Biblical Chaos Dragons – and Indo-European Ones

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper, not in proceeding

Abstract

One of the instances that have often been suggested as a possible link between Indo-European and biblical traditions and thought constructs is that of the battle against the dragon or sea monster – a special instance of the Chaoskampf motif. Suggestions in this direction have been put forth by Nicolas Wyatt and by Ajoy Kumar Lahiri, who have argued that Semitic traditions concerning the divine battle against aquatic monsters are somehow connected to or dependent upon Indo-European, or specifically Indo-Aryan, traditions of a similar nature. To be sure, the idea of a divine hero battling a serpentine monster is thoroughly ensconced both in the greater Old Testament world and in many ancient Indo-European cultures. In this paper, it is my purpose to discuss such possible links and evaluate them, and hopefully to add some ideas of my own.

At the conference, the paper was examined and discussed with me by Prof. Terje Stordalen.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusUnpublished - 2013
EventOTSEM-II annual conference 2013 - Tartu, University of Tartu, Estonia
Duration: 2013 Sept 132013 Sept 16

Conference

ConferenceOTSEM-II annual conference 2013
Country/TerritoryEstonia
CityUniversity of Tartu
Period2013/09/132013/09/16

Bibliographical note

The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015.
The record was previously connected to the following departments: Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (015017000)

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Religious Studies

Free keywords

  • dragon
  • Leviathan
  • Rahab
  • Vrtra
  • Indra
  • Illuyanka
  • Indo-European
  • Old Testament
  • Hebrew Bible
  • Ugarit
  • Ugaritic
  • Baal
  • serpent
  • Chaoskampf
  • Enuma Elish
  • Tiamat
  • Veda

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