The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), one of the most influential text corpora the world has ever known, emerged from the narrative and poetic traditions of the ancient Northwest Semitic languages – the linguistic subfamily that includes Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician and, most importantly, Ugaritic (the 'wizened old uncle' of Hebrew).
Dr Ola Wikander discusses some of the central persisting poetic motifs that the biblical writings inherited from their linguistic forebears – such as gods battling chaos dragons and drought as the symbolic death of the land – an evocative mythological universe that permeates the Hebrew Bible but is less than well-known in today’s culture.
The talk will take place in the Roger Needham Room (Chancellor's Centre) at Wolfson College and also on Zoom. For the in-person audience, drinks and snacks will be available from 17.45. If you would like to attend the Zoom webinar, please register your email for the link.
