Introduction

This chapter argues that Israel's oral traditions and scribal culture were not only acquainted with but were also influenced and shaped by ancient Greek culture. It pursues additional instances where episodes from the Odyssey prove apropos for the scribal tradition of the Hebrew Bible and for New Testament authors but include other Greek authors and texts as well. It then has a deliberate focus on Genesis and Revelation, as the bookends of the Bible, with three chapters on each. The author hope to demonstrate that much of the Bible has been written in a dialogue with Greek myth and culture. The scribal culture that produced the Hebrew Bible may be seen, in some respects, as responding to larger paradigms in Greek culture. Mark Smith has written extensively on issues relevant to myths moving from one people to another in his work on "divine translatability.".