Produced by John Bickers; Dagny
LEGENDS OF BABYLON AND EGYPT IN RELATION TO HEBREW TRADITION
By Leonard W. King, M.A., Litt.D., F.S.A.
Assistant Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities in the British
Museum
Professor in the University of London King's College
First Published 1918 by Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press.
THE BRITISH ACADEMY
THE SCHWEICH LECTURES 1916
PREPARER'S NOTE
This text was prepared from a 1920 edition of the book, hence the references to dates after 1916 in some places.
Greek text has been transliterated within brackets "{}"
using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table.
Diacritical marks have been lost.
PREFACE
In these lectures an attempt is made, not so much to restate familiar facts, as to accommodate them to new and supplementary evidence which has been published in America since the outbreak of the war. But even without the excuse of recent discovery, no apology would be needed for any comparison or contrast of Hebrew tradition with the mythological and legendary beliefs of Babylon and Egypt. Hebrew achievements in the sphere of religion and ethics are only thrown into stronger relief when studied against their contemporary background.
The bulk of our new material is furnished by some early texts, written towards the close of the third millennium B.C. They incorporate traditions which extend in unbroken outline from their o…