03_Samet_375_375_390 04/11/15 15:07 Pagina 376 376 NILI SAMET 376 tion it turns out that these parallels do not necessarily point to a literary dependence between the relevant ancient texts and the biblical book. The few examples of such parallels never go beyond an isolated proverb. There are no examples of intensive, multi-component analo- gies between Qohelet and any known extra-biblical wisdom collec- tion. When adding to this consideration the oral nature of proverbial sayings, it is difficult to establish a literary dependence in these cases. A third type of indirect relation has been suggested between Qohelet and early Greek texts. The similarities of this type are almost always thematic rather than phraseological. That is, Qohelet sometimes uses Hellenistic ideas, but he does not follow specific Hellenistic phrase- ology. It seems that Qohelet’s exposure to Hellenistic thought was in- direct in nature, and it probably did not include first-hand reading of written classical texts, at least not in their currently known form 5. In contrast to these inconclusive parallels between Qohelet and other ancient texts, one case stands out as a bold exception. The Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh provides an example of a parallel which allows us to trace a direct literary dependence of Qohelet on an extra-biblical source 6. I. Qohelet and Gilgamesh: The Parallels In 1902, Bruno Meissner published a fragment of the Old Baby- lonian version of the Gilgamesh epic 7. Shortly after the publication of this fragment, Hubert Grimme noticed a remarkable similarity between a wisdom speech included in the new Gilgamesh fragment and a passage from the book of Qohelet 8. During his search for 5 Cf. esp. VAN DER TOORN, “Echoes”, 513-514, who suggested that Qohelet was introduced to Greek ideas via Ptolemaic mediation. 6 For scholars who recognized the uniqueness of the parallels to Gil- gamesh, see e.g. J. DAY, “Foreign Semitic Influence on the Wisdom of Israel and its Appropriation in the Book of Proverbs”, Wisdom in Ancient Israel. Essays in Honour of J. A. Emerton (eds. J. DAY et al.) (Cambridge 1995) 55- 70, here 59; J.Y.S. PAHK, Il canto della gioia in Dio. L’itinerario sapienziale espresso dall’unità letteraria in Qohelet 8,16-9,10 e il parallelo di Gilgames Me. iii (Napoli 1996); SEOW, Ecclesiastes, 60-64. 7 B. MEISSNER, Ein altbabylonisches Fragment des Gilgamosepos (MVAG 7; Berlin 1902). 8 H. GRIMME, “Babel und Kohelet-Jojakhin”, Orientalistische Literatur- zeitung 8 (1905) 432-438.