Literary and linguistic patterns delineate structure and theme in many documents of the ancient Mediterranean world. In this dissertation, I utilize the Aeschylean tragedies of the "Persians" and the "Oresteia", the narratives of Genesis and Judges from the Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament narratives of the Gospel of Mark and the Acts of the Apostles to illustrate this point. I highlight key patterns of language recognizing such elements as repeated words, phrases, and forms; I also note key patterns created by the literary dynamics of repeated categories or characters, similar narrative units, and thematic elements. These elements combine to organize the work and facilitate the understanding of it. I communicate this practice of patterning: in the "Persians", with the themes of 'plenty' and 'violation of boundaries'; in the "Oresteia", with the themes of 'dike', 'animals', and 'men and women'; in Genesis, with the patterned use of the "toledot" sequences outlining the text with the support of narrative patterns such as the 'chaos/creation/fall' sequence, four 'sister stories', and the use of characters and geography; in Judges, with the central unit's cycle, the shape of the double prologues and epilogues, along with the development of the theme 'the downward spiral of leadership' using leaders, tribes, and women all supporting the text's question of Who is the leader?; in Mark, with various words, phrases, and forms, character categories, and the narrative and thematic elements of hearing and seeing, geography, the Twelve, the temple, following, and the feeding/boat sequences illustrating a four-part outline that communicates the life of discipleship; and in Acts, with the patterned uses of 'the "Logos" increased', the death and resurrection motif, the general life and ministry of Jesus motif, sharing and abundance, the Spirit and baptism, geopolitical indicators, and 'witness' highlighting that the church is the body of Christ and brings the kingdom of God. In each, the use of patterns helps towards understanding the work as a whole. These samples of ancient Mediterranean literature encourage the recognition of linguistic and literary patterns as a key for understanding similar works. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]