The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East, pp. 251-261, 2023/04/12
Proceedings of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale and the 12th Melammu Symposium, University of Innsbruck, July 16‒20, 2018
Genesis 1–11 shares common motifs with many other ancient texts, especially with the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Atramhasis Epic. The biblical creation stories, the flood narrative, and the “Tower of Babel” episode display familiarity with these works and raise the question of how to interpret their relationship with them. The use of these sources is a sign of their relevance; however, critical features are to be noted across Genesis 1–11 which serve to express a different world-view. The Primeval History is characterized by an ambivalent interplay of esteem and irony.
