurrection; in Islamic tradition it is the destination of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and the first direction of prayer, marked by the Dome of the Rock (691-92) and al-Aqsa Mosque. It was ruled in turn by Rome and Byzantium, by Muslim dynasties from 638, by Crusaders (1099-1187), Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans (1517-1917), and by Britain. Divided between Israel and Jordan from 1948 to 1967, it has since been under Israeli control. Israel regards the city as its capital; Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state; most countries do not recognize sovereignty over the whole city.
In Jerusalem at the same time
Hillel HaZaken, Avtalyon, Shemayah, Herod the Great, Bava ben Buta, Shammai HaZaken
Across the traditions, in Jerusalem at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Yonatan ben Uziel’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
- Joseph, husband of Mary· Jerusalem
- Joseph of Arimathea· Jerusalem
- Nicodemus· Jerusalem
- Mary, mother of Jesus· Jerusalem
- Jesus of Nazareth· Jerusalem
- Philip the Apostle· Jerusalem
- Matthias the Apostle· Jerusalem
- Bartholomew the Apostle· Jerusalem
- Thomas the Apostle· Jerusalem
- Mary Magdalene· Jerusalem
- James, son of Zebedee· Jerusalem
- Barnabas· Jerusalem
- Andrew the Apostle· Jerusalem
- Peter the Apostle· Jerusalem
- Paul the Apostle· Jerusalem
- John the Apostle· Jerusalem
- Silas· Jerusalem
- Titus· Jerusalem
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Yonatan ben Uziel’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.