David and Inaros

This study compares two cases of long-term development in the cultural memory of Assyria's western expansion during the eighth and seventh centuries BCE in two literary corpora from the eastern Mediterranean region: the narrative history of the Israelite monarchy in Samuel-Kings (especially the Saul-David narrative in the book of Samuel) and the narrative literature of Late-Period and Hellenistic-period Egypt. After discussing each of these cases on its own terms, the final part of the study compares the function of memories of Assyrian imperialism in each case and investigates several themes and motifs that are shared by both corpora.