Sumerian Mythology gave us the Bible

The Enuma Elish gave us Genesis, the Epic of Gilgamesh gave us the idea of the great flood, and Zoroastrianism gave us the idea of monotheism and the Christ archetype. Therefore, the existance of these great ancient precursor mythologies gave us the bible. It boggles the mind to imagine how much knowledge has been reformatted for future generations via the bible.

Edit > Just sayin'

Plus, the recorded biography of King Sargon I, who as a baby was put in a reed boat, floated down a river and taken in to be raised in the king's house... It bears a certain resemblance to a certain someone else. Again, just sayin.

Don't forget the influence of the Atenists fleeing Egypt. They brought the concept of monotheism to Judaism

Psalm 104, is almost a word for word copy of Akhenaten's "Hymn to the Aten"

God works in mysterious ways.

Good story ...

/Tina - No its EXAKT spelled)

Interesting points,

however the rise of the Hebrew religeon is actually Contemporary to Zoroaster (origins around 1800 BC)

Additionally the town of Jehicho and environs predates the summerian civilization by over a thousnad years, since that culture is prehistoric (they had no writing then) it is hard to know what they beleived and whether they had direct influence on both Myths.

In other words, its possible the flood myth that is present in many ancient cultures have a common , prehistoric, oral story behind them.

This could be the same for many of the myths and beliefs in the area and areas these ideas spread to. Historians tend to think mainly on written accounts becuase they can be studied, but Oral tradition most certainly existed prior to this.

The rise of Islam is probably an excellent example of how a religeon can begin as an oral tradition that occured during more recent (recorded times) since it was not systematically written down and spread that way until after the death of Muhammad, instead his followers committed his teachings to memory.

Pretty much - relics of settlements near Jericho have been dated to 11,000 ya, much older than Sumerian civilization. It was a prime spot for a settlement, so it's not surprising that people gathered there. They apparently didn't have written records like the Sumerians did, however, and that leaves Sumer as the oldest recorded civilization.


Or it could just be that since Man has always settled near water (it's a source of food and transportation), there have always been floods. Native Americans have their own flood myths which have nothing to do with the Black Sea flood event of 5600 BCE (documented by Ryan & Pitman). The theory is that the Black Sea flood is the source of the Sumerian legend -- the Canaanites had a very similar legend as well. Sumer dates to c. 3500 BCE, 2 millenia after the flood.

Most religions have also had tales of dead gods rising from the grave -- it's a symbolic expression of the winter-to-spring seasonality and the return of fertility. The Canaanite god Baal was a prime example of this.

Very true -

I really though think that just becuase there was no writing it does not mean that all prehistoric culture completely vanished, i think Aspects were passed down and its imposible to know, which - really.

I love you people. You know. Just sayin.