Overview of Prebiblical History

Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people, left Mesopotamia to travel to the promised land. The Mesopotamian peoples continued to exist simultaneously to the events depicted in the biblical text. Van Seters details six genres of writing common in Mesopotamia that allow a reconstruction of the history of the geographical region. These types of writing are the mediums used to pass on information about the ancient Near East (Van Seters, In Search of History, 60–99):

1. royal inscriptions;

2. king lists;

3. omens;

4. chronicles;

5. historical epics;

6. prophecies.