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There’s more than one Adam and Eve story -

Yes, the Adam and Eve story is not quite a Bible original. Other similar creation stories can be found in other cultures and religions.

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There’s more than one Adam and Eve story -

The ancient Egyptian god of fertility, Khnemu, created people from clay. The same goes for the Greek god Prometheus, who not only was the god of fire, but also created humans.

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Adam and Eve building blocks -

The story borrows elements from both the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish and that of Gilgamesh, an epic hero from Mesopotamia. In the first story, dust is used to create humans.

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Adam and Eve building blocks -

In the latter, the gods create a (male) companion for Gilgamesh. The hero at some point loses immortality after falling for a snake’s trick. A woman then disrupts the men’s idyllic lives. Sounds familiar, right?

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Adam had two wives -

Adam had a first wife, called Lilith, who was banished from the Garden of Eden for disobeying her husband. Lilith, who is present in Judaic mythology, then became a demon.

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Adam's second wife -

It was only then that Eve was made from one of Adam's bones. And here is where translation gets tricky. Most of us believe it was a rib, or at least that is how it was translated from Hebrew.

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Adam’s bone? -

The original word is "tsela." And while it is translated as "rib" when Eve is made, the word actually refers to the side or "limbs lateral to the vertical axis of an erect human body." This means that Eve could have been made from any of Adam’s bones in his side region.

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Adam’s bone? -

Some theorists point to Adam’s baculum as the source. The theory is that, unlike many other mammals, humans don’t have a baculum, so Eve would have been made from it. As a consequence, the following generations were born without one.

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Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons? -

Legit question, right? Well, this is pretty much non-debatable for fundamentalist Christians. Many believe that they had no navels.

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Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons? -

This, of course, was something many artists did not take into consideration (or maybe they did...), as many representations of Adam and Eve depict them with belly buttons.

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Was it the devil who tempted Eve? -

Satan wasn’t a figure in early Jewish theology, so the original story had nothing to do with the devil. It is likely that the serpent of Genesis was later interpreted in such a way.

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Was it the devil who tempted Eve? -

In Islam, things are a bit different though. Allah created Adam and ordered the angels to worship him, but Iblis (aka Satan) refused to do so. So, in the Quran the serpent is explicitly the devil.

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What was the forbidden fruit, really? -

“An apple!” we hear you say. Not so fast. The Bible doesn’t say that the forbidden fruit is actually an apple.

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What was the forbidden fruit, really? -

In fact, it doesn’t specify the fruit at all. The original Hebrew word is "peri," which can be interpreted as a variety of things, from a fig to a grape, and even wheat.

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So, where does the idea of an apple come from, then? -

A 4th century pun is the culprit. It turns out the Latin word "malus" means both “evil” and “apple.” Scholar Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin, used the word to describe the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

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So, where does the idea of an apple come from, then? -

Then 17th-century English poet John Milton went on to call the forbidden fruit an apple twice in his book ‘Paradise Lost,’ cementing the idea.

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Childbirth is painful because of Eve -

Genesis 3:16 says, "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children." This, of course, was enough to stop any efforts to make childbirth more bearable for women for centuries.

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Childbirth is painful because of Eve -

But it turns out, it is yet again a translation problem. Everywhere else in the Bible, the original Hebrew word “etzev” is translated as "labor, toil, or work." But in reference to childbirth, it’s translated as “pain, sorrow, anguish, or pang.”

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Islam’s version of Adam and Eve -

As mentioned, Adam and Eve's story can also be found in the Quran. The main difference is that they are both tempted into eating from the tree. Plus, original sin doesn’t exist in Islam, so they both ate from the tree and paid for their sin, not making all of humanity pay for it, for eternity.

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Islam’s version of Adam and Eve -

They were kicked out of paradise and separated for 200 years. But they eventually reunited and had two sons, Qābīl and Hābīl. And just like Cain and Abel, one kills the other. Adam and Eve had many more kids. In fact, Eve gave birth to 20 sets of twins!

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The pre-Adamite theory -

This idea dates back to 1655 and says that there were people on Earth before Adam and Eve.

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The pre-Adamite theory -

The theory was that not all people on Earth were descended from Adam and Eve. This meant that those who were not descendants were not as important, and conveniently “less white,” so slavery was justified in the eyes of many.

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The location of the Garden of Eden -

Have you ever wondered where the Garden of Eden was located? You're not the first. The quest to find it still ongoing. Though we can find some hints in the Bible.

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The location of the Garden of Eden -

More specifically in Genesis 2:10, which says: “A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers” (the specific wording depends on the Bible translation). And then it mentions their names: Pishon, Gihon, Hiddekel (the Tigris), and Phirat (the Euphrates).

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The location of the Garden of Eden -

This hint has led to speculation that the Garden of Eden was located either in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and Kuwait), or modern-day Turkey or Armenia. Though the specific location has, thus far, not been found.

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Genetic Adam and Eve -

According to a study, Mitochondrial Eve lived about 100,000-230,000 years ago. Y-chromosomal Adam, on the other hand, probably lived about 75,000 years before Eve.

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Genetic Adam and Eve -

These are, of course, common mitochondrial ancestors of modern humans. They didn’t mate, nor were they the first humans to have lived on Earth.

Sources: (Grunge)

See also: The truth about Jesus Christ

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