myBibleHistory

Echoes Across Civilizations

Where the biblical story meets the ancient world's other stories

Flood stories from India and Greece, creation by a spoken word in Egypt, giants and heavenly beings across the Mediterranean. Each comparison shows what both sources actually say, when they were written, and how they might be related, without assuming the answer.

  1. 4CreationGenesis 1–2 · Babylon, Egypt, India, K'iche' Maya
  2. 3Paradise and lost immortalityGenesis 2–3 · Sumer, Babylon
  3. 6The great floodGenesis 6–9 · Babylon, India, Greece, K'iche' Maya, China
  4. 3Giants, Watchers, and heavenly beingsGenesis 6:1–4 · Jewish (Second Temple), Mesopotamia, Greece
  5. 3Towers to heaven and the scattering of languagesGenesis 11:1–9 · Sumer, Babylon, Aztec (Cholula)
  6. 3Cutting a covenantGenesis 15:9–18 · Amorite kingdom of Mari, Aramaeans, Assyria
  7. 3A childless wife and a servant motherGenesis 16:1–4 · Babylon, Old Assyrian merchants, Hurrian city of Nuzi
  8. 2Divine visitors and the test of hospitalityGenesis 18–19 · Rome (Greek myth), Greece
  9. 2The spurned wife and the false accusationGenesis 39:7–20 · Egypt, Greece
  10. 3Seven years of famineGenesis 41:25–36 · Egypt, Babylon, Ugarit
  11. 3The child saved from the watersExodus 2:1–10 · Akkad (Mesopotamia), Egypt, Rome
  12. 2Exile in the desert and returnExodus 2:11–22 · Egypt, Alalakh (Syria)
  13. 2Covenants shaped like treatiesExodus 20:1–17; 24:3–8; 25:16 · Hittite, Assyrian
  14. 2Ancient law collectionsExodus 21–23 · Babylonian, Sumerian and Babylonian
  15. 4Portable sanctuaries and royal tentsExodus 25–27; 36–40 · Egypt, Midianite (probably), Ugarit (Canaanite)
  16. 4Sending evil awayLeviticus 16:20–22 · Ebla, Hittite, Babylonian, Greek
  17. 3Sacred calendarsLeviticus 23 · Emar, Israelite or Canaanite, Babylonian
  18. 3Debt release and libertyLeviticus 25:10 · Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Nuzi
  19. 4Seers, prophets and curses for hireNumbers 22–24 · Transjordan, Mari, Egypt, Assyria
  20. 2Counting people, and the danger of itNumbers 1; Exodus 30:11–16; 2 Samuel 24 · Mari, Egypt
  21. 3Serpents that healNumbers 21:6–9 · Midianite (probably), Egypt, Greek
  22. 3The heavenly council and the nationsDeuteronomy 32:8–9 · Ugarit, Mesopotamia, Second Temple Judaism
  23. 3The God who marches out to battleJudges 5:4–5, 20–21 · Canaanite (Ugarit), Assyrian, Israelite
  24. 3Strongmen who fight lionsJudges 14:5–6; 15:14–16; 16:29–30 · Greek, Mesopotamian, Israelite
  25. 3Vows that cost a childJudges 11:30–40 · Greek, Moabite
  26. 3Women who save and women who sufferJudges 1–21 · Jewish (Hellenistic), Egyptian and Ugaritic, Greek
  27. 3The widow in the fieldRuth 2; Leviticus 19:9–10; Deuteronomy 24:19–22 · Egyptian, Judahite, Babylonian
  28. 3A widow and her husband's familyDeuteronomy 25:5–10; Genesis 38; Ruth 3–4 · Hittite, Middle Assyrian, Israelite
  29. 3Outsiders in the family lineRuth 1:16–17; Joshua 6:25; Matthew 1:3–6 · Israelite (later), Jewish (Second Temple and rabbinic), Greek
  30. 3When a people's god is taken captive1 Samuel 4–6 · Babylonian, Assyrian, Moabite
  31. 3Single combat between champions1 Samuel 17 · Egyptian, Greek, Israelite
  32. 3Calling up the dead1 Samuel 28; Deuteronomy 18:10–12 · Mesopotamian, Greek, Israelite
  33. 3Laments for fallen heroes2 Samuel 1:17–27; 18:33 · Mesopotamian, Greek, Sumerian
  34. 3A god's promise of a royal dynasty2 Samuel 7:11–16 · Hittite and Assyrian, Egyptian, Assyrian
  35. 3The wise king1 Kings 3–4 · Babylonian, Egyptian, Aramaic / Assyrian
  36. 2Queens of Arabia and the incense road1 Kings 10:1–13 · Assyrian, Sabaean
  37. 3Bulls, gods and sanctuaries1 Kings 12:28–29 · Canaanite / Ugaritic, Israelite, Egyptian
  38. 2Storm gods, drought and rain1 Kings 17–18 · Ugaritic, Hittite
  39. 2Kings, land and inheritance1 Kings 21 · Ugaritic, Babylonian
  40. 2The assembly of heaven1 Kings 22:19–23 · Ugaritic, Babylonian
  41. 2Child sacrifice in crisis2 Kings 3:27; 16:3; 21:6 · Phoenician / Punic, Greek
  42. 2Royal annals and prophetic history2 Kings 15–19 · Assyrian, Babylonian
  43. 2Deportation as imperial policy2 Kings 17:6, 24; 24:14–16; 25:11 · Assyrian, Babylonian
  44. 2Water for a city under siege2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:3–4, 30 · Israelite / Canaanite, Greek
  45. 4Kings who restored templesEzra 1:1–4; 6:1–12; 7:11–26 · Babylonian (Persian king), Egyptian, Egyptian (Persian rule), Lycian / Persian
  46. 4Making and animating godsIsaiah 40:18–20; 44:9–20; 46:1–7; Jeremiah 10:1–16; Psalm 115:4–8; Habakkuk 2:18–19 · Babylonian and Assyrian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian
  47. 3Letters of the Persian empireEzra 4:8–22; 5:6–17; 6:3–12; 7:12–26 · Jewish (Egypt), Persian
  48. 2Weeping at a temple's foundationEzra 3:10–13; Haggai 2:3 · Babylonian, Sumerian
  49. 3Walls that made a cityNehemiah 1:3; 2:17; 12:27–43; Psalm 48:12–13 · Mesopotamian, Assyrian / Babylonian, Greek
  50. 3Reading the law aloud to the peopleNehemiah 8:1–8; Deuteronomy 31:10–13; 2 Kings 23:1–3 · Hittite, Greek, Judean
  51. 2Persian banquets and royal womenEsther 1; 2; 5; 7 · Persian, Greek
  52. 3The outsider at the king's courtEsther 2–10; Genesis 39–41; Daniel 1–6 · Aramaic / Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek
  53. 2Casting lots to choose a dayEsther 3:7; 9:24–26; Proverbs 16:33 · Assyrian, Israelite
  54. 4The righteous suffererJob 1–42; Psalm 73 · Babylonian, Sumerian, Egyptian
  55. 3Songs of love in the ancient worldSong of Songs 1–8; Psalm 45 · Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian
  56. 3Eat, drink and rejoice, for death is certainEcclesiastes 9:7–10; 2:24; 11:9; Isaiah 22:13 · Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek
  57. 3Taming the sea and its monstersJob 26:12–13; 38:8–11; 41; Psalm 74:13–14; 104:26; Isaiah 27:1 · Ugaritic (Canaanite), Babylonian, Egyptian

Regions so far: Mesopotamia, Africa, South Asia, Central America, Mediterranean, East Asia, Judea, Central Mexico, Mesopotamia (Syria), Syria, Anatolia (Kanesh), Northern Mesopotamia, Phrygia, retold in Rome, Aegean, Nile Valley, Nile Valley (Sehel Island, near Aswan), Coastal Syria, Italy, Egypt and Canaan, Northern Syria, Anatolia and Syria, Egypt and Syria, Thebes, Timna, southern Arabah, Anatolia, Ionia and Athens, Middle Euphrates, Syria, Gezer, Lagash, southern Mesopotamia, Babylon, Deir Alla, Jordan valley, Egypt, Greece, Ras Shamra, Syrian coast, Northern Syrian coast, Sinai, Kuntillet Ajrud, Judah, Crete, Moab, Levant, Coastal plain of Judah, Assyria, Canaan, Judea and Babylonia, Athens, Egypt and Retenu (Canaan), Troy, Gibeon, Babylonia and Assyria, The edge of the world, Babylonia, Sumer, Anatolia and Mesopotamia, Mesopotamia and Egypt, North Arabia, Yemen, Samaria hills, Carthage and the western Mediterranean, Samos, Babylon and Borsippa, Assyria and Babylon, Elephantine, Egypt, Behistun / Elephantine, Athens and Gortyn, Jerusalem, Persepolis, Asia Minor and Greece, Persia (Greek telling), Syrian coast. More topics will be added as each book of the Bible is built.