Uriel Rappaport was born in 1935 in Tel Aviv (then part of Mandatory Palestine) and grew up in Netanya.
Continuing his studies at Hebrew University, he acquired a PhD in 1965 with Abraham Schalit as his advisor, an expert on the Second Temple period.
He studied for a post-doctorate at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) in Paris under Louis Robert, an expert in Greek epigraphy, and Georges Le Rider, a scholar of Hellenistic numismatics.
In addition to his academic work, Rappaport served on a number of education-related commissions and committees.
[2] Rappaport was a historian of the Second Temple period, when Judea was under first Persian control, then that of various Greek states, then the Hasmonean kingdom, and then the Romans.