The Old Testament is a compilation, and like every compilation it has a wide variety of contributors who have their individual influence upon the final work. “Today, thanks to the rediscovery of (ancient) literature, it is possible to recognize that the Old Testament is in fact saturated with the popular lore of the Ancient Near East”1 I will enumerate the influences these cultures had on what we now know as the Old Testament. Each culture that existed before and during the writing of the Old Testament lent their own specific myths and some myths that were common to all cultures such as the creation of the Earth. We se