Category موضوعي
Comparative narratives and law
Comparative studies of religious narratives, creation, laws and wisdom in ancient texts and later traditions, distinguishing resemblance and shared traditions from demonstrated or debated transmission.
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Illustration
Literary figure
Agamemnon
Figure of Greek narrative, commander of the expedition to Troy and Iphigenia's father in Euripides; the play does not independently establish his historicity.
Agamemnon Musters the Greek Troops at Aulis, later European Story of Iphigenia tapestry, The Met 226955; artistic reception, not historical evidence for the figure
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Illustration
Person
Sarah
Abraham's wife and Isaac's mother in Genesis; her story with Hagar and Ishmael appears in chapters 16 and 21, not in the Genesis 22 scene itself.
Georg Pencz, Sarah Presenting Hagar to Abraham, ca. 1543, The Met 2012.136.766.2; later artistic depiction
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Illustration
Person
Hagar
Figure in Genesis: an Egyptian woman in Sarah and Abraham's household and Ishmael's mother; chapters 16 and 21 narrate her flight and later expulsion and survival.
Camille Corot, Hagar in the Wilderness, 1835, The Met 38.64; later artistic depiction of Genesis, not a historical likeness
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Illustration
Person
Ishmael
Son of Hagar and Abraham in Genesis; later Muslim interpretation identified him with the unnamed son in Qur'an 37's sacrifice scene.
George Richmond's Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness, 1829–33, The Met 2002.119a,b. Later artistic reception of Genesis, not a historical likeness
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Illustration
Person
Isaac
Son of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis; named explicitly in Genesis 22's sacrifice episode, while named after the unnamed-son scene in Qur'an 37.
Rembrandt's etching Abraham and Isaac, 1645, The Met 29.107.26. A dialogue imagined by the artist centuries after the text
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Illustration
Person
Abraham
Central figure in Genesis, the Qur'an and Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions; the sacrifice study compares what each text says about him.
Agostino Veneziano's engraving Abraham's Sacrifice, 1516–18, The Met 17.50.16-80. Later European artistic reception, not a historical likeness
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Illustration
Person
Khidr
Name of the servant in Islamic reports about Moses’ journey; al-Kahf leaves him unnamed.
Modern method diagram: verses, reports, commentary and reception are distinct layers; later names are not Quranic wording
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Original photograph
Person
Alexander the Great
Macedonian king who lived from 356 to 323 BCE and became a hero of stories in different languages and traditions after his death.
Alexander’s head with ram’s horn on Lysimachos coin, 297–281 BCE; Met 05.44.430. Posthumous Hellenistic image, not an identified Dhul Qarnayn portrait
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Illustration
Person
Gregory of Tours
Sixth-century Christian author; the Latin Sleepers narrative’s ending names him and John the Syrian in its translation credit.
Modern comparison: recension217 has eight humans; Latin opening seven; Qur’an reports3,5,7 plus dog. No exclusive source identified
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Person
Jacob of Serugh
Syriac author of the late fifth and early sixth centuries, credited with a homily on the youths of Ephesus.
Modern method diagram: narrated Decius/Theodosius differ from homily composition and surviving copy. John is a named Latin intermediary; no particular copy route into Qur’an proven
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Illustration
Person
Manu, Survivor in Indian Flood Traditions
A central human figure in several Sanskrit accounts of the flood and human renewal; his position and role differ across the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, Mahābhārata and Purāṇas.
Modern conceptual illustration evoking the boat, horned fish, seeds and mountain in Manu traditions, especially the epic version; not an ancient artifact or documented location. © IL Archive, CC0
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Illustration
Person
Deucalion in Greek Flood Traditions
A Greek figure linked with the flood, Pyrrha, Prometheus and stone-born people; details differ between Pindar, Pseudo-Apollodorus and Ovid.
Modern conceptual illustration of receding water, two survivors, a mountain and stones evoking Deucalion; not an archaeological photograph or a documented location. © IL Archive, CC0
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Original photograph
Person
Moses
Central figure in Exodus, Torah traditions and the Qur’an; childhood accounts differ in detail.
K.3401 from Nineveh, a Neo-Assyrian witness to Sargon’s birth legend, British Museum. A copy later than the king, not Moses’ basket or an image of the infant. © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.5
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Original photograph
Person
Hammurabi
King of Babylon in Mesopotamia, reigning around 1792–1750 BCE. A celebrated legal text preserved on a stele and cuneiform copies bears his name.
A limestone votive monument from Sippar, showing Hammurabi with his left arm raised. The British Museum dates it to his reign, 1792–1750 BCE; object 22454. Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen, 2012
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