Jewish mythology

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Jewish mythology is a major literary element of the body of folklore found in the sacred
texts and traditional narratives that help explain and symbolize Judaism. Elements of Jewish
mythology have had a profound influence on Christian and Islamic mythology, as well as world
culture in general. Christian mythology directly inherited many of the narratives from the Jewish
people, sharing in common the narratives from the Old Testament. Islamic mythology also
shares many of the same stories; for instance, a creation account spaced out over six periods,
the legend of Abraham, the stories of Moses and the Israelites, and many more.
Contents
[hide]
1 Tanakh
o 1.1 Zoroastrian influence
1.1.1 Linear history
o 1.2 Genesis creation narrative
1.2.1 The "combat myth"
o 1.3 Garden of Eden
o 1.4 The Flood
o 1.5 Watchers
2 Jewish apocrypha
3 Merkabah mysticism
4 Talmud
o 4.1 Shedim
o 4.2 Dreams
o 4.3 The Keresh and the Tigris of the Bei Ilai
o 4.4 Traditional folk beliefs
o 4.5 Planting huppah trees
o 4.6 Mythological components of Haggadic exegesis
5 Kabbalah
6 Popular culture
7 See also
8 Citations and notes
9 References
10 Further reading
Tanakh[edit]
See also: Myth of origins, National myth and Pious fiction
Jewish mythology contains similarities to the myths of other Middle Eastern cultures. The ancient
Hebrews often participated in the religious practices of their neighbors, worshiping other
gods alongside Yahweh.
[1]
These pagan religions were forms of nature worship: their deities were
personifications of natural phenomena like storms and fertility.
[2]
Because of its nature
worship, Mircea Eliade argues, Near Eastern paganism expressed itself in "rich and dramatic
mythologies" featuring "strong and dynamic gods" and "orgiastic divinities".
[2]

The Biblical prophets, including Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, had a concept of the divine that
differed significantly from that of the nature religions. According to Jewish mythology, their lives
were full of miracles, signs, and visions from God that kept Jewish mythology alive, growing, and
distinct from the pagan mythologies of its neighbors. Instead of seeing the God of Israel as just
one national god, these prophets saw him as the one God of the entire universe.
[dubious discuss][3]

The prophets condemned Hebrew participation in nature worship, and they refused to completely
identify the divine with natural forces.
[3]
In so doing, they set the stage for a new kind of
mythology a mythology featuring a single God who exists beyond the natural
world.
[4]
Unlike Tammuz, who dies and revives along with the vegetation,
[5]
the God of the Hebrew
prophets is beyond nature
[6]
and, therefore, isn't bound by the natural rhythms:
"Where the Babylonian gods were engaged in an ongoing battle against the forces of chaos, and
needed the rituals of the New Year festival to restore their energies, Yahweh can simply rest on
the seventh day, his work complete."
[7]

Through the prophets' influence, Jewish mythology increasingly portrayed God as aloof from
nature and acting independently of natural forces.
[8]
On one hand, this produced a mythology that
was, in a sense, more complex. Instead of eternally repeating a seasonal cycle of
acts, Yahweh stood outside nature and intervened in it, producing new, historically
unprecedented events:
"That was theophany of a new type, hitherto unknownthe intervention of Jahveh in history. It
was therefore something irreversible and unrepeatable. The fall of Jerusalem does not repeat the
fall of Samaria: the ruin of Jerusalem presents a new historic theophany, another 'wrath' of
Jahveh. [] Jahveh stands out from the world of abstractions, of symbols and generalities; he
acts in history and enters into relations with actual historical beings."
[9]

On the other hand, this transcendent God was absolutely unique and hard for humans to relate
to.
[10]
Thus, the myths surrounding him were, in a sense, less complex: they did not involve the
acts of multiple, anthropomorphic gods.
[3]
In this sense, "Jahveh is surrounded by no multiple and
varied myths", and did not share in the "rich and dramatic mythologies" of his pagan
counterparts.
[2]

The Hebrew prophets had to struggle against the nature gods' popularity, and Jewish mythology
reflects this struggle.
[11]
In fact, some Jewish myths may have been consciously designed to
reflect the conflict between paganism and a new uncompromising monotheism. In Psalm 82, God
stands up in the Divine Council and condemns the pagan deities:
[12]
although they are gods, he
says, they will die like mortal men.
[13]
Karen Armstrong interprets the creation myth of Genesis 1
"as a poised, calm polemic against the old belligerent cosmogonies", particularly the
Babylonian cosmogonic myth.
[14]
The Babylonian Enuma Elish describes the god Marduk earning
kingship over the other gods, battling the monsterTiamat, and creating the world from her corpse.
In contrast, Armstrong argues, in the Genesis account (and in the book of Isaiah that describe
Yahweh's victory over the sea-monsterLeviathan),
"the sun, moon, stars, sky and earth are not gods in their own right, hostile to Yahweh. They are
subservient to him, and created for a purely practical end. The sea-monster is no Tiamat, but is
God's creature and does his bidding."
[15]

Zoroastrian influence[edit]

Names of territories during the Caliphate in 750 CE. Khorasan was a province of Persia in yellow.
R. C. Zaehner, a professor of Eastern religions, argues for Zoroastrianism's direct influence on
Jewish eschatological myths, especially the resurrection of the dead with rewards and
punishments.
[16]

Linear history[edit]
See also: Philosophy of history Cyclical and linear history
The mythologist Joseph Campbell believes the Judeo-Christian idea of linear history originated
with the Iranian religion ofZoroastrianism. In the mythologies of India and the Far East, "the world
was not to be reformed, but only known, revered, and its laws obeyed".
[17]
In contrast, in
Zoroastrianism, the current world is "corrupt [...] and to be reformed by human
action".
[17]
According to Campbell, this "progressive view of cosmic history"
[18]
"can be heard
echoed and re-echoed, in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Aramaean, Arabic, and every tongue of the
West".
[19]

Other traditional cultures limited mythical events to the beginning of time, and saw important
historical events as repetitions of those mythical events.
[20]
According to Mircea Eliade, the
Hebrew prophets "valorized" history, seeing historical events as episodes in a continual divine
revelation.
[21]
This doesn't mean that all historical events have significance in Judaism;
[22]
however,
in Jewish mythology, significant events happen throughout history, and they are not merely
repetitions of each other; each significant event is a new act of God:
"The fall of Samaria actually did occur in history [...] It was therefore something irreversible and
unrepeatable. The fall of Jerusalem does not repeat the fall of Samaria: the ruin of Jerusalem
presents a new historic theophany."
[23]

By portraying time as a linear progression of events, rather than an eternal repetition, Jewish
mythology suggested the possibility for progress.
[24]
Inherited by Christianity, this view of history
has deeply influenced Western philosophy and culture. Even supposedly secular or political
Western movements have worked within the world-view of progress and linear history inherited
from Judaism.
[25]
Because of this legacy, the religious historian Mircea Eliade argues that
"Judaeo-Christianity makes an innovation of the first importance" in mythology.
[26]

Eliade believes that the Hebrews had a sense of linear time before their contact with
Zoroastrianism,
[27]
but agrees with Zaehner that Judaism elaborated its mythology of linear time
with eschatological elements that originated in Zoroastrianism. According to Eliade, these
elements include ethical dualism, the myth of a savior, and "an optimistic eschatology,
proclaiming the final triumph of Good".
[27]


One traditional depiction of the cherubim and chariot vision, based on the description by Ezekiel.
Genesis creation narrative[edit]
See also: Genesis creation narrative
The "combat myth"[edit]

Destruction of Leviathan, 1865 byGustave Dor. This sea monster was mentioned 6 times in the Hebrew Bible.
Many of the Hebrews' neighbors had a "combat myth" about the good god battling the demon
of chaos; one example of this mytheme is the Babylonian Enuma Elish.
[28]
A lesser known
example is the very fragmentary myth of Labbu.
[29]
According to historianBernard McGinn, the
combat myth's imagery influenced Jewish mythology. The myth of God's triumph over Leviathan,
a symbol of chaos, has the form of a combat myth.
[30]
In addition, McGinn thinks the Hebrews
applied the combat myth motif to the relationship between God and Satan. Originally a deputy in
God's court, assigned to act as mankind's "accuser" (satan means "to oppose"), Satan evolved
into a being with "an apparently independent realm of operation as a source of evil" no longer
God's deputy but his opponent in a cosmic struggle.
[31]

Even the Exodus story shows influence. McGinn believes the "Song of the sea", which the
Hebrews sang after seeing God drown the Egyptian army in the Red Sea, includes "motifs and
language from the combat myth used to emphasize the importance of the foundational event in
Israel's religious identity: the crossing of the Red Sea and deliverance from the
Pharaoh."
[30]
Likewise, Armstrong notes the similarity between pagan myths in which gods "split
the sea in half when they created the world" and the story of the Exodus from Egypt, in which
Moses splits the Sea of Reeds (the Red Sea) "though what is being brought into being in the
Exodus, is not a cosmos but a people".
[15]
In any case, the motif of God as the "divine warrior"
fighting on Israel's behalf is clearly evident in the Song of the Sea (Ex. 15). This motif is recurrent
in poetry throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (I Samuel 2; Zechariah 9:11-16;14:3-8).
Some comparative mythologists think Jewish mythology absorbed elements from pagan
mythology. According to these scholars, even while resisting pagan worship, the Jews willingly
absorbed elements of pagan mythology.
[32]

Garden of Eden[edit]
See also: Tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Tree of life
Joseph Campbell notes that the Garden of Eden narrative's forbidden tree is an example of a
motif "very popular in fairy tales, known to folklore students as the One Forbidden Thing".
[33]
For
another example of the One Forbidden Thing, see the Serbian fairy tale Bash Chelik, in which
the hero is forbidden to open a certain door but he does anyway, thereby releasing the villain.
Also see the classic story of Pandora's box, which existed in ancient Greek mythology.
The Flood[edit]
Main articles: Flood myth and Genesis flood narrative

Noah's Ark, oil on canvas painting by Edward Hicks, 1846 Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Genesis flood narrative has similarities to ancient flood stories told worldwide. One of the
closest parallels is theMesopotamian myth of a world flood, recorded in The Epic of Gilgamesh.
In the Hebrew Bible flood story (Genesis 6:5-22), God decides to flood the world and start over,
due to mankind's sinfulness. However, God sees that a man named Noah was righteous
(because he walked with God) and blameless among the people. God instructs Noah to build
an ark, and directs him to bring at least two of every animal inside the boat, along with his family.
The flood comes and covers the world. After 40 days, Noah sends a raven to check whether the
waters have subsided, then a dove; after exiting the boat, Noah offers a sacrifice to God, who
smells "the sweet savour" and promises never to destroy the earth by water again -and making
therainbow a symbol of this promise. Similarly, in the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh,
[34]
the
bustle of humanity disturbs the gods, who decide to send a flood. Warned by one of the gods, a
man named Utnapishtim builds a boat and takes his family and animals inside. After the flood,
Utnapishtim sends a dove, then a swallow, then a raven to check whether the waters have
subsided. After exiting the boat, Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell "the sweet
savour" and repent their choice to send the flood.
Another ancient flood myth is the Hindu story of Matsya the fish. According to this story,
[35]
the
god Vishnu takes the form of a fish and warns the ancestor Manu about a coming flood. He tells
Manu to put all the creatures of the earth into a boat. Unlike the Biblical and Mesopotamian
floods, however, this flood is not a unique event brought on by a divine choice; instead, it's one of
the destructions and recreations of the universe that happen at regular intervals in Hindu
mythology.
Watchers[edit]
Main articles: Watcher (angel) and Nephilim
Also possibly derived from pagan mythology is the story of the "Watchers" (Genesis 6:1-4).
According to this story, heavenly beings once descended to earth, intermarried with humans, and
produced the nephilim, "the heroes of old, men of renown". Jewish tradition regards those
heavenly beings as wicked angels,
[36]
but the myth may be a fragment of pagan mythology about
gods interbreeding with humans to produce heroes.
[37]

Jewish apocrypha[edit]
Main article: Jewish apocrypha

This section
requires expansion.(December 2012)
Merkabah mysticism[edit]
Main article: Merkabah mysticism

This section
requires expansion.(December 2012)
Talmud[edit]
The Jewish people's tendency to adopt the neighboring pagan practices, denounced as it had
been by the Jewish prophets, returned with force during the Talmudic period. However, almost
no mythology was borrowed until the Midrashic and Talmudic periods, when what can be
described as mysticism emerged in the kabbalistic schools.
Shedim[edit]
One such aspect was the appearance of the "Shedim", or demons; these became ubiquitous to
the ordinary Jews
[38]
with the increased access to the study of the Talmud after the invention of
the printing press.
Dreams[edit]
The classical rabbis themselves were at times not free from sharing in the popular beliefs. Thus,
while there is a whole catalog of prognostications by means of Dreams in Ber. 55 et seq., and
Rabbi Johanan claimed that those dreams are true which come in the morning or are dreamed
about us by others, or are repeated,
[39]
Rabbi Mer declares that dreams help not and injure
not.
[40]
Dream interpretation is not however a factor in considering mythologyfication of Talmud
knowledge since it was at the time a part of the wider nascent development of what later became
the discipline of Psychology, and also incorporated Astrology, and effect of digestion on
behaviour.
The Keresh and the Tigris of the Bei Ilai[edit]
An example of typical mythology in the Talmud exists as a discussion about a giant deer and
a giant lion which are both originated in a mythical forest called "Bei Ilai".
[41]
The deer is called
"keresh", it has one horn,
[42][43][44]
and its skin measures 15 cubits in length.
[45]
The lion, called
"tigris", is said to be so big that there is a space of 9 cubits between its
ears.
[46]
The Roman Caesar Hadrian once asked Rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah to show him this
lion, since every lion can be killed, but the Rabbi refused and pointed out that this is not a normal
lion. The Roman Caesar insisted, so the Rabbi reluctantly called for the lion of "Bei Ilai". He
roared once from a distance of 400 parasangs, and all pregnant womenmiscarried and all the city
walls of Rome tumbled down. Then he came to 300 parasangs and roared again, and the front
teeth and molars of Roman men fell out, and even the emperor himself fell from his throne. He
begged the Rabbi to send it back. The Rabbi prayed and it returned to its place.
Traditional folk beliefs[edit]
The authorities of the Talmud seem to be particularly influenced by popular conception in the
direction of folk medicine. A belief in the Evil eye was also prevalent in Talmudic times, and
occasionally omens were taken seriously, though in some cases recognized as being merely
popular beliefs. Thus, while it is declared to be unlucky to do things twice, as eating, drinking, or
washing,
[47]
Rabbi Dunai recognized that this was an old tradition.
[48]

Planting huppah trees[edit]
A remarkable custom mentioned in the Talmud is that of planting trees when children are born
and intertwining them to form the huppah when they marry.
[49]
Yet this idea may be originally
Iranian
[citation needed]
and is also found in India.
[50]

Mythological components of Haggadic exegesis[edit]
It may be possible to distinguish in the haggadic legends of Biblical character those portions that
probably formed part of the original accounts from those that have been developed by the
exegetic principles of the haggadists.
The uniqueness of the Talmudic style of both recording meaning and deriving it using exegesis
places the many seemingly mythological components of the much larger halachic content into a
content very unlike the purely story-telling corpus of other cultures.
Kabbalah[edit]
Main article: Kabbalah

This section
requires expansion.(December 2012)
Popular culture[edit]
In the past century to modern day, there have been many retellings of Jewish myths (mostly from
the Torah), and adaptations for the modern public. They have mostly been in the regions
of science fiction, as Isaac Asimov noted in his introduction to More Wandering Stars:
"...Can science fiction be part of Jewish culture? From fantasy stories we know?/ And as I think
of it, it begins to seem to me that it is and we do know. And the source? From where else? From
the Hebrew source for everything-- From the Bible. We have but to look through the Bible to see
for ourselves."
Isaac Asimov
He goes on to show parallels between biblical stories and modern science fiction tropes:
Let there be light was an example of advanced scientific
mechanisms
God is an extraterrestrial
Adam and Eve as colonists on a new planet
The serpent was an alien, as Earth snakes don't speak or show
any intelligence
The flood was a story of a world catastrophe, and the survivors
The Tower of Babel (like Metropolis, which it inspired in part)
Moses vs. the Egyptian magicians is advanced technological
warfare
Samson as sword and sorcery
The first chapter of Ezekiel is a UFO account.
The Hugo Awards, one of the highest distinctions for science fiction writers, have been awarded
to biblically derived stories. For instance Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, and I Must
Scream", Larry Niven's "Inconstant Moon" and Harlan Ellison's "The Deathbird".
Another example is Hideaki Anno's Neon Genesis Evangelion anime series, which uses
kabbalah elements while narrating a reinterpretation of events
surrounding Adam, Eve andLilith in a futuristic and apocalyptic way.
It is often suggested that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the two Jewish creators of Superman,
essentially the beginning of superhero comics and comic books, were partly inspired by the story
of the Golem of Prague.
[51]

See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has
media related to J ewish
mythology.
Arabic mythology
Culture of Asia
Documentary hypothesis
Oral Torah
Oriental studies
Nimrod
Panbabylonism
Religion and mythology
Samson
Tahash
Tower of Babel
Citations and notes[edit]
1. Jump up^ Armstrong, p. 93; Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and
Mysteries, p. 136
2. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c
Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 141
3. ^ Jump up to:
a

b

c
Armstrong, p. 93
4. Jump up^ Armstrong, pp. 95-96; Irwin, pp. 323-34
5. Jump up^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 140
6. Jump up^ Irwin, p. 233
7. Jump up^ Armstrong, p. 96; see also Eliade, Myths, Dreams,
and Mysteries, p. 143
8. Jump up^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, pp. 141-42;
Irwin, p. 230, 233
9. Jump up^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 152-53
10. Jump up^ Irwin, p. 233; Armstrong, p. 82-83, 93-94
11. Jump up^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 142;
Armstrong, p. 94
12. Jump up^ Armstrong, p. 93-93
13. Jump up^ Psalms 82:6-7
14. Jump up^ Armstrong, p. 95
15. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Armstrong, p. 96
16. Jump up^ Zaehner, p. 58
17. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Campbell, p. 191
18. Jump up^ Campbell, p. 192
19. Jump up^ Campbell, p. 190
20. Jump up^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 190;
Eliade, Myth and Reality, pp. 11-12
21. Jump up^ Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, vol. 1, p. 356
22. Jump up^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 153
23. Jump up^ Eliade, Myths, Dreams, and Mysteries, p. 152
24. Jump up^ Irwin, p. 323
25. Jump up^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 69; Campbell, p. 201
26. Jump up^ Eliade, Myth and Reality, p. 64
27. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, vol. 1, p.
302
28. Jump up^ McGinn, p. 23
29. Jump up^ Labbu is discussed in terms of the developing
"adversary" mythology of the Ancient Near East and the Judeo-
Christian tradition, in Neil Forsyth, The Old Enemy: Satan & the
Combat Myth (Princeton University press) 1987:44f.
30. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
McGinn, p. 24
31. Jump up^ McGinn, p. 23-25
32. Jump up^ Armstrong, p. 96; McGinn, p. 23-24
33. Jump up^ Campbell, p. 109
34. Jump up^ The Epic of Gilgamesh, p. 108-13
35. Jump up^ Translation of the Hindu scripture Matsya 1:11-35
in Classical Hindu Mythology, p. 71-74
36. Jump up^ McGinn, p. 25
37. Jump up^ footnote on Genesis 6:1-4 in The New American
Bible, St Joseph Edition
38. Jump up^ G. Dennis, "Demons and Demonology," The
Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism
39. Jump up^ Ber. 56b
40. Jump up^ Gittin 52a, and parallels
41. Jump up^ " - ," Chullin 59b
42. Jump up^ Babylonian Talmud, Shabbath 28ab.
43. Jump up^ Jerusalem Talmud, Shabbat 2:3. The Talmud of the
Land of Israel, Volume 11: Shabbat, ed. by Jacob Neusner,
page 98.
44. Jump up^ Midrash Tanchuma 6: Midrash Tanchuma
Yelammedenu: An English Translation of Genesis and
Exodus by Samuel A. Berman, page 524.
45. Jump up^ 15 cubits. English measure Cubit = 18 inches 15
= 270 inches 12 = 22.5 feet in length.
Compare Elasmotherium, about 1518 feet in length, with a
massive horn on its forehead. (see Relict.)
46. Jump up^ 9 cubits. English measure Cubit = 18 inches 9 =
162 inches 12 = 13.5 feet between its ears.
47. Jump up^ Pesachim 109b
48. Jump up^ ib. 110b
49. Jump up^ Gittin 57a
50. Jump up^ W. Crookes, in "Folk-Lore," vii.
51. Jump up^ For a sample discussion of this subject
see "Superman and the Golem".
References[edit]
Jewish Encyclopedia. Ed. Cyrus Adler, et al. 22 May
2008 JewishEncyclopedia.com.
Armstrong, Karen. A Short History of Myth. NY: Canongate,
2005.
Ausubel, Nathan, ed. A Treasury of Jewish Folklore: The
Stories, Traditions, Legends, Humor, and Wisdom of the Jewish
People NY: Crown Publishers, 1990.
Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology.
NY: Penguin Compass, 1991.
Dennis, Geoffrey. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and
Mysticism. MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2007.
Eliade, Mircea.
A History of Religious Ideas. Vol. 1. Trans. Willard R. Trask.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Myth and Reality. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.
Myths, Dreams and Mysteries. New York: Harper & Row,
1967.
Irwin, William A. "The Hebrews". (Frankfort et al. The Intellectual
Adventure of Ancient Man. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1977. pp. 221360.)
Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales, Micha Joseph bin
Gorion, translated by I. M. Lask, Trans. Three volumes.
Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1976
Mimekor Yisrael: Classical Jewish Folktales Abridged and
Annotated Edition Micha Joseph bin Gorion. This is a one
volume abridged and annotated version, with an introduction
and headnotes, by Dan Ben-Amos. Indiana University Press,
1990. ISBN 0-253-31158-6.
Folktales of Israel Ed. Dov Noy, with the assistance of Dan Ben-
Amos. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1963
Jewish Folktales from Morocco, Ed. Dov Noy, Jerusalem, 1964.
Jewish Folktales from Tunisia, Ed. Dov Noy, Jerusalem, 1964.
"Hebrew Parallels to Indian Folktales," Journal of the Assam
Research Society, 15 (1963), pp. 3745.
Magoulick, Mary. "What is Myth?" Folklore
Connections. Georgia College State University, 22 May 2008 .
McGinn, Bernard. Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human
Fascination with Evil. NY: HarperCollins, 1994.
Mintz, Jerome R. Legends of the Hasidim: An Introduction to
Hasidic Culture and Oral Tradition in the New World Chicago:
Chicago University Press, 1968
Four Master Folklorists And Their Major Contributions Peninnah
Schram, from Opening Worlds of Words, Peninnah Schram and
Cherie Karo Schwartz
Segal, Robert A. Myth: A Very Short Introduction.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Zong In-Sob. Folk Tales From Korea. Elizabeth: Hollym
International, 1982.
Graves, Robert, "Introduction," New Larousse Encyclopedia of
Mythology (trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames), London:
Hamlyn, 1968, pp. v-viii.
The Epic of Gilgamesh. Trans. N.K. Sandars. NY: Penguin,
1960.
Classical Hindu Mythology. Ed. and trans. Cornelia Dimmitt and
J.A.B. van Buitenen. Philadelphia: Temple University Press,
1978.
New American Bible. St Joseph Edition. NY: Catholic Publishing
Co. (Used as a source for some scholarly information on
comparative mythology found in its footnotes.)
Harris, Robert, Virtual Salt: A Glossary of Literary Terms 2002.
Leaves from the Garden of Eden: One Hundred Classic Jewish
Tales. Edited by Howard Schwartz. New York, OUP USA, 2008,
540 pp.
Further reading[edit]
Campbell, Joseph (2001). Thou Art That: Transforming
Religious Metaphor. Novato, California: New World
Library. ISBN 1-57731-202-3.
Categories:
Jewish mythology
Middle Eastern mythology
Asian mythology
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