PRE-GREEK INFLUENCES
The myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece did not emerge ex nihilo. Scholars have proposed a wide range of possible influences on the developing myth, many from Near Eastern mythologies that the Greeks encountered during the Mycenaean period and in the eighth century BCE, two periods of intense Near Eastern influence on ancient Greece. The following pages provide key texts for some of these influences.
THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH
Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian
INANNA AND DUMUZI
Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian
ISIS AND OSIRIS
Egyptian
TESHUB AND THE DRAGON
Hattian and Hittite
ESHMUN
Phoenician
KRESNIK, PERUN, AND JARILO
Slavic
AMIRANI
Georgian
LINEAR B AND EARLY ORAL TRADITIONS
Mycenaean
Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian
INANNA AND DUMUZI
Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian
ISIS AND OSIRIS
Egyptian
TESHUB AND THE DRAGON
Hattian and Hittite
ESHMUN
Phoenician
KRESNIK, PERUN, AND JARILO
Slavic
AMIRANI
Georgian
LINEAR B AND EARLY ORAL TRADITIONS
Mycenaean