ABSTRACT
Some of the most successful modern interpretations of even Greek mythology are based on such an assumption, and concentrate on the closed circle of the unique Greek polis. In the catch-phrase Oriental and Greek the specialist still hears a ring of dilettantism; methodological circumspection encourages avoidance of the topic. Sheer accumulation of evidence, however, has begun to force the issue. The hypothesis of borrowing, however, does not explain why Greek mythology locates the dragon fight at Lerna, a place of springs where the dragon developed into a water snake, hydra, or the details of the crabs and Iolaus participation in the combat, or why the lion was transferred to Nemea. Of all Greek mythological figures, Herakles is perhaps the most complicated and the most interesting. He is by far the most popular of Greek heroes, a fact reflected by the formidable mass of evidence. One important Sumerian-Akkadian text, Ninurta and the Asakku, was finally published in 1983.
