The patriarchal narratives are neither myths of gods nor accounts of tribes; the patriarchs' names are understandable only as individual names. The narratives are sagas, as understood by Gunkel, including some material originally Märchen later transformed into saga. The names are ancient, which explains their transformation into tribal progenitors. Abraham and Isaac belonged together from the start, but the other patriarchs represent originally independent traditions woven together by creating genealogical links. Genesis falls into three parts. At its center are the sagas of 12–36, now strongly Israelite but containing much material from international Märchen. Chapters 1–11 are mythical with strong Babylonian flavor, while 37–50 has Egyptian coloration. the Joseph saga being Märchen material worked up into a novella. The Jacob stories are built from an older Jacob-Esau cycle, with archaic religious conceptions and depicting primordial conflict between shepherds and hunters, into which a later Jacob-Laban cycle has been incorporated. Throughout, the patriarchal narratives show signs of their origin in Märchen from a semi-nomadic cultural milieu. Hugo Greßmann was professor of Old Testament at the University of Berlin and later headed the Institutum Judaicum there. With Hermann Gunkel, he was a leading proponent of the religion-historical school.