AAppeared between 3400 and 3200 BC the Sumerian cuneiform script and Egyptian hieroglyphics are the oldest known scripts. Clay tablets were discovered in Mesopotamia on which a story similar to the flood of the bible was deciphered. Yet these clay tablets are older than the Old Testament written between -640 to -609 BC To understand the similarities between the two texts, we must try to reframe ourselves in the socio-political-religious context of the era.
According to the great historian Herodotus, the Tribes of Israel were defeated by the Assyrian King Nebuchadnezzar in the year 597 BC. He deported the royal family and the Jewish elite to his country, between the Tigris and the Euphrates (current Iraq). Ten years later, following a final revolt, the entire population of Jerusalem was sent to Mesopotamia and the prestigious Temple of Solomon was destroyed. Half a century later thanks to the benevolence of the king of Persia Cyrus I, victorious over the Babylonians, some of them are returning home. It is there that for the sake of the cohesion of their people and the rehabilitation of their religious values that the Jewish scholars and priests wrote the Old Testament. The genesis and the flood in particular were strongly inspired by the epic of Gilgamesh, texts written by the Sumerians and transmitted to the Babylonians and then to the Jews in deportation at home. Here is an excerpt from the flood:
Do you like the website ?
Access all our Premium content. More than 2000 articles and ebooks
The Epic of Gilgamesh: The great king who did not want to die
🛒 I order mine 👇
Part Number | black & white illustrations |
Is Adult Product | |
Release Date | 2014-11-03T00:00:01Z |
Language | Français |
Number Of Pages | 146 |
Publication Date | 2014-11-03T00:00:01Z |