Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 10/05/2005 00:17, kwrandolph wrote:

> ...
>
> Further, Abraham was not even from Sumer, but from Ur of the 
> Chaldeans, which spoke a different language. Would Abraham have even 
> known about the Sumerian legends? That there are similarities between 
> the Sumerian and Biblical flood accounts could also be the result of a 
> common source for those and all flood accounts around the world.


Hold on, Karl. I agreed with you that Ur of the Chaldees MIGHT not be 
the traditional Ur, a major Sumerian city in southern Mesopotamia. But 
you are going too far to imply that it CERTAINLY WAS not. We just don't 
have enough information. Anyway, many of the Sumerian myths are known to 
have been translated or reworked in Akkadian, a Semitic language close 
enough to what Abraham might have spoken that these myths would surely 
have been known in a form which he could understand.

This is not an argument for you to disbelieve the Bible or assume that 
Genesis is simply a reworking of Sumerian myths. But it does allow for 
cross-fertilisation between different ancient accounts of the Creation 
and the Flood.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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