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1 results

  • 1 - Literature in the Ancient Near East and the Bible

  • Edited by Calum Carmichael, Cornell University, New York
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature
    Published online:
    13 March 2020
    Print publication:
    26 March 2020, pp 7-25

  • Summary

    In the broad scope of Western Literature, the Bible fits squarely within what is called Ancient Near Eastern literature. This article surveys the literature of antiquity by examining three separate pieces from three separate cultural contexts. The Gilgamesh Epic represents the literature of a large and affluent Mesopotamian empire. The Baal Cycle considers a serial poem from the small but influential city-state of Ugarit in northwestern Syria. The Mesha Stele, or Moabite Stone, stands for a single literary piece from the small and relatively provincial kingdom of Moab. Each of these documents is summarized with an eye toward literary finesse and the fluidity of texts. The larger question of how to define literature based on such diverse exemplars as these is also raised, with the understanding that literature was written to be shared. Ancient texts, including the Bible, are misunderstood when they are treated as final forms.