[OT] The Garden of Eden and parallels to other middle eastern traditions

• Tree of Life
• First use of "tree of life" is with the definite article ("the") showing previous familiarity with it.
• Gilgamesh Epic similarities to the story of the Garden of Eden:
  
• Has a garden of the goddess Siduri
• Has same terms "pleasant to the sight" and "good to look upon" (see Gen 2:9, Gen 3:6)
  
• Trees bear precious stones instead of fruit (soham [onyx]& saffir [saffire]- also listed in the Ezekiel reference to the Garden of Eden, and soham [onyx] in Genesis 2:12,  near references to the trees of life and of knowledge).
  
• The Garden of Eden story has Adam created from the dust of the ground by God.  Middle eastern creation texts have man created by Aruru, Marduk or by both of them together; by Enki; by Enlil; by the four great gods; or by the Anunnaki.  Sometimes they speak of the gods giving birth to humans, sometimes of birth in connection with creation from the clay of the earth, and at other times through creation from the clay or clay mingled with the blood of a god slaughtered for this purpose, or mixed with his blood and flesh.  Egyptians had the god Khnum fashioning with his hands the bodies of men and women, performing this work on the potter's wheel.  These myths are opposed by the Torah (even dust is used instead of clay to create man).
• Archaic items bearing similarities to the Garden of Eden story found in antiquity (although rejected as parallels by Umberto Cassuto):
• A Babylonian seal with a man and woman sitting on opposite sides of a tree and a serpent behind the man
• A discovery at Tepe-Gawra of a seal showing a man and woman in bent position bowed down by a burden with a serpent behind them (3500-4000 BCE)