Life of Adam and Eve
Encyclopedia
The Life of Adam and Eve, also known, in its Greek version, as the Apocalypse of Moses, is a Jewish pseudepigraphical
group of writings. It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve
from after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden
to their deaths. It provides more detail about the Fall of Man, including Eve's version of the story. Satan
explains that he rebelled when God commanded him to bow down to Adam. After Adam dies, he and all his descendants are promised a resurrection.
The ancient versions of the Life of Adam and Eve are: the Greek Apocalypse of Moses, the Latin Life of Adam and Eve, the Slavonic Life of Adam and Eve, the Armenian Penitence of Adam, the Georgian
Book of Adam, and one or two fragmentary Coptic
versions. These texts are usually named as Primary Adam Literature to distinguish them from subsequent related texts, such as the Cave of Treasures
that includes what appears to be extracts.
They differ greatly in length and wording, but for the most part are derived from a single source that has not survived, and contain (except for some obvious insertions) no undeniably Christian
teaching. Each version contains some unique material, as well as variations and omissions.
While the versions were composed from the early third to the fifth century, the literary units in the work are considered to be older and predominantly of Jewish origin. There is wide agreement that the original was composed in a Semitic language
in the 1st century AD/CE.
s and other details that show a relationship with 2 Enoch. While the idea of resurrection of the dead
is present, there is no idea of Messianism
, a fact that lends strong support to the theory of a Jewish origin. The Life of Adam and Eve is also important in the study of the early Seth traditions
.
Interesting parallels can be found with some New Testament
passages, such as the mention of the Tree of Life in . The more striking resemblances are with ideas in the Pauline epistles
: Eve as the source of sin , Satan disguising himself as an angel of light , the location of the paradise in the third heaven . No direct relationship can be determined between the New Testament
and the Life of Adam and Eve, but the similarities suggest that Paul and the author of 2 Enoch were near contemporaries of the original author of this work and moved in the same circle of ideas.
version of the Life of Adam and Eve. This title was given to it by Tischendorf, its first editor, and taken up by others. In the text, Moses
is referred to only in the first sentence as the prophet to whom the story was revealed. The Greek Apocalypse of Moses (not to be confused with the Assumption of Moses
) is usually considered to predate the Latin Life of Adam and Eve.
Tischendorf used four manuscripts for his edition: A the heavily Christian-interpolated B, manuscript C, and manuscript D, which has probably the best text. During the 20th century many other manuscripts have been found, of which E1 and E2, which are similar to the Armenian version, merit special mention.
version (in Latin Vita Adami et Evae) is that of W. Meyer in 1878 based on manuscripts S, T, M of the 9th, 10th, and 12th centuries. Later, a new and extended edition was prepared by Mozley based mainly on manuscripts kept in England, of which the most important is manuscript A.
's banishment from the Garden of Eden
and continues to their deaths.
Only the plot of chapters 23÷24, 30÷49, 51 is in common with that of the Apocalypse of Moses, though with great differences in details. Chapters 15÷30 (Eve's Tale) of the Apocalypse of Mose have no parallel in the Latin Life of Adam and Eve. The penance of Adam and Eve in the water can be found also in the later Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan
.
Adam book was published by Jajic along with a Latin translation in 1893. This version agrees for the most part with the Greek Apocalypse of Moses. It has, moreover, a section, §§ 28-39, which, though not found in the Greek text, is found in the Latin Life of Adam and Eve. It includes also some unique material.
version of the Life of Adam and Eve was first published in 1981 by Stone and is based on three manuscripts. It was most probably translated into Armenian from Greek and takes its place alongside the Greek and Latin versions as a major witness to the Adam book. This version must not be confused with the Armenian Book of Adam, which closely follows the text of the Apocalypse of Moses.
The content of the Armenian Penitence of Adam includes both the penances in the rivers (not found in the Greek version) and Eve's recounting of the Fall (not found in the Latin version).
to present all of the original texts in both the original languages and in translation. It currently contains English translations of the most important texts and a synopsis guide that allows the viewer to easily jump from a section in one source to parallel sections in other sources.
For other non-canonical works referenced in the Bible, see
Pseudepigraphy
Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded; a work, simply, "whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past." The word "pseudepigrapha" is the plural of "pseudepigraphon" ; the Anglicized forms...
group of writings. It recounts the lives of Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
from after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
to their deaths. It provides more detail about the Fall of Man, including Eve's version of the story. Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
explains that he rebelled when God commanded him to bow down to Adam. After Adam dies, he and all his descendants are promised a resurrection.
The ancient versions of the Life of Adam and Eve are: the Greek Apocalypse of Moses, the Latin Life of Adam and Eve, the Slavonic Life of Adam and Eve, the Armenian Penitence of Adam, the Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
Book of Adam, and one or two fragmentary Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
versions. These texts are usually named as Primary Adam Literature to distinguish them from subsequent related texts, such as the Cave of Treasures
Cave of Treasures
The Cave of Treasures, sometimes referred to simply as The Treasure, is a book of the New Testament apocrypha.-Origin:This text is attributed to Ephrem Syrus, who was born at Nisibis soon after AD 306 and died in 373, but it is now generally believed that its current form is 6th century or...
that includes what appears to be extracts.
They differ greatly in length and wording, but for the most part are derived from a single source that has not survived, and contain (except for some obvious insertions) no undeniably Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
teaching. Each version contains some unique material, as well as variations and omissions.
While the versions were composed from the early third to the fifth century, the literary units in the work are considered to be older and predominantly of Jewish origin. There is wide agreement that the original was composed in a Semitic language
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
in the 1st century AD/CE.
Themes
The main theological issue in these texts is that of the consequences of the Fall of Man, of which sickness and death are mentioned. Other themes include the exaltation of Adam in the Garden, the fall of Satan, the anointing with the oil of the Tree of Life, and a combination of majesty and anthropomorphism in the figure of God, involving numerous merkabahMerkabah
Merkabah is the throne-chariot of God, the four-wheeled vehicle driven by four "chayot" , each of which has four wings and the four faces of a man, lion, ox, and eagle...
s and other details that show a relationship with 2 Enoch. While the idea of resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the dead
Resurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
is present, there is no idea of Messianism
Messianism
Messianism is the belief in a messiah, a savior or redeemer. Many religions have a messiah concept, including the Jewish Messiah, the Christian Christ, the Muslim Mahdi and Isa , the Buddhist Maitreya, the Hindu Kalki and the Zoroastrian Saoshyant...
, a fact that lends strong support to the theory of a Jewish origin. The Life of Adam and Eve is also important in the study of the early Seth traditions
Sethianism
The Sethians were a Christian Gnostic sect who may date their existence to before Christianity. Their influence spread throughout the Mediterranean into the later systems of the Basilideans and the Valentinians. Their thinking, though it is predominantly Judaic in foundation, is arguably strongly...
.
Interesting parallels can be found with some New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
passages, such as the mention of the Tree of Life in . The more striking resemblances are with ideas in the Pauline epistles
Pauline epistles
The Pauline epistles, Epistles of Paul, or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen New Testament books which have the name Paul as the first word, hence claiming authorship by Paul the Apostle. Among these letters are some of the earliest extant Christian documents...
: Eve as the source of sin , Satan disguising himself as an angel of light , the location of the paradise in the third heaven . No direct relationship can be determined between the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and the Life of Adam and Eve, but the similarities suggest that Paul and the author of 2 Enoch were near contemporaries of the original author of this work and moved in the same circle of ideas.
Greek Apocalypse of Moses
The Apocalypse of Moses (literally, the Revelation of Moses) is the usual name for the GreekAncient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
version of the Life of Adam and Eve. This title was given to it by Tischendorf, its first editor, and taken up by others. In the text, Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
is referred to only in the first sentence as the prophet to whom the story was revealed. The Greek Apocalypse of Moses (not to be confused with the Assumption of Moses
Assumption of Moses
The Assumption of Moses is a Jewish apocryphal pseudepigraphical work. It is known from a single sixth-century incomplete manuscript in Latin that was discovered by Antonio Ceriani in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan in the mid-nineteenth century and published by him in 1861.-Identification:The...
) is usually considered to predate the Latin Life of Adam and Eve.
Tischendorf used four manuscripts for his edition: A the heavily Christian-interpolated B, manuscript C, and manuscript D, which has probably the best text. During the 20th century many other manuscripts have been found, of which E1 and E2, which are similar to the Armenian version, merit special mention.
Content
- After being banished from the Garden of EdenGarden of EdenThe Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
, Adam and EveAdam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
go to the East and live there for eighteen years and two months. Eve gives birth to Cain and Abel. Eve dreams that Cain drinks the blood of Abel, but that it then came out of his mouth. Cain kills Abel. MichaelMichael (archangel)Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
promises to Adam a new son, and SethSethSeth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...
is born in place of Abel. (chapters 1-4) - Adam begets 30 other sons and 30 daughters. As Adam falls sick and is in pain, all his sons and daughters came to him, and he briefly recounts to them the story of the Fall. Seth and Eve travel to the doors of the Garden to beg for some oil of the tree of mercy (i.e. the Tree of Life). On the way Seth is attacked and bitten by a wild beast, which goes away when ordered by Seth. MichaelMichael (archangel)Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
refuses to give them the oil at that time, but promises to give it at the end of time, when all flesh will be raised up, the delights of paradise will be given to the holy people and God will be in their midst. On their return, Adam says to Eve: "What hast thou done? Thou hast brought upon us great wrath which is death." (chapters 5-14) - Eve recounts to her sons and daughters the story of the Fall from her point of view:
- In the Garden, she is separated from Adam: she stays with the female animals and Adam with the male ones. The devilDevilThe Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
persuades the male snake to rebel against Adam and his wife: at the hour the angelAngelAngels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
s go up to worship the Lord, SatanSatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
disguises himself as an angel and speaks to Eve using the mouth of the serpent. The serpent seduces Eve, who swears to give the fruit to eat to Adam too. The serpent places in the fruit the poison of his wickedness, which is lust. When Eve eats it, she discovers that she is naked. All the trees of the Garden lose their leaves. Only a figFicusFicus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
tree, the plant she ate of, still has leaves, and she hides her shame with its leaves. Eve looks for Adam and deceives him: he also eats the forbidden fruit. (chapters 15-21) - Michael sounds a trumpet, and God enters the Garden mounted on the chariot of his CherubCherubA cherub is a type of spiritual being mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and cited later on in the Christian biblical canons, usually associated with the presence of God...
im and preceded by the angels. His throne is set where the Tree of Life is, and all the trees break out in blossoms. He calls Adam, who hid because he was naked, and reproaches Adam, Eve and the serpent (the order of the reproaches is the opposite to that of Genesis). When the angels are casting Adam out of paradise, he asks to be allowed to implore God, saying: "For I alone have sinned." He begs God to be allowed to eat of the Tree of Life. God refuses to give him the fruit of immortality, but promises, if Adam will keep from all evil, to raise him up in the last day and give him the fruit. Before being cast out, Adam is allowed to take sweet spices (to offer sacrifices) and seeds for his food. (chapters 22-30)
- In the Garden, she is separated from Adam: she stays with the female animals and Adam with the male ones. The devil
- Adam lies sick and foretells that Eve will die shortly after. He asks Eve to pray, because they do not know whether God is angry with them or merciful. While Eve is praying on bended knee, the angel of humanity (probably Michael) comes and shows her the spirit of Adam gone from his body and ascending to God. (chapters 31-32)
- Chapters 33-41 narrate, with great richness of liturgical detail, the funeral of Adam.
- A chariot of light, borne by four bright eagles with SeraphSeraphA seraph is a type of celestial being in Judaism and Christianity...
im and angels, arrives where Adam's body lies. The seven heavens are opened and Seth explains to his mother who are the two fearful figures in mourning: the sun and the moon, deprived of their light, because God is present. God has mercy on Adam, who is cleansed three times in water before being carried before God. God stretches out his arm, and hands Adam over to Michael to be carried to the third heaven until the last day. (chapters 33-37) - The chariot and all the angels bear Adam's body to the Garden and lay him on the earth. Only Seth can see the scene. The body is covered with linen clothes and fragrant oil is poured on it. The body of Abel also, which until then the earth had refused to receive, is taken to the same place. Both bodies are buried in the place from which God took the clay to create Adam. God calls Adam, whose body answers from the earth. God promises Adam that he and everyone of his seed will rise again. (chapters 38-41)
- A chariot of light, borne by four bright eagles with Seraph
- Six days later, Eve asks to be buried near Adam and dies praying to the Lord. Three angels bury Eve near Adam, and Michael tells Seth never to mourn on the Sabbath. (chapters 42-43)
Latin Life of Adam and Eve
The main edition of this LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
version (in Latin Vita Adami et Evae) is that of W. Meyer in 1878 based on manuscripts S, T, M of the 9th, 10th, and 12th centuries. Later, a new and extended edition was prepared by Mozley based mainly on manuscripts kept in England, of which the most important is manuscript A.
Content
The story begins immediately after Adam and EveAdam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
's banishment from the Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
and continues to their deaths.
- After being banished from the Garden of Eden, they go to the West and after six days they become hungry, but the only food they find is that for animals. They decide to do penance in order to ask mercy to the Lord and to return in the Garden. Adam explains to Eve how to do penance: he will stay forty-seven days immersed in the JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and Eve forty days in the icy TigrisTigrisThe Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
. Adam enters in the Jordan and prays the Lord together with all the creatures of the river. (chapters 1-8) - SatanSatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
disguises himself as a bright angelAngelAngels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
and talks her out of it. Eve returns to Adam, who reproaches her. Eve lies prostrate with grief. Adam complains about Satan persecuting them, and Satan explains that he and his followers refused God's command to worship both Adam, the image of the God, and God himself. Thus Satan with his angels were expelled from heaven, deprived of their glory and began to envy men. Adam, unaffected by the story, serves forty days of penance in the Jordan. (chapters 9-17) - Eve is so grief-stricken that she leaves Adam and goes alone toward the West, lamenting and crying. When it is the time for her to give birth, she is alone. Adam reaches her and prays the Lord: because of his prayer many angels arrive to help her in the delivery: Cain is born and immediately is able to run. They return east. MichaelMichael (archangel)Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
is sent by the Lord to teach Adam agriculture. (chapters 18-22) - Abel is born. Eve dreams that Cain drinks the blood of Abel. Adam and Eve make Cain a husbandman and Abel a shepherd in order to separate them from each other. But Cain murders Abel (there is no trace of the common story found elsewhere that Cain and Abel had twin sisters, and Cain's killing of Abel is passed over quickly). SethSethSeth , in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is the third listed son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, who are the only other of their children mentioned by name...
is born in place of Abel, along with 30 other sons and 30 (or 32) daughters. (chapters 23-24) - Adam recounts to Seth that, after the Fall, he was caught up into the Paradise of righteousness and saw a chariot with the Lord seated on it among angels (a merkabahMerkabahMerkabah is the throne-chariot of God, the four-wheeled vehicle driven by four "chayot" , each of which has four wings and the four faces of a man, lion, ox, and eagle...
). Adam worshipped the Lord, who promised him that knowledge will not be taken away from Adam's seed for ever. Adam continues to recount briefly to Seth the history of the world up to last judgmentLast JudgmentThe Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...
(the Second TempleSecond TempleThe Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
period is marked as a time of iniquity but the destruction of the Temple is not recounted). (chapters 25-29) - As Adam is dying, sick and in pain, he wants to bless all his sons and daughters, who do not know what illness and pain are. Adam recounts to them the story of the Fall. Seth and Eve travel to the gates of the Garden to beg for some oil of the Tree of Life. On the way Seth is attacked and bitten by the Serpent, which goes away when ordered by Seth. At the gates of the Garden MichaelMichael (archangel)Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
refuses to give them the oil. On their return, Adam says to Eve: "What hast thou done? A great plague hast thou brought upon us, transgression and sin for all our generations." (chapters 30-44) - Adam dies at the age of 930 and the sun, the moon and the stars are darkened for seven days. Adam's soul is consigned to Michael till the day of Judgment, when his sorrow will be converted into joy. God and some angels bury his body and Abel's. (chapters 45-49)
- Eve perceives that she will die and assembles all her sons and daughters for her testament, predicting a double judgment of water (probably the delugeNoah's ArkNoah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
) and fire. Seth is charged to write on two tablets the life of his parents. (chapters 49-50) - Six days later, Eve dies, and Michael tells Seth never to mourn on the Sabbath. (chapters 51)
- Chapters 52-57 include various additional traditions: the tablets written by Seth about the lives of his parents are put in the place where Adam used to pray, that is Temple MountTemple MountThe Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...
. Only SalomonSalomonSalomon is a form of the given name Solomon. It can refer to:People* Salomon, King of Brittany * Salomon Companies* Salomon Brothers, a former investment bank, now a part of Citigroup...
could read them. The entry of Adam into the Garden only forty days after his creation (eighty for Eve). The explanation of the eight parts of Adam's body and the origin of the name Adam.
Only the plot of chapters 23÷24, 30÷49, 51 is in common with that of the Apocalypse of Moses, though with great differences in details. Chapters 15÷30 (Eve's Tale) of the Apocalypse of Mose have no parallel in the Latin Life of Adam and Eve. The penance of Adam and Eve in the water can be found also in the later Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan
Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan
The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan is a Christian pseudepigraphical work found in Ge'ez, translated from an Arabic original and thought to date from the 5th or 6th century AD....
.
Slavonic Life of Adam and Eve
The SlavonicSlavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
Adam book was published by Jajic along with a Latin translation in 1893. This version agrees for the most part with the Greek Apocalypse of Moses. It has, moreover, a section, §§ 28-39, which, though not found in the Greek text, is found in the Latin Life of Adam and Eve. It includes also some unique material.
Armenian Penitence of Adam
This ArmenianArmenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
version of the Life of Adam and Eve was first published in 1981 by Stone and is based on three manuscripts. It was most probably translated into Armenian from Greek and takes its place alongside the Greek and Latin versions as a major witness to the Adam book. This version must not be confused with the Armenian Book of Adam, which closely follows the text of the Apocalypse of Moses.
The content of the Armenian Penitence of Adam includes both the penances in the rivers (not found in the Greek version) and Eve's recounting of the Fall (not found in the Latin version).
Archive
The Adam and Eve Archive is an ongoing project by Gary A. Anderson and Michael E. StoneMichael E. Stone
Prof. Michael E. Stone is a leading scholar of Armenian studies in many fields, but particularly notable in the field of early Jewish and Christian literature and the Old Testament pseudepigrapha....
to present all of the original texts in both the original languages and in translation. It currently contains English translations of the most important texts and a synopsis guide that allows the viewer to easily jump from a section in one source to parallel sections in other sources.
See also
For other pseudepigraphical works about Adam and Eve, see- Conflict of Adam and Eve with SatanConflict of Adam and Eve with SatanThe Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan is a Christian pseudepigraphical work found in Ge'ez, translated from an Arabic original and thought to date from the 5th or 6th century AD....
- Apocalypse of AdamApocalypse of AdamThe Apocalypse of Adam discovered in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi library is a Gnostic work written in Coptic. It has no necessary references to Christianity and it is accordingly debated whether it is a Christian Gnostic work or an example of Jewish Gnosticism...
- Testament of AdamTestament of AdamThe Testament of Adam is a Christian pseudepigraphical work extant in Syriac and Arabic. The earliest manuscript is dated to the 6th century, but the text is 4th century AD in origin, probably composed in Edessa...
- Cave of TreasuresCave of TreasuresThe Cave of Treasures, sometimes referred to simply as The Treasure, is a book of the New Testament apocrypha.-Origin:This text is attributed to Ephrem Syrus, who was born at Nisibis soon after AD 306 and died in 373, but it is now generally believed that its current form is 6th century or...
For other non-canonical works referenced in the Bible, see
- Non-canonical books referenced in the BibleNon-canonical books referenced in the BibleThe non-canonical books in this article include Biblical apocrypha and Deuterocanonical books , Pseudepigrapha, writings from Hellenistic and other non-Biblical cultures, and lost works of known or unknown status...
Sources
- Brian O. Murdoch, The Apocryphal Adam and Eve in Medieval Europe: Vernacular Translations and Adaptations of the Vita Adae et Evae, Oxford (OUP), 2009. ISBN 978 0 19 956414 9.
- Marinus de Jonge, Johannes Tromp The Life of Adam and Eve and Related Literature ISBN 185075764X (1997)
- Gary A. Anderson, Michael E. Stone, Johannes Tromp Literature on Adam and Eve: Collected Essays ISBN 9004116001 (2000)
- H.F.D. Sparks The Apocryphal Old Testament ISBN 0198261772 (1984)
- M.D. Johnson Life of Adam and Eve, a new translation and introduction in ed. J.H. Charlesworth the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Vol 2 ISBN 0385188137 (1985)
- L. Rosso Ubigli in ed. P.Sacchi Apocrifi dell'Antico Testamento 2 ISBN 9788802076065 (1989)
- English Translations by L.S.A. Wells from The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, Volume II Pseudepigrapha edited by R. H. Charles, Clarendon Press, 1913.
External links
- Adam and Eve Archive Project
- Apocalypse of Moses (Greek version of the Life of Adam and Eve)
- Latin Life of Adam and Eve
- Slavonic Life of Adam and Eve
- The Georgian Book of Adam
- The Armenian Penitence of Adam
- The Penitence of Adam, the original Armenian text in graphic form and edited and translated into English from M.E. Stone, Texts and Concordances of the Armenian Adam Literature (Society of Biblical Literature: Early Judaism and its Literature, 12; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996) (ISBN 0-7885-0278-6).