‘Let your name be …’: The change of the names of Israel’s ancestors in light of the Atra-ḫasīs myth

The divine act of changing the names of Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob in the book of Genesis is paralleled by hitherto unnoticed similar cases of renaming specific protagonists in the Babylonian epic of Atra-ḫasīs: the goddess Mami/Bēlet-ilī and the Flood hero Ziusudra/Ūta-napištim. A careful comparison...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Wasserman, Nathan (Author)
Contributors: Bloch, Yigal
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Year: 2025, Volume: 49, Issue: 3, Pages: 306-319
Further subjects:B Ziusudra
B personal name
B Flood
B Mami
B Mesopotamian literature
B Genesis
B Bēlet(-kala)-ilī
B Atra-ḫasīs
B Ūta-napištim
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
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Summary:The divine act of changing the names of Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob in the book of Genesis is paralleled by hitherto unnoticed similar cases of renaming specific protagonists in the Babylonian epic of Atra-ḫasīs: the goddess Mami/Bēlet-ilī and the Flood hero Ziusudra/Ūta-napištim. A careful comparison of these instances of name changing reveals striking thematic parallels and important ideological differences.
ISSN:1476-6728
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/03090892241304413