. . . and all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five
years: and he died.

. . . and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten
years: and he died. . . . and all the days of Mahalalel were
eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

. . . and all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and
two years: and he died.

. . . and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and
five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for
God took him.

. . . and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty
and nine years: and he died.

. . . and all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy
and seven years: and he died.

And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem,
Ham, and Japheth.

Throughout these extracts from "the book of the generations of Adam",(1)
Galumum's nine hundred years(2) seem to run almost like a refrain; and
Methuselah's great age, the recognized symbol for longevity, is even
exceeded by two of the Sumerian patriarchs. The names in the two lists
are not the same,(3) but in both we are moving in the same atmosphere
and along similar lines of thought. Though each list adheres to its own
set formulae, it estimates the length of human life in the early ages