Gods and Mortals in Early Greek and Near Eastern Mythology

Explores the interaction between Greece and the Ancient Near East through stories about the gods and their relationships with humankind.

Adrian Kelly (Edited by), Christopher Metcalf (Edited by)

9781108727174, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 March 2023

353 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.512 kg

This volume centres on one of the most important questions in the study of antiquity – the interaction between Greece and the Ancient Near East, from the Mycenaean to the Hellenistic periods. Focusing on the stories that the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean told about the gods and their relationships with humankind, the individual treatments draw together specialists from both fields, creating for the first time a truly interdisciplinary synthesis. Old cases are re-examined, new examples discussed, and the whole range of scholarly opinions, past and present, are analysed, critiqued, and contextualised. While direct textual comparisons still have something to show us, the methodologies advanced here turn their attention to deeper structures and wider dynamics of interaction and influence that respect the cultural autonomy and integrity of all the ancient participants.

Introduction Adrian Kelly and Christopher Metcalf
Part I. Contexts: 1. 'Let Those Important Primeval Deities Listen': The Social Setting of the Hurro-Hittite Song of Emergence Amir Gilan
2. Siting the Gods: Narrative, Cult, and Hybrid Communities in the Iron Age Mediterranean Carolina López-Ruiz
3. Politics, Cult, and Scholarship: Aspects of the Transmission History of Marduk and Ti?amat's Battle Frances Reynolds
4. The Scholar and the Poet: Standard Babylonian Gilgameš VI vs. Iliad 5 Mark Weeden
Part II. Influence: 5. Playing with Traditions: Deliberate Allusions to Near Eastern Myth in Hesiod's Story of the Five Human Races André Lardinois
6. Etana in Greece Bruno Currie
7. The World of Gods and Men: Animal and Plant Disputation Poems and Fables in Babylonia, Persia, and Greece Yoram Cohen
8. Tales of Kings and Cup-bearers in History and Myth Christopher Metcalf
9. There Were Nephilim Ruth Scodel
10. Mythical Time in Mesopotamia Andrew George
Part III. Difference: 11. Borrowing, Dialogue and Rejection: Intertextual Interfaces in the Late Bronze Age Ian Rutherford
12. Divine Labour Johannes Haubold
13. Comparison: Relevance and Significance of Linguistic Features Sylvie Vanséveren
14. Fate and Authority in Mesopotamian Literature and the Iliad Angus Bowie
15. Fashioning Pandora: Ancient Near Eastern Creation Scenes and Hesiod Bernardo Ballesteros Petrella
16. Sexing and Gendering the Succession Myth in Ancient Greece and the Near East Adrian Kelly.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], History: earliest times to present day [HBL], History [HB], Humanities [H], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]