Ithamar Perath was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and immigrated with his family to Jerusalem in 1939. He studied geology and zoology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and went on to study marine sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California. Upon completing his studies, he worked in oil exploration, geological research in the Sinai Peninsula, and coastal studies in Israel. He has also worked as a tour guide, translator, and editor, and has participated in archaeological excavations in Ramat Rachel, ‘Ubeidiyeh,’ and Tel Dan.

In addition to research publications, he has written a radio play, And in the Desert Die (1963), and a volume of poetry, A Harvest Festival (2020).

He was married to the celebrated translator and editor Atalia Zilber.

From childhood, Perath was imbued with a deep interest in Bible research and geography by his father, a physician and a scholar of Judaism. Although familiar with biblical commentaries, he is primarily concerned with the written text and its factual interpretations. He characterizes his prose and poetry as fantasies derived from historical reality, based on up-to-date archaeological and paleographical investigations.