The background of the cedar forest tradition in the egyptian tale of the two brothers in the light of West-Asian Literature

The Egyptian Tale of the Two Brothers describes how Bata spends time in the Lebanese Valley of the 'š-tree. This episode differs in certain aspects from the remainder of the text, also employing foreign motifs - such as the creation of a woman to ease Bata's loneliness, the removal of his beating heart from his body and its resuscitation while still separate from it, and the Egyptian gods' wandering through the Lebanese valley. While several attempts have been made to identify the origin(s) of this episode, none have been convincing. This paper examines the non-Egyptian motifs in the light of Babylonian and biblical texts, suggesting that an ancient Levantine tradition which left its traces on these (but to date has not been found in the Ugaritic corpus) lies behind this section of the Tale.