Raphael Patai was a leading anthropologist, Jewish folklorist, and biblical scholar with a healthy interest in Arab studies. His Man and Temple (1947) was read by Robert Graves and eventually led to a collaboration between the two men which resulted in Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis in 1964. Patai earned two doctorates, one from the Hebrew University and the other from Budapest. He wrote over forty books including Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times, which he wrote at 85. His academic career encompassed both teaching and research; he was Director of Research at the Theodor Herzl Institute in New York and taught at Dropsie College in Philadelphia as well as Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. His scholarship has been widely acclaimed as original and insightful; Patai died in 1996 at the age of 85.