A good portion of Homer's famous epic, "The Odyssey", I previously considered to have been taken from the Hebrew OT, especially from the books of Tobit and Job:
"Similarities to The Odyssey of the Books of Job and Tobit"
https://www.academia.edu/8914220/Similarities_to_The_Odyssey_of_the_Books_of_Job_and_Tobit
There the goddess Athene (or Athena), disguised as a male, appears to have been substituted for the original, in Tobit, in which the angel Raphael likewise appears in the guise of a (young male). I wrote on this:
The 'Divine' Messenger
From whom the son, especially, receives help during his travels.
In the Book of Tobit, this messenger is the angel Raphael (in the guise of ‘Azarias’).
In The Odyssey, it is the goddess Athene (in the guise of ‘Mentes’).
And again:
Heavenly Visitor
... she [Athene] bound under her feet her lovely sandals of untarnished gold, which carried her with the speed of the wind.... Thus she flashed down from the heights of Olympus. On reaching Ithaca she took her stand on the threshold of the court in front of Odysseus' house; and to look like a visitor she assumed the appearance of a Taphian chieftain named Mentes… (I, 27-28).
The reader will quickly pick up the similarities between this text and the relevant part of the Book of Tobit if I simply quote directly from the latter:
The prayer of [Tobit and Sarah] was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God. And Raphael was sent (3:16,17). Then Tobias ... found a beautiful young man, standing girded, as it were ready to walk. And not knowing that he was an angel of God, he saluted him.... 'I am Azarias, the son of the great Ananias' (5:5, 6, 18).
[End of quotes]
Now that trend of Greek appropriation of popular OT stories, once more involving the goddess Athene, I may have detected in one of the legends of Hercules (Greek Heracles), which, I believe, to have been inspired by a famous incident in the Second Book of Maccabees. I refer to the account of Judas Maccabeus's receiving the golden sword from the now deceased prophet Jeremiah, this corresponding to Athene's gift to Hercules of a golden sword.
Compare the two accounts:
2 Maccabees 15:6-16:
"In his arrogance Nicanor had boasted that he would set up a monument in honor of his victory over Judas. But Judas was fully confident that the Lord would help him, so he urged his men not to be afraid of the enemy. He encouraged them to remember how the Almighty had helped them in times past and to rest assured that he would give them victory this time also. He renewed their hope by reading to them from the Law and the Prophets and by reminding them of the battles they had already won. When his men were ready for battle, he gave them their orders and at the same time pointed out how the Gentiles could not be trusted, because they never kept their treaties. He armed all his men, not by encouraging them to trust in shields and spears, but by inspiring them with courageous words. He also lifted their morale by telling them about his dream, a kind of vision that they could trust in.
He told them that he had seen a vision of Onias, the former High Priest, that great and wonderful man of humble and gentle disposition, who was an outstanding orator and who had been taught from childhood how to live a virtuous life. With outstretched arms Onias was praying for the entire Jewish nation. Judas then saw an impressive white-haired man of great dignity and authority. Onias said:
This is God's prophet Jeremiah, who loves the Jewish people and offers many prayers for us and for Jerusalem, the holy city.
Then Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave Judas a gold sword, saying as he did so,
'This holy sword is a gift from God. Take it and destroy your enemies'."
Now, Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra:
"When it was time for the immortal head to be cut off, Heracles took a golden sword that Athena gave him, and using the same technique, the two heroes [including his nephew, Iolaus] managed to kill the monster".
On another occasion: "Athena gave Hercules noisemaking clappers, known as krotala":
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-goddess-athena-helps-hercules-117193#:~:text=Athena%20helped%20Hercules%20during%20la
noise being also used in battle by the Maccabeans (e.g. 1 Maccabees 5:33): "... [they] sounded their trumpets and cried aloud in prayer".
What seems to make the Maccabean connection with Hercules the more compelling is that, somewhat earlier in 2 Maccabees, Hercules is twice mentioned (4:18-20):
"When the quinquennial games were held at Tyre in the presence of the king, the vile Jason sent representatives of the Antiochians of Jerusalem, to bring three hundred silver drachmas for the sacrifice to Hercules. But the bearers themselves decided that the money should not be spent on a sacrifice, as that was not right, but should be used for some other purpose. So the contribution meant for the sacrifice to Hercules by the sender, was in fact applied to the construction of triremes[e] by those who brought it".
