Judaism roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Judaism is considered one of the oldest monotheistic religions. The Hebrews and Israelites were already referred to as "Jews" in later books of the Tanakh such as the Book of Esther, with the term Jews replacing the title "Children of Israel". Judaism's texts, traditions and values strongly influenced later Abrahamic religions, including Christianity, Islam and the Baha'i Faith. Many aspects of Judaism have also directly or indirectly influenced secular Western ethics and civil law. Hebraism was just as important a factor in the ancient era development of
Bible and Orient Museum close bonds of the Bible with its ancient Near Eastern surroundings. Keel observed that without knowledge of these symbols, many biblical comparisons, symbols and visions cannot be properly understood and thereby demonstrated the general importance of ancient Near Eastern cultural history for biblical science. By interpreting biblical texts in their historical context, a fundamentalist-literal understanding of the Bible can be avoided. Furthermore, this approach shows the relations between Islam and Judaism, between Christianity and Judaism, between Judaism and ancient Near Eastern Paganism, and thereby relativizes the claim to absolute truth by the monotheist religions. Subsequently, Keel and his colleagues successfully