Matthias Schmidt was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1962 and studied Theology, History and Jewish Studies in Berlin, Heidelberg and Jerusalem (Ph.D. from the Hebrew University in 2004 on Ethnic Identities in the Hellenistic period).
In 1983 he came to Israel and has worked (since 1989) as administrative director and research coordinator of the Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History.
He is also a lecturer for ancient history at the History Department of the Hebrew University with research interests in Greek, Hellenistic and Roman history, as wll as New Testament Studies.
Besides his academic work Dr. Schmidt is a freelance translator and editor for a range of academic publications in history, theology and philosophy in Israel and Germany.
