Yhwh the Liberator and Zeus the Liberator

Abstract I have discussed the exodus myth of ancient Israel in detail in Chapter 12. In this short chapter, I explore its structural parallel with ancient Greece and consider the cultural importance for developing the idea of a whole people that has been liberated by a god. I pinpoint a parallel between Zeus the Liberator and Yhwh the Liberator. The parallel in question is a structural and typological one, not a genetic dependency. However, this structural parallel seems important to understand the emergence of the idea of freedom in the context of a new “national” consciousness in ancient Greece and Israel, respectively. It is a new way of coping with disastrous threats with the help of the idea of liberation. The religious ideas of Zeus the Liberator and Yhwh the Liberator emerge in times of war and deliverance from foreign powers as a highly meaningful part of cultural memory. Thus, the Persian period is formative for ancient Greek identity-building and for ancient Jewish identity-building. The ideas of Zeus the Liberator and Yhwh the Liberator play a most eminent role in these two processes. I explore the deeper significance of this for the idea of political freedom in Chapter 16.