Temporary Disruption
We have implemented additional assurance measures to protect our systems.
As a result, we have suspended some of our systems and services. We apologise for any temporary disruption some customers may experience.
Element contents
Reading Creation Myths Economically in Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 July 2025
Summary
Creation myths in the ancient Middle East served, among other things, as works of political economy, justifying and naturalizing materially intensive ritual practices and their entanglements with broader economic processes and institutions. These rituals were organized according to a common ideology of divine service, which portrayed the gods as an aristocratic leisure class whose material needs were provided by human beings. Resources for divine service were extracted from the productive sectors of society and channeled inward to the temple and palace institutions, where they served to satiate the gods and support their human servants. This Element examines various forms of the economics of divine service, and how they were supported in a selection of myths – Atraḫasis, Enki and Ninmaḫ, and Enūma Eliš from Mesopotamia and the story of the Garden of Eden from the southern Levant (Israel).
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009559928Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 04 September 2025
References
Abusch, I. Tzvi. 1998. “Ghost and God: Some Observations on the Babylonian Understanding of Human Nature.” In Self, Soul, and Body in Religious Experience. Edited by Baumgarten, Albert I., Assmann, Jan, and Stroumsa, Guy G.. Brill. 363–83.Google Scholar
Abusch, I. Tzvi 2007. “Biblical Accounts of Prehistory: Their Meaning and Formation.” In Bringing the Hidden to Light: The Process of Interpretation. Studies in Honor of Stephen A. Geller. Edited by Kravitz, Kathryn and Sharon, Diane M.. Eisenbrauns. 1–17.Google Scholar
Abusch, I. Tzvi 2020. “Sacrifice in Mesopotamia.” In Essays in Babylonian and Biblical Literature and Religion. Brill. 56–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Altman, Peter, ed. 2016. Economics in Persian Period Biblical Texts: Their Interactions with Economic Developments in the Persian Period and Earlier Biblical Texts. Mohr Siebeck.10.1628/978-3-16-154938-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baden, Joel. 2012. The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Batto, Bernard. 2013. “The Sleeping God: An Ancient Near Eastern Motif of Divine Sovereignty.” In In the Beginning: Essays on Creation Motifs in the Ancient Near East and the Bible. Eisenbrauns. 140–57.Google Scholar
Black, J. A., Cunningham, G., Ebeling, J., et al. 1998–2006. The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL). Oxford. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/.Google Scholar
Boer, Roland. 2015. The Sacred Economy of Ancient Israel. Westminster John Knox Press.Google Scholar
Boer, Roland 2023. “Production and Allocation in Ancient Southwest Asian Economics.” In Economics and Empire in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Coomber, Matthew J. M.. Wipf and Stock. 44–74.Google Scholar
Bottéro, Jean. 2001. Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. Trans. Teresa Lavender Fagan. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Trans. Richard Nice. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Brisch, Nicole. 2017. “To Eat Like a God: Religion and Economy in Old Babylonian Nippur.” In At the Dawn of History: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of J. N. Postgate. Edited by Heffron, Yagmur, Stone, Adam, and Worthington, Martin. Eisenbrauns. 43–53.Google Scholar
Castellino, George R. 1994. “The Origins of Civilization according to Biblical and Cuneiform Texts.” in I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood: Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1–11. Edited by Hess, Richard S. and Tsumura, David Toshio. Eisenbrauns. 74–95.Google Scholar
Ceccarelli, Manuel. 2016. Enki und Ninmaḫ: Eine Mythische Ehrzählung in Sumerische Sprache. Mohr Siebeck.10.1628/978-3-16-154692-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coomber, Matthew J. M., ed. 2023. Economics and Empire in the Ancient Near East. Guide to the Bible and Economics 1. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books.Google Scholar
Da Riva, Rosio. 2017. “The Figure of Nabopolassar in Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Historiographic Tradition: BM 34793 and CUA 90.” JNES 76, 1: 75–92.Google Scholar
Dalley, Stephanie. 2000. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others. Revised ed. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dassow, Eva von. 2011. “Freedom in Ancient Near Eastern Societies.” In The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture. Edited by Radner, Karen and Robson, Eleanor. Oxford University Press. 205–24.Google Scholar
Dassow, Eva von 2014. “Awīlum and Muškenum in the Age of Hammurabi.” In La famille dans le Proche-Orient ancien: réalités, symbolismes, et images: Proceedings of the 55th Rencontre assyriologique internationale at Paris, 6–9 July 2009. Edited by Marti, Lionel. Eisenbrauns. 291–308.Google Scholar
DeGrado, Jessie. 2020. “An Infelicitous Feast: Ritualized Consumption and Divine Rejection in Amos 6.1–7.” JSOT 45: 178–97.Google Scholar
Dossin, Georges. 1938. “Un rituel du culte d’Ištar provenant de Mari.” RA 35, 1: 1–13.Google Scholar
Earle, Timothy K. 2002. Bronze Age Economics: The Beginnings of Political Economies. Westview Press.Google Scholar
Farber, Zev. 2019. “Israelite Festivals: From Cyclical Time Celebrations to Linear Time Commemorations.” Religions 4: 19.Google Scholar
Faust, Avraham. 2010. “The Archaeology of the Israelite Cult: Questioning the Consensus.” BASOR 360: 23–35.Google Scholar
Faust, Avraham 2019. “Israelite Temples: Where Was Israelite Cult Not Practiced, and Why.” Religions 10 (106): 26.10.3390/rel10020106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Liane. 2020a. The Story of Sacrifice: Ritual and Narrative in the Priestly Source. Mohr Siebeck.10.1628/978-3-16-159637-7CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Liane 2020b. “The Idea and Study of Sacrifice in Ancient Israel.” Religion Compass 14 (12): 1–14.10.1111/rec3.12380CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Liane 2023. The Consuming Fire: The Complete Priestly Source from Creation to the Promised Land. University of California Press.10.1525/9780520383661CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, Benjamin R. 2005. Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature. 3rd ed. CDL Press.Google Scholar
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva. 2006a. “Atraḫasis: An Introduction.” In Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism. JPS Scholars of Distinction Series. Jewish Publication Society. 5–18.Google Scholar
Frymer-Kensky, Tikva 2006b. “The Atraḫasis Epic and Its Significance for Our Understanding of Genesis 1–9.” In Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism. JPS Scholar of Distinction Series. Jewish Publication Society. 51–66.Google Scholar
Gertz, Jan C., Levinson, Bernard M., Rom-Shiloni, Dalit, and Schmid, Konrad, eds. 2016. The Formation of the Pentateuch: Bridging the Academic Cultures of Europe, Israel, and North America. Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Gilboa, Ayelet. 2013. “The Southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Iron Age I Period.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant, c. 8000 to 332 BCE. Edited by Killebrew, Ann E. and Steiner, Margreet. Oxford University Press. 624–48.Google Scholar
Godelier, Maurice. 1986. The Mental and the Material: Thought, Economy, and Society. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Greenstein, Edward L. 2002. “God’s Golem: The Creation of the Human in Genesis 2.” In Creation in Jewish and Christian Tradition. JSOTSupp. 319. Edited by Graf, Henning and Hoffman, Yair. Sheffield Academic. 218–39.Google Scholar
Greer, Jonathan S. 2013. Dinner at Dan: Biblical and Archaeological Evidence for Sacred Feasts at Iron Age II Tel Dan and Their Significance. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greer, Jonathan S. 2019a. “The Zooarchaeology of Ancient Israelite Religion.” Religions 10 (254): 19.10.3390/rel10040254CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greer, Jonathan S. 2019b. “The Priestly Portion in the Hebrew Bible: Its Ancient Near Eastern Background and Its Implications for the Composition of P.” JBL 138 (2): 263–84.Google Scholar
Halpern, Baruch. 1996. “Sybil, or the Two Nations? Archaism, Alienation, and the Elite Redefinition of Traditional Culture in Judah in the 8th–7th Centuries B.C.E.” In The Study of the Ancient Near East in the Twenty-First Century: The William Foxwell Albright Centennial Conference. Edited by Cooper, Jerrold S. and Schwartz, Glenn M.. Eisenbrauns. 291–334.Google Scholar
Hamori, Esther J. 2008. When Gods Were Men: The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature. De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110206715CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haran, Menachem. 1978. Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into the Character of Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School. Clarendon.Google Scholar
Heffron, Yagmur. 2014. “Revisiting Noise (rigmu) in Atra-Hasis in Light of Baby Incantations.” JNES 73 (1): 82–93.Google Scholar
Gudme, Hemmer, and Katrine de, Anne. 2020. “‘If I Were Hungry, I Would Not Tell You’ (Ps 50,12): Perspectives on the Care and Feeding of the Gods in the Hebrew Bible.” SJOT 28: 172–84.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth Gale. 2023. “Introducing Economy in the Ancient World.” In Economics and Empire in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Coomber, Matthew J. M.. Wipf and Stock. 12–43.Google Scholar
Hubert, Henri, and Mauss, Marcel. 1964 (French original 1899). Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions. Translated by W. D. Halls. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hudson, Michael. 2018. … And Forgive Them Their Debts: Lending, Foreclosure, and Redemption from Bronze Age Finance to the Jubilee Year. ISLET-Verlag.Google Scholar
Jacobsen, Thorkild. 1987. The Harps that Once: Sumerian Poetry in Translation. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Kataja, Laura, and Whiting, Robert. 1995. Grants, Decrees and Gifts of the Neo-Assyrian Period. State Archives of Assyria 12. Helsinki University Press.Google Scholar
Kelly, Joseph Ryan. 2022. “Does God Command and Punish in the Garden of Eden?” VT 72: 609–30.Google Scholar
Killebrew, Ann E. 2013. “Israel during the Iron Age II Period.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant, c. 8000 to 332 BCE. Edited by Killebrew, Ann E. and Steiner, Margreet. Oxford University Press. 730–42.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199212972.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kilmer, Anne Draffkorn. 1972. “The Mesopotamian Concept of Overpopulation and Its Solution as Represented in the Mythology.” Orientalia NS 41: 160–77.Google Scholar
Kingsbury, Edwin C. 1963. “A Seven Day Ritual in the Old Babylonian Cult at Larsa.” Hebrew Union College Annual 34: 1–34.Google Scholar
Kitts, Margo. 2022. Sacrifice: Themes, Theories, and Controversies. Elements in Religion and Violence. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108997041CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, Jacob. 1997. “1.158. Enki and Ninmaḫ.” In The Context of Scripture, Vol. 1: Canonical Compositions from the Biblical World. Edited by Hallo, William and Younger, K. Lawson. Brill. 516–18.Google Scholar
Koch, Ido. 2020. “Southern Levantine Temples during the Iron Age II: Towards a Multivocal Narrative.” Judaïsme Ancien/Ancient Judaism 8: 325–44.Google Scholar
Koch, Ido 2023. “Sacred Architecture in Iron II Southern Levant.” In The Bloomsbury Handbook of Material Religion in the Ancient Near East and Egypt. Edited by Laneri, Nikola and Steadman, Sharon R.. Bloomsbury Academic. 189–99.Google Scholar
Komoroczy, Géza. 1976. “Work and Strike of the Gods: New Light on the Divine Society in the Sumero-Akkadian Mythology.” Oikumene 1: 11–37.Google Scholar
Koppen, Franz van. 2010. “The Scribe of the Flood Story and His Circle,” In The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture. Edited by Radner, Karen and Robson, Eleanor. Oxford University press. 140–66.Google Scholar
Kozuh, Michael. 2014. The Sacrificial Economy: Assessors, Contractors, and Thieves in the Management of Sacrificial Sheep at the Eanna Temple of Uruk (ca. 625–520 B.C.). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar
Kvanvig, Helge S. 2014. Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic: An Intertextual Reading. JSJSup 149. Brill.Google Scholar
Lambert, Wilfred G. 1969. “New Evidence for the First Line of Atra-ḫasīs.” OrNS 38 (4): 533–8.Google Scholar
Lambert, Wilfred G. 1993. “Donations of Food and Drink to the Gods in Ancient Mesopotamia.” In Ritual and Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Quaegebeur, J.. Brill. 191–202.Google Scholar
Lambert, Wilfred G. 2008. “Mesopotamian Creation Stories.” In Imagining Creation. Edited by Geller, Markham J. and Schipper, Mineke. Brill. 15–60.Google Scholar
Lambert, Wilfred G. and Millard, Alan R.. 1969. Atraḫasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Langdon, Stephen. 1912. Die Neubabylonischen Königsinschriften. J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung.Google Scholar
Leuchter, Mark. 2017. “The Levites in the Hebrew Bible.” Religion Compass 11 (5–6): e12235.10.1111/rec3.12235CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, Amy-Jill and Zvi Brettler, Marc. 2020. The Bible with and without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently. Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Linssen, Mark J. H. 2004. The Cults of Uruk and Babylon: The Temple Ritual Texts as Evidence for Hellenistic Cult Practice. Brill.10.1163/9789047412335CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maggio, Michèle. 2012. “An Introduction to the Divine Statues of, and the Objects Belonging to, the Gods in Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian Period (c. 2000–1595 BCE).” In Materiality and Social Practice: Transformative Capacities of Intercultural Encounters. Oxbow Books. 213–20.Google Scholar
Makkay, János. 1983. “The Origins of the Temple Economy as Seen in the Light of Prehistoric Evidence.” Iraq 45: 1–6.10.2307/4200170CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mandell, Alice. 2022. “Genesis and Its Ancient Literary Analogues.” In The Cambridge Companion to Genesis. Edited by Arnold, Bill T.. Cambridge University Press. 121–47.Google Scholar
McClymond, Kathryn. 2008. Beyond Sacred Violence: A Comparative Study of Sacrifice. Johns Hopkins University Press.10.1353/book.3388CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCutcheon, Russell. 2024. Critics, Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion. 2nd ed. Routledge.Google Scholar
Meyers, Carol L. 1988. Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Meyers, Carol L. 2012. Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context. Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199734559.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michalowski, Piotr. 1990. “Presence at the Creation.” In Lingering over Words: Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Literature in Honor of William Moran. Edited by Abusch, Tzvi, Huehnergard, John, and Steinkeller, Piotr. Scholars Press. 381–96.Google Scholar
Mieroop, Marc van de. 1989. “Gifts and Tithes to the Temple in Ur.” In Dumu-e2-dub-ba-a: Studies in Honor of Åke W. Sjöberg. Edited by Behrens, Hermann, Loding, Darlene, and Roth, Martha T.. University of Penn Museum. 397–401.Google Scholar
Milgrom, Jacob. 1990. Numbers = Ba-Midbar: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation. JPS Torah Commentary 4. Jewish Publication Society.Google Scholar
Milgrom, Jacob 1991. Leviticus: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Bible 3A. Doubleday.10.5040/9780300261110CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milli, Salvatore, and Forti, Luca. 2019. “Geology and Palaeoenvironment of Nasiriyah Area/Southern Mesopotamia.” In Abu Tbeirah Excavations I. Area 1: Last Phase and Building A – Phase 1. Edited by Licia Romano and Franco D’Agostino. Collana Materiali e documenti 44. Sapienza. 21–38.Google Scholar
Moran, William L. 1970. “The Creation of Man in Atrahasis I 192–248.” BASOR 200: 48–56.Google Scholar
Moran, William L. 1971. “Atrahasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood.” Biblica 52: 51–61.Google Scholar
Morehart, Christopher T. and Lucia, Kristin De, eds. 2015. Surplus: The Politics of Production and the Strategies of Everyday Life. University of Colorado Press.10.5876/9781607323808CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nam, Roger. 2012. Portrayals of Economic Exchange in the Book of Kings. Brill.10.1163/9789004224162CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leo, Oppenheim. A.. 1956. “The Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East: With a Translation of an Assyrian Dream Book.” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 46: 179–373.Google Scholar
Leo, Oppenheim. A. 1977. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Revised ed. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Pettinato, Giovanni. 1968. “Die Bestrafung des Menschengeschlechts durch die Sinflut: die erste Tafel des Atramhasis-Epos eröffnet eine neue Einsicht in die Motivation dieser Strafe.” Orientalia NS 37: 165–200.Google Scholar
Polanyi, Karl. 1944. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Farrar and Rinehart.Google Scholar
Polanyi, Karl 1957. Trade and Market in the Early Empires: Economies in History and Theory. Free Press.Google Scholar
Pollack, Susan. 1999. Ancient Mesopotamia: The Eden that Never Was. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pongratz-Leisten, Beate. 2012. “Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East: Offering and Sacred Killing.” In Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice. Edited by Porter, Anne and Schwartz, Glenn M.. Eisenbrauns. 290–305.Google Scholar
Postgate, J. N. 1992. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Richards, E. G. 2012. “Calendars.” In Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac. 3rd ed. Edited by Urban, S. E. and Seidelmann, P. K.. University Science Books. 585–624.Google Scholar
Robbins, Ellen. 1996. “Tabular Sacrifice Records and the Cultic Calendar of Neo-Babylonian Uruk.” JCS 48: 61–87.Google Scholar
Roth, Martha T. 2013. “On Mār awilim in the Old Babylonian Law Codes.” JNES 72 (2): 267–72.Google Scholar
Rubio, Gonzalo. 2013. “Time before Time: Primeval Narratives in Early Mesopotamian Literature.” In Time and History in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Barcelona 26–30 July 2010. Edited by Feliu, Lluis, Llop, J., Albà, A. Millet, and Sanmartín, Joaquin. Eisenbrauns. 3–17.Google Scholar
Sachs, Abraham. 1969. “Daily Sacrifices to the Gods of the City of Uruk.” In Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Edited by Pritchard, James B.. Princeton University Press. 343–5.Google Scholar
Sallaberger, Walter. 2007. “The Palace and the Temple in Babylonia.” in The Babylonian World. Edited by Leick, Gwendolyn. Routledge. 265–75.Google Scholar
Sasson, Aharon. 2010. Animal Husbandry in Ancient Israel: A Zooarchaeological Perspective on Livestock Exploitation, Herd Management, and Economic Strategies. Equinox.Google Scholar
Schloen, J. David. 2001. The House of the Father as Fact and Symbol: Patrimonialism in Ugarit and the Ancient Near East. Brill.10.1163/9789004369849CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, Rüdiger. 2014. “A Typology of Iron Age Cult Places.” In Family and Household Religion: Toward a Synthesis of Old Testament Studies, Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Cultural Studies. Edited by Albertz, Rainer, Nakhai, Beth Alpert, Olyan, Saul M., and Schmitt, Rüdiger. Eisenbrauns. 265–86.Google Scholar
Scott, Marissa. 2021. “A Zooarchaeological Study of Animal Sacrifice in the Bronze and Iron Age Southern Levant.” MA Thesis. Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Scurlock, JoAnn. 2002. “Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Mesopotamian Religion.” In A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East. Edited by Jean Collins, Billie. Brill. 389–403.10.1163/9789047400912_015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scurlock, JoAnn 2006a. “The Techniques of the Sacrifice of Animals in Ancient Israel and Ancient Mesopotamia: New Insights through Comparison, Part 1.” Andrews University Seminary Studies 44 (1): 13–49.Google Scholar
Scurlock, JoAnn 2006b. “The Techniques of the Sacrifice of Animals in Ancient Israel and Ancient Mesopotamia: New Insights through Comparison, Part 2.” Andrews University Seminary Studies 44 (2): 241–64.Google Scholar
Seabright, Paul. 2024. The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Selz, Gebhard J. 2007. “Power, Economy, and Social Organization in Babylonia.” In The Babylonian World. Edited by Leick, Gwendolyn. Routledge. 276–88.Google Scholar
Seri, Andrea 2014. “Borrowings to Create Anew: Intertextuality in the Babylonian Poem of Creation, Enūma Eliš.” JAOS 134: 89–106.Google Scholar
Sharlach, Tonia. 2004. Provincial Taxation in the Ur III State. Brill.10.1163/9789047412342CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigrist, Marcel. 1984. Les Satukku Dans l’Ešumeša Durant La Période d’Isin et Larsa. Malibu: Undena.Google Scholar
Smith, Mark S. 2014. How Human Is God? Seven Questions about God and Humanity in the Bible. Liturgical Press.Google Scholar
Sommer, Benjamin. 2009. The Bodies of God in Ancient Israel. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Stackert, Jeffrey. 2012. “Sacrifice, Ancient Near East.” Encyclopedia of Ancient History. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah01167CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Staples, Jason A. 2021. The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism: A New Theory of People, Exile, and Jewish Identity. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781108906524CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinkeller, Piotr. 2013. “Corvée Labor in Ur-III Times.” In From the 21st Century BC to the 21st Century AD: Proceedings of the International Conference on Neo-Sumerian Studies Held in Madrid 22–24 July 2010. Edited by Garfinkel, Steven and Molina, Manuel. Eisenbrauns. 347–424.10.5325/j.ctv1bxgxr7.24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Elizabeth C. 2013. “The Organization of a Sumerian Town: The Physical Remains of Ancient Social Systems.” In The Sumerian World. Edited by Crawford, Harriet. Routledge. 156–78.Google Scholar
Streck, Michael P. and Wasserman, Nathan. 2005–2025. Sources of Early Akkadian Literature (SEAL). http://seal.huji.ac.il.Google Scholar
Tsumura, David Toshio. 1994. “Genesis and Ancient Near Eastern Stories of Creation and Flood: An Introduction.” In I Studied Inscriptions from Before the Flood: Ancient Near Eastern, Literary, and Linguistic Approaches to Genesis 1–11. Edited by Hess, Richard S. and Tsumura, David Toshio. Eisenbrauns. 27–57.Google Scholar
Uehlinger, Christoph. 2015. “Distinctive or Diverse? Conceptualizing Ancient Israelite Religion in Its Southern Levantine Setting.” HeB/AI 4 (1): 1–24.10.1628/219222715X14343676549106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waerzeggers, Caroline. 2010. The Ezida Temple at Borsippa: Priesthood, Cult, Archives. Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten.Google Scholar
Wells, Bruce 2023. “The Oblates of Eden: Babylonian Temples and the Untold Backstory of Adam and Eve.” Lecture delivered in Frankfurt, Germany.Google Scholar
Westenholz, Aage. 2010. “Enki and Ninmah.” In A Woman of Valor: Jerusalem Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Joan Goodnick Westenholz. Edited by Horowitz, Wayne, Gabbay, Uri, and Vukosavović, Filip. Biblioteca del Próximo Oriente Antiguo 8.: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. 202–05.Google Scholar
Westenholz, Joan Goodnick. 2013. “In the Service of the Gods: The Ministering Clergy.” In The Sumerian World. Edited by Crawford, Harriet. Routledge. 246–74.Google Scholar
Wright, David P. 2015. “Profane versus Sacrificial Slaughter: The Priestly Recasting of the Yahwist Flood Story.” In Current Issues in Priestly and Related Literature: The Legacy of Jacob Milgrom and Beyond. Edited by Roy, E. Gane and Ada Taggar-Cohen. SBL Press. 125–54.Google Scholar
Yee, Gale A. 1999. “Gender, Class, and the Social-Scientific Study of Genesis 2–3.” Semeia (87): 177–92.Google Scholar
Yee, Gale A. 2017. “‘He Will Take the Best of your Fields’: Royal Feasts and Rural Extraction.” JBL 136 (4): 821–38.Google Scholar
Zevit, Ziony. 2001. The Religions of Ancient Israel: A Synthesis of Parallactic Approaches. Continuum.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 AA
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
The HTML of this Element
complies with version 2.1 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), covering newer accessibility requirements and improved
user experiences and achieves the intermediate
(AA)
level of WCAG compliance, covering a wider range of accessibility requirements.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Structural and Technical Features
ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
- 5
- Cited by