Naphtali Lewis (14 December 1911 – 11 September 2005) was an American papyrologist who published extensively on subjects ranging from the ancient papyrus industry to government in Roman Egypt.
[1][2] Lewis did his undergraduate studies in classical languages and French at City College of New York (AB, magna cum laude 1930) and earned an MA at Columbia (1932).
He generally found the lectures rather mechanical but his curiosity in what was to become the object of a lifelong research interest was stirred where he did course work in his final year, when he read, together with Meyer Reinhold and Moses Finkelstein, the Zenon papyri under the direction of William Linn Westermann.
[3] After receiving a certificate at the University of Strasbourg (1933), he went to Paris where he pursued his studies on papyrology under Paul Collart, and more generally, trained as an historian under Gustave Glotz.
[3] In retirement, he continued to conduct research and publish, and also taught papyrology and ancient history as a visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.