When Othmar Keel's The Symbolism of the Biblical World first appeared in German in 1972, it was a pioneering study, the first to compare systematically the conceptual world of a biblical book with that of the Ancient Near Eastern iconography. While similar volumes appeared prior to Keel's work, none could match this volume for its explicit correlation of biblical text with related iconography and its illumination of the world of concepts and ideas represented in Ancient near Eastern art.
First translated into English in 1978, the book has proved its lasting value for exegesis of the Psalms, the comparative study of the Bible and its world, and the study of Ancient Near Eastern art and iconography.
