Preliminary material /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- L'EAU, CONDITION DE FERTILITÉ ET DE VIE /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- LA MÉTÉOROLOGIE /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- LES EAUX TERRESTRES /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- L'HOMME ET L'EAU /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- LA MER /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- LA PROVENANCE DE L'EAU SUR LA TERRE /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- SUPERSTITIONS, RITES, ÉLÉMENTS CULTUELS EN RELATION AVEC L'EAU /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- L'EAU, SA VIE ET SA SIGNIFICATION /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- BIBLIOGRAPHIE /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- INDEX DES TERMES HÉBRAÏQUES UTILISÉS À PROPOS DE L'EAU /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT -- INDEX DES REFERENCES BIBLIQUES /Editors L'EAU, SA VIE, ET SA SIGNIFICATION DANS L'ANCIEN TESTAMENT.

This book investigates a corpus of royal inscriptions and literary texts, with special emphasis on those that are mythological and biblical, stretching over several millennia from the early days of Sumer to the Biblical period, in order to determine the ways in which the concept of water was used, in particular the way it functions in the political and theological ideology of the time. Three literary motifs are the object of a careful study : the crossing of water, the flood and the water of abundance. Though their study shows diversity in evolution, transmission and reception, it appears that their function is common at the heart of the Mesopotamian political theology of royal mediation.

Because we biblical scholars tend to work primarily on texts in libraries, offices, studies, and so on, in North America, Europe, and elsewhere, we frequently do not think to ask questions concerning such mundane subjects as the weather in ancient Israel and Judah. Yet the Hebrew Bible makes frequent references to weather, particularly in relation to the portrayals of theophany that come to mind when we try to understand the Bible's descriptions of the manifestations of divine presence in the world. Indeed, Fitzgerald, in this very interesting monograph, points out how frequently we make the error of ignoring the weather in our reading of biblical texts.