Markham J. Geller (BA Princeton 1970, PhD Brandeis University 1974) is Professor of Semitic Languages, University College London, and works primarily on Near Eastern magic and medical texts. Mineke Schipper (MA 1969 and PhD 1973 Free University of Amsterdam) is Professor of Intercultural Literary Studies at the University of Leiden. In her current research she is mainly working on a comparative approach to creation and origin myths.

• CONTENTSForeword Markham Geller and Mineke SchipperChapter One Introduction Mary DouglasChapter Two Mesopotamian Creation Stories W. G. LambertChapter Three Creation Stories in Ancient Egypt Stephen QuirkeChapter Four You Can’t Get Here from There: The Logical Paradox of Ancient Indian Creation MythsWendy DonigerChapter Five Stories of the Beginning: Origin Myths in Africa South of the Sahara Mineke SchipperChapter Six Modern Jewish Attitudes to the Concept of Myth Wout Jac. van BekkumChapter Seven Extract from Genesis 1–2 Translation and Commentary, Norton, NY 1996 Robert AlterChapter Eight The Bible in the Making: Slavonic Creation Stories Florentina BadalanovaChapter Nine Arab Creation Stories beyond the Pale Abdullah al-UdhariChapter Ten Lurianic Creation Myths Daphne FreedmanIndex