15. The story of Samson, one of the most popular legends from the Old Testament, is a near-exact replication of the Greek legend of Heracles
Samson, the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites, was a Nazirite granted immense strength on the provision that his long hair was not cut. Among the superhuman deeds performed by Samson in the Bible are the slaying of a lion with his bare hands, the defeat of a Philistine army using only the jawbone of a donkey, and the collapsing of the Temple of Dagon upon himself. Possessing noteworthy similarities to already existing figures of religious folklore, including the Sumerian Enkidu and the Greek Heracles, contemporary interpretation views Samson as a Jewish interpretation of an already existing legendary narrative.
Dated to the 13th century BCE, thus preceding the Book of Judges by 500 years, in spite of assertions by biblical traditionalists that Samson was a genuine individual, the stories of Heracles and Samson are so similar they warrant accusations of plagiarism. Heracles, like Samson, slew a lion bare-handed, both men tore down the gates of a city, both were betrayed by untrustworthy women who were ultimately responsible for their downfall, and both died at their own hands in an act of martyrdom. Likewise, Enkidu, along with Gilgamesh, were men of great strength who joined forces to defeat the Bull of Heaven in defiance of Ishtar and who died as a result of his own hubris.