The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve

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The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve Page 45

by Stephen Greenblatt


  in Christianity, 6, 74, 208, 257

  contested topics in, 68, 75, 134, 254–55

  as creation story, 38, 39, 79, 131

  Darwinism’s incompatibility with, 269–73, 278, 280–81, 283, 297

  dissenters from, 97, 269–73, 274

  ethical meanings of, 7, 49, 251

  as foundation stone of religion, 8, 38, 75, 79

  imagination as basis of, 3, 39, 68, 252, 284

  importance of, 5–6, 7–8, 284

  influence of, 39, 248–49

  interpretations of, 6–8, 15–16, 39, 70–71, 77–80, 133, 134–35, 137, 208, 232, 238, 252, 261, 284, 303–11

  in Islam, 6–7, 121, 346

  in Judaism, 6, 22, 35, 38, 49

  languages of, 67

  in The Life of Adam and Eve, 67–73

  literal belief in, 8, 80, 137, 205, 260, 300; see also literalism

  as literature, 284

  moral choice as key in, 299

  in Nag Hammadi writings, 66–67, 267

  in Paradise Lost, see Paradise Lost

  radical readings of, 189–91, 194–96

  reliability of, 23, 39, 50

  as single story, 37

  in the Torah, 22, 35

  see also Adam; Eve

  Adamites, 190

  Adams, John, 193

  Adeodatus (Augustine’s son), 85, 86, 91, 92, 104, 119, 120, 339

  Aesop, 239

  Akkadian script, 43, 46

  Alaric (Visigoth), 97

  Alexander VII, Pope, 246–47

  Alexandria, library at, 43

  ‘Ali, Mohammed al-Samman, 64, 334

  allegories:

  and Ambrose, 91

  and Augustine, 110–11

  literalism vs., 79–80, 205–6, 251–52, 276, 284, 337–38

  and Maimonides, 337

  and Milton, 205

  and Origen, 78–80, 252, 338

  Philo on, 76–77, 338

  Voltaire on, 261

  Alypius (Augustine’s friend), 92, 93, 167, 339

  Ambrose, bishop of Milan, 91, 93, 98, 208

  American Declaration of Independence, 193

  American Revolution, 137, 190

  Ammon Ra, 74

  angels, 208

  carrying God’s messages, 23, 69, 89, 113, 221, 228, 326, 330

  consulting with God, 70–71

  in Eden, 67, 68, 256

  images in artworks, 149, 150

  immortal substance of, 208

  mankind in the image of, 66

  Michael, 72, 138, 228–29

  motivated by envy or malice, 71

  Raphael, 213, 214, 216, 218–19, 224, 228–29

  Satan as, 6, 208

  songs of, 308

  Anne, Saint, 129

  apes:

  as epitome of ugliness, 296

  see also primates

  Apocalypse of Adam, 66

  apocrypha, 68

  Apollo Belvedere, 160–61

  Apsu (Mesopotamian god), 27–29, 44, 327, 331

  Araali, Rev. Happy Sam, 300

  Aramaic language, 32

  Aretino, Pietro, 169

  Aristotle, 76, 89, 129, 235, 239

  art:

  Adam and Eve depicted in, 9, 128, 137–38, 139–62, 250, 256, 296, 348

  erotic arousal depicted in, 169

  frescoes, 139–40, 151, 207

  in Gothic churches, 144

  of Hildesheim doors, 128, 145–46

  human body depicted in, 7, 137–38, 141, 156, 250

  Jewish prohibition of graven images, 140–41

  and moral standards, 9, 141–44

  Renaissance, 149, 152, 154, 159, 206, 212, 213, 249, 250, 261

  self-portraiture, 156, 348–49

  sense of embodiment in, 150, 151–52

  Sistine Chapel ceiling, 107, 151, 154

  skull images in, 144

  see also specific artists and artworks

  Aruru (mother goddess), 52, 57

  asceticism, 7, 88, 124

  see also Manichaeism

  Ashur, 42

  Ashurbanipal (Assyrian king), 42–43

  Assyriology, 44, 45

  Astruc, Jean, 330

  Atlantis, lost kingdom of, 240

  Atrahasis story, 29, 39, 46–49

  Aubrey, John, 175

  Augustine of Hippo, Saint, 56, 80, 81–97, 204, 230

  and Adam and Eve story, 96–97, 110–19, 130, 208, 267, 293, 339

  Adeodatus as son of, 85, 86, 91, 92, 104, 119, 120, 339

  Against Julian, 108

  baptism of, 93, 99

  in bathhouse, 81–82, 94, 114, 119, 121

  being “in Adam,” 98, 99, 102

  in Carthage, 84–85, 86

  childhood beatings of, 102–3

  and Christian orthodoxy, 99, 104–7, 109–10, 118–19, 124, 252

  The City of God, 116–17, 118, 119, 343

  in concubinage arrangement, 85–86, 89, 92, 104, 119, 120–21

  Confessions, 82, 85, 87, 94, 96, 100, 101, 102, 111, 339, 343

  conversion of, 93–94, 98

  and his father, 82–85, 89, 90, 94, 114

  and his mother, 82, 83–85, 86, 87, 89–93, 94–96, 119, 120

  infant memories of, 103–4

  influence of, 97, 214, 272

  inner conflicts of, 88, 92

  law studies of, 86

  The Literal Meaning of Genesis, 111–19, 137, 163, 206, 228, 244, 250, 276, 342–45

  and Manichaeism, 87–88, 89, 90, 91, 98, 99–100, 101, 109, 111, 118, 352

  monastic community founded by, 93, 96

  on morality, 101, 104, 267

  mystical experience of, 94–96

  On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees, 110–11, 267

  On Marriage, 108, 213, 344

  and Pelagius’s exile, 106

  reading Scripture, 86, 91, 93–94, 97

  on self-control, 116–17, 119, 167

  self-examination of, 98–119

  and sexual desire, 92–93, 107–10, 114–19, 121, 217, 341

  skepticism about, 105–6

  as teacher, 88, 89, 91

  and theft of pears, 99, 100

  and university education, 83, 84

  Voltaire on, 260–61

  Autun, France, statue of Eve in, 147–48

  Aztec Calendar Stone, 241

  Aztec priests, records of, 241

  Baal (Marduk), 41

  Babylonian Captivity, 31–32

  Babylonian Empire:

  “By the waters of Babylon,” 30–31, 34, 44

  creation story of, 37, 40, 41, 52, 58

  Esagila temple in, 27

  Etemenanki ziggurat in, 27, 32

  exiles in, 24–34, 38

  fall of, 35, 40, 42, 43

  hanging gardens of, 24, 327

  languages in, 32

  Nebuchadnezzar II as king of, 24, 25, 31, 32, 38, 41

  pantheon of, 42, 49; see also Marduk

  Seven Wonders of the World in, 24

  succession crisis in, 32–33

  urban culture of, 47, 58–59

  writing in, 40

  Bacon, Francis, 257

  Baldung Grien, Hans, 137, 154

  Ball, John, 189, 193, 248, 357

  Balthasar, Hans Urs von, 338

  Barbari, Jacopo de’, 160

  Bargello Museum, Florence, 142

  Basil the Great, Saint, 336

  Basket, Fuegia, 279, 283

  Bassus, Junius, 142

  Baths of Diocletian, 81

  Battell, Andrew, 364

  Baxandall, Michael, 150

  Bayle, Peter, 265, 266, 267, 268

  A Historical and Critical Dictionary, 253–58, 259, 260

  Beagle, HMS, 278, 279, 280, 283

  Beatles, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” 12

  Bel (Marduk), 27

  Benson, Ezra Taft, 262

  Bernward (bishop), 145

  Berossus, History of Babylonia, 41, 240

&nb
sp; Bible:

  accessibility of, 91

  allegorical links to, 205

  alternative origin stories discovered, 238–43

  anagogical interpretation of, 205

  and apocrypha, 68

  chronology in, 240, 242

  creation of, 33–36, 39

  creation story in, 41, 67, 134, 238, 276

  Crusader Bible, 149

  evolution vs., 271, 272, 273

  First Bible of Charles the Bald, 143

  four-fold method of reading, 205

  generations begat in, 22, 248

  Genesis in, see Genesis

  Gospel of Thomas, 66

  Grandvier-Montval, 143

  interpretations of, 77–78, 97, 205, 232, 247–48, 255, 330, 343

  limitations of, 236–37, 243, 251, 255

  literal truth of, see literalism

  moral guidelines in, 205

  New Testament of, 74–75, 205, 207, 253

  Old Testament of, 205, 207

  primitive stories in, 76

  Psalm 14, 26

  Psalm 22, 26

  Psalm 137, 24, 30–31

  scriptural typology of, 74–75, 205

  translations of, 123, 239, 243

  Vulgate, 123

  Blackborough, William and Hester, 186

  Bonaventure, Saint, 205

  bonobos:

  mental activities of, 17

  sexual activities of, 298–99

  see also primates

  Book of Jubilees, 23, 109, 303, 335

  books, papyrus codices, 65, 334

  Borghese, Cardinal Scipio, 347

  Bosch, Hieronymus, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 216

  Botticelli, Sandro, 206

  Bourignon, Antoinette, 311

  Bracciolini, Poggio, 238

  Bradshaw, John, 358

  Bridgewater, Earl of, 165–66

  British Museum, clay tablets in collection of, 43–44, 46, 50

  Browne, Sir Thomas, 191

  Bruno, Giordano, 240

  Buddha, 87

  Button, Jemmy, 279–80, 283

  Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 283

  Caelestius (Pelagius’s disciple), 340

  Cain, 70, 232

  Calvin, John, 213, 310

  camel, temptation by, 6

  Campbell, Joseph:

  Historical Atlas of World Mythology, 320

  The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 317, 318

  Cape Verde islands, Darwin’s visit to, 278

  Cappadocian Fathers, 305

  Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da, 129

  Carmelite church (Carmine), Florence, 149, 152

  Carracci, Annibale, 169

  Catherine of Aragon, 178

  Catullus, 168

  Celsus (Greek philosopher), 78–79

  Centre National d’Appui à la Recherche, Chad, 10

  chalk, 275, 363–64

  Chappell, William, 164

  Charles I, king of England:

  and civil war, 171, 175, 176–77, 186, 192, 199, 351

  execution of, 192, 194, 196, 197

  Charles II, king of England, 198, 201

  Charles the Bald, 143

  chastity:

  as highest calling, 124

  Milton on, 166–69, 170, 172, 173, 174, 181, 184, 214

  and misogyny, 126

  Chaucer, Geoffrey, Canterbury Tales, 126–27

  chimpanzees:

  and bonobos, 298–99

  as endangered species, 288

  grooming techniques of, 290

  Kanyawara group of, 285

  Kibale Chimpanzee Project, 285–302

  mental activities of, 17

  as Pan troglodytes, 298

  as patrilocal, 288

  sexual relations of, 295

  skeleton of, 13

  see also primates

  Christianity:

  Adam and Eve story as foundational in, 75, 79, 129

  Adam and Eve story interpreted in, 6, 74, 208, 257

  apocrypha, 68

  Augustine’s orthodoxy in, 99, 104–7, 109–10, 118–19, 124, 252

  canon of, 23, 65, 68, 131, 179, 353

  catechumen (instruction) in, 83

  faith in, 205–6

  fundamentalist, 276

  and heresies, 75, 242, 246

  index of prohibited books, 136

  and inquisition, 131–33

  and Jesus, see Jesus Christ

  literalism as cornerstone of, 8–10, 118–19, 252; see also literalism

  and marriage, see marriage

  misogyny in, 121, 123, 125–27, 129–33, 136

  Mormonism, 262

  and nakedness, 234–37

  official doctrine of, 127, 252, 256, 257, 259, 260, 284, 340

  as official religion of Rome, 75

  religious wars, 231–32, 238, 253, 260

  reprobates, 182, 184

  in Rome, 141

  savior of, 38, 129, 229

  and sinfulness, 6, 229

  and Sistine Chapel frescoes, 207

  skepticism within, 137, 252, 257

  Trinity in, 70

  typology of, 74–75, 205

  women welcomed into, 121

  Cicero, 86

  clay tablets:

  cuneiform script on, 40, 42, 43, 45, 332

  mystery unraveled, 43–44, 45

  recovery of, 42–43, 50, 331

  search for, 50–51

  stories similar to Torah, 45–48

  Clement of Alexandria, 304, 346

  Cola di Rienzo, 190

  Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 283

  Columbus, Christopher, 158, 233, 234, 235, 242

  Comestor, Peter, 143

  Condé, Prince of, 232, 242, 246

  Constantine the Great, 141

  Copernicus, 238, 257, 275

  Coptic Museum, Cairo, 65

  Correggio, Antonio Allegri da, 169

  Cortés, Hernán, 158

  Cranach, Lucas the elder, 154

  Cranach, Lucas the younger, 154

  creation stories:

  Adam and Eve story as, 3, 38, 39, 79, 131, 134, 281

  alternative, 239, 241, 242–43

  in ancient myths, 16–17, 39, 51, 238

  artistic illustration of, see art

  author’s imagination of, 18–19

  breath of life in, 20, 44, 57, 58, 75, 300, 338

  changes in thinking about, 281–84

  Darwinism vs., 269, 271–75, 278, 280–81

  Enuma Elish (Mesopotamia), 27–29, 33, 39, 44, 52, 57, 58

  eyewitnesses lacking in, 21–23

  in Genesis, 15, 16, 18, 37, 41, 44, 57, 70, 148, 208, 216, 238, 244–45, 276, 282

  in Gilgamesh, 52, 57, 60

  as human invention, 17–18

  interpretations of, 70–71, 112, 134–35

  “In the beginning,” 71, 278, 336

  moral judgments in, 50, 299

  murder in, 28–29

  pagan, 75, 238, 239, 273

  and primate research, 300–302

  purposes of, 17

  questions about, 67, 75–76, 238–40, 255–56, 261

  sampling of, 313–20

  sex in, 27–29, 56; see also sex

  similarities among, 45–46

  and storytelling, see stories

  ubiquitousness of, 18

  Croesus, King, 32

  Cromwell, Oliver, 186, 198, 205, 209, 358

  Cromwell, Richard, 198

  Cyril, Saint, 336

  Cyrus, Persian king, 32–33

  Damian, Saint Peter, Officium Beatae Virginis, 130–31, 132

  Damrosch, David, 45

  The Buried Book, 331

  Daniel, book of, 41

  Dante Alighieri, 56, 209, 210

  Paradiso, 128

  Darius, king of Persia, 43

  Darwin, Charles, 10

  critics of, 280

  The Descent of Man, 269–74, 280–81

  influence of, 282, 284, 297


  influences on, 273, 278, 280, 283

  The Origin of Species, 269, 271, 275, 278

  scientific evidence collected by, 278, 279, 282, 283, 297

  on sexual selection, 271

  theory of evolution, 270–73, 280–81, 282–83

  theory of natural selection, 14, 274, 279, 282, 287

  travel on HMS Beagle, 278, 279, 280, 283

  Darwin, Erasmus, 273

  Dati, Carlo, 187, 351

  Davenant, William, 358

  David, house of, 24

  death:

  accepting the reality of, 227–28, 243, 307, 308

  of Adam, 68, 72, 335

  as physical nature of humans, 106, 345

  questions about, 100, 153, 266, 343, 345

  serpent as foundation of, 128

  and the soul, 101

  through Adam and Eve, 144, 308, 336, 340

  Dicaearchus of Messana, 239

  Diggers, 194–96

  dinosaurs, 267, 268

  Diodati, Charles, 165, 170, 214, 351

  Donne, John, 168

  Duns Scotus, John, 308

  Dürer, Albrecht, 9, 152–62

  canon of proportions sought by, 160

  early years of, 155

  Fall of Man, 152–54, 156, 161–62, 256

  Four Books on Human Proportion, 157

  on good and evil, 349

  influence of, 152, 154–55, 161, 162, 163

  observations of Africans, 159

  search for perfect form, 158–61

  self-portraiture of, 155–57, 348–49

  technical skills of, 154, 155, 157

  Eden, see Garden of Eden; Paradise

  Egypt:

  Nag Hammadi Library in, 64–67, 267

  origin story of, 313

  Ptolemaic kings of, 43

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 262

  Eleazar, Rabbi Jeremiah ben, 15, 215

  Elect (ascetics), 88

  Eliot, George, Middlemarch, 207

  Elizabeth I, queen of England, 240

  Elohim, 331

  Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 262, 263

  England:

  Battle of Naseby, 186

  censorship opposed in, 196

  civil war in, 171–72, 175, 176–77, 186, 192–93, 194, 196, 198–99, 204–5, 206, 351

  defenders of monarchy in, 196

  Divorce Reform Act (1969-73), 178

  educational system of, 353

  New Model Army in, 192, 195

  Peasants’ Revolt (1381), 189

  Puritans in, 172

  Restoration in, 198–99

  Enki (Babylonian god), 46–47

  Enlightenment, skeptical doubts raised in, 9–10, 137, 261, 268, 284, 338

  Enuma Elish (origin story), 27–29, 33, 39, 44, 46, 52, 57, 58

  Eocene Epoch, 275

  Epicurus, 101, 102, 238, 339

  Epiphanius (bishop), 252

  Eric the Red, 242

  Erikson, Leif, 242

  Erlik (devil), 318

  Eskimos, artifacts of, 242

  Ethiopian Orthodox Church, 23

  eugenics, 282

  Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, 41

  Eve:

  as allegory, 110, 205, 337

  beauty of, 135, 216, 220–21, 254, 296

  children of, 296

 

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