Although, as we have seen, Sara was spared degradation into a she-devil
in subsequent myths, because her body was preserved intact despite her
laxity of mind, such was not the case with Eve. The silence concerning
her preserved throughout the Bible after her fall is told was broken
by the ancient rabbins, and there arose multitudinous legends in
which her intimacies with devils are circumstantially reported. Her
first child, Cain, was generally believed to be the son of one of the
devils (Samaël) that consorted with her, and the world was said to be
peopled with gnomes and demons which she brought forth during that
130 years at the end of which it is stated that Adam begot a son in
his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth (Gen. v. 3). The
previous children were supposed to be not in purely human form, and
not to have been of Adam's paternity. Adam had during that time refused
to have any children, knowing that he would only rear inmates of hell.
The legend of Eden has gone round the world doing various duty,
but nearly always associated with the introduction of moral evil
into the world. In the Lateran Museum at Rome there is a remarkable
bas-relief representing a nude man and woman offering sacrifice before
a serpent coiled around a tree, while an angel overthrows the altar
with his foot. This was probably designed as a fling at the Ophites,
and is very interesting as a survival from the ancient Aryan meaning
of the Serpent. But since the adaptation of the myth by the Semitic
race, it has generally emphasised the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil, instead of the Tree of Immortality (Amrita), which is the
chief point of interest in the Aryan myth. There are indeed traces of
a conflict with knowledge and scepticism in it which we shall have
to consider hereafter. The main popular association with it, the
introduction into the world of all the ills that flesh is heir to,
is perfectly consistent with the sense which has been attributed to
its early Hebrew form; for this includes the longing for maternity,
its temptations and its pains, and the sorrows and sins which are
obviously traceable to it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account