British historian of Hellenistic and Roman-era Judaism. Born in London and educated at Oxford, Rajak became professor of ancient history at the University of Reading, a leading historian of the cultural history of the Jews in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. She is particularly known for her work on *Josephus, and is the author of Josephus: The Historian and His Society (1982) as well as The Jewish Dialogue With Greece and Rome: Studies in Cultural and Social Interaction (2000) and other works. She was the editor of The Journal of Jewish Studies.