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

Nathan Wasserman; Yigal Bloch

doi:10.1177/03090892241304413

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

Nathan Wasserman, Yigal Bloch

Institute of Archaeology

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	306-319
Number of pages	14
Journal	Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Volume	49
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/03090892241304413
State	Published - Mar 2025

Keywords

Atra-ḫasīs
Bēlet(-kala)-ilī
Flood
Genesis
Mami
Mesopotamian literature
Ziusudra
personal name
Ūta-napištim

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Religious studies

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10.1177/03090892241304413

Cite this

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abstract = "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-napi{\v s}tim. A careful comparison of these instances of name changing reveals striking thematic parallels and important ideological differences.",

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

Abstract

Keywords

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

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