The Primeval History in the Book of Watchers

Full title
The Primeval History in the Book of Watchers
Updated By
Research notes

reader checked|27/04/2014 SE

Reference type
Author(s)
Kvanvig, Helge S
Year
2011
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic - An Intertextual Reading
Issue / Series Volume
149
Series Title
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism
Publisher
Brill
Place of Publication
Leiden
Pages
319-573
Work type
Label
02/05/2011
Abstract

[Book abstract]
|Most cultures have myths of origin. The Babylonians were the first to combine blocks of traditions about primeval time into primeval histories where humans had a central role. In the first millennium there were different versions that influenced the concepts of primeval history within Jewish religion, both in the Bible and in the parallel Enochic tradition. Atrahasis and the traditions of primeval dynasties had crucial impact on Genesis; the traditions of the primeval apkallus as cosmic guardians were lying behind the Enochic Watcher Story. The book offers a comprehensive analytic comparison between the images of primeval time in these three traditions. It presents new interpretations of each of these traditions and how they relate to each other.