When I was a teenager I came to know the name of Alan Millard as someone who was an expert on archaeology and the Bible. He inspired a relative of mine to buy books about Hebrew, which eventually led me to learn that language.
I finally met this legend when he was interviewing me as a prospective undergraduate student of Liverpool University. Though I didn’t actually go to study with him, he kept in correspondence with me and periodically sent me academic articles. He remained a mentor for decades.
He was a prolific author, publishing on a range of subjects. He made the discovery of a rather special clay tablet in a drawer in the British Museum. He recognised it as an important account of the Babylonian Flood Story and thus he went on to publish (with W. G. Lambert) an authoritative edition of the epic of Atrahasis.
