Old Testament Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Early scholarship === Some of the stories of the Pentateuch may derive from older sources. American science writer [[Homer W. Smith]] points out similarities between the [[Genesis creation narrative]] and that of the [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', such as the inclusion of the creation of the first man ([[Adam]]/[[Enkidu]]) in the [[Garden of Eden]], a [[Tree of the knowledge of good and evil|tree of knowledge]], a [[tree of life]], and a deceptive serpent.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Homer W. |title=Man and His Gods |date=1952 |publisher=[[Grosset & Dunlap]] |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/manhisgods00smit/page/117 117] |url=https://archive.org/details/manhisgods00smit|url-access=registration }}</ref> Scholars such as [[Andrew R. George]] point out the similarity of the [[Genesis flood narrative]] and the [[Gilgamesh flood myth]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=George |first=A. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=21xxZ_gUy_wC&pg=PA70 |title=The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-927841-1 |page=70}}</ref>{{efn|The latter [[flood myth]] appears in a Babylonian copy dating to 700 BC,<ref>{{cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |year=2007 |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |publisher=National Geographic |isbn=978-1-4262-0084-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJW-zhffwk4C&pg=PA20|pages=20–27}}</ref> though many scholars believe that this was probably copied from the {{nowrap|{{lang-akk|[[Atra-Hasis]]|script=Latn}}}}, which dates to the 18th century BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tigay |first=Jeffrey H. |author-link= Jeffrey H. Tigay | title=The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic | publisher=Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers |year=2002 |orig-date=1982 |isbn=9780865165465 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxjuHTH6I2sC |pages=23, 218, 224, 238}}</ref> George points out that the modern version of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' was compiled by [[Sîn-lēqi-unninni]], who lived sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC.<ref>{{cite book|translator=Andrew R. George|year=2003|orig-date=1999|title=The Epic of Gilgamesh|edition=reprinted|publisher=Penguin Books|location=London|isbn=0-14-044919-1|pages=ii, xxiv–v}}</ref>}} Similarities between the origin story of [[Moses]] and that of [[Sargon of Akkad]] were noted by psychoanalyst [[Otto Rank]] in 1909<ref>{{cite book |title=The myth of the birth of the hero: a psychological interpretation of mythology |author=Otto Rank |year=1914 |url=https://archive.org/details/mythofbirthofher1914rank |others=English translation by F. Robbins and Smith Ely Jelliffe |publisher=The Journal of nervous and mental disease publishing company |location=New York}}</ref> and popularized by 20th-century writers, such as [[H. G. Wells]] and [[Joseph Campbell]].<ref name="Wells">{{cite book |last=Wells |first=H. G. |title=The Outline of History: Volume 1 |year=1961 |orig-date=1937 |publisher=Doubleday |pages=206, 208, 210, 212}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Joseph |title=The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology |year=1964 |page=127}}</ref> [[Jacob Bronowski]] writes that, "the Bible is ... part folklore and part record. History is ... written by the victors, and the [[Israelites|Israelis]], when they burst through <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Jericho]] ({{Circa|1400 BC}})], became the carriers of history."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bronowski|first=Jacob|url=http://archive.org/details/ascentofman0000bron_y1z2|title=The Ascent of Man|publisher=BBC Books|year=1990|isbn=978-0-563-20900-3|location=London|pages=72–73, 77|orig-date=1973}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page