Bringing Ancient Greek and Hebrew Literature into Conversation
An International Conference.
July 6-8 2026, Yearim Hotel, Maaleh Hachamishah, Israel.
Sponsored by Bar Ilan University and the Departments of Classical Studies and Bible.
What might become visible if classical Greek literature and Biblical Hebrew literature were read as mutually illuminating corpora rather than as isolated traditions? This conference aims to bring these two traditions into relationship by exploring common literary forms and themes. Questions that animate the project include (among others):
Narrative theology and heroic ethics
Law, kingship, and divine authority
Nostos and exile traditions
Wisdom literature and philosophical prose
Prophecy
Comparative poetics
Mourning, honor, and status
Religious practices and conceptions (think less monotheism versus polytheism and more tuma’ah versus miasma)
The Hellenistic synthesis of Greek and Hebrew culturesnternation Congress: Bringing Ancient Greek and Hebrew Literature into Conversation
6th-8th July 2026
Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv
My paper, with the title: 'Heroic Ethos and mythological elements in the story of Samson' has been selected to participate in this conference. I will be giving my lezture online on the evening of the 8th of July.
Here an abstract of my lecture:
The parallels between the biblical figure of Samson and the Greek mythological hero Heracles have long been recognized in scholarship. Among the most striking correspondences is the episode of lion-slaying: the first of Heracles’ canonical Twelve Labors finds a clear analogue in Samson’s encounter with the lion. Moreover, the presence of Heracles-like figures in the Near East prior to the advent of Hellenistic cultural influence is evidenced by the cult of Melqart, the syncretic deity of Tyre.
This study addresses a broader issue, characteristic of Greek heroic traditions: the motif of divine parentage, either from father or mother side. In contrast to this pattern, the Samson narrative appears to engage critically with the concept of divine ancestry. The text devotes considerable attention to questions of parentage, emphasizing the absence of direct divine procreation. Instead, the narrative introduces the institution of the Nazirite vow as a functional substitute for divine lineage, thereby grounding Samson’s extraordinary abilities in ritual consecration rather than hereditary divinity. This framework also permits the attribution of supernatural qualities to the protagonist. Furthermore, the concluding episode of the Samson cycle may be interpreted considering broader mythological traditions of metamorphosis, wherein a protagonist invokes a divine progenitor to affect a transformative act. Such transformations often serve a dual purpose: they secure the hero’s ultimate victory, salvation or resolution while simultaneously entailing the loss or cessation of the hero’s active personal existence.
