[VadeRetro]

Consider how the stories of Osiris, Ishtar, Gilgamesh, etc. repeat in many cultures under numerous names.

The diffusion of the Osiris cult is late and comes from the infatuation of Romans in the early Empire period with Egyptian culture, resulting in attempts at synthesis. Marguerite Yourcenar's novelized history Memoirs of Hadrian deals with the topic. Ishtar/Astarte/Artemis may have been helped along by the Phoenicians, yes. Gilgamesh was long lost to human memory until one version in Akkadian cuneiform was deciphered in 1853. Older versions have been found since.

All of this is a long way from proving that anybody generally unsuspected is a Lost Tribe of Israel.

[MHGinTN]

Question: Weren't the Gilgamesh legends written on tablets found in the library at Ninevah, the last great capital city of the empire conquered by the Medes and Babylonians? The library represented an effort to amass the collected wisdom/mythos of a vast realm. As such, the clay tablets were recording stories already legends in the time of Ninevah's library construction. I've done some research on 'Eden Garden' myths and the tree of life.

[Carry_Okie]

The diffusion of the Osiris cult is late and comes from the infatuation of Romans in the early Empire period with Egyptian culture, resulting in attempts at synthesis. Marguerite Yourcenar's novelized history Memoirs of Hadrian deals with the topic. Ishtar/Astarte/Artemis may have been helped along by the Phoenicians, yes.

I think it's older and broader than that, but my study on Baal worship will have to wait until Sunday (part of my homework :-).