Life of Adam and Eve - Definition and Overview

The Life of Adam and Eve is a Jewish pseudepigraphical writing, the original of which was perhaps written around 70 BCE.

The texts that have survived are later variants written in Greek, Latin, Slavonic, Armenian, Georgian and Coptic (fragments only). These obviously go back for the most part to a single source and contain (except for obvious inserts in individual texts) no undeniable Christian teaching. Each language version contains material unique to itself as well as variations in the texts found in that language in what appears and doesn't appear. The Greek variant was confusingly and incorrectly called Apocalypsis Mosis 'Apocalypse of Moses' by Tischendorf, its first editor, and the name has stuck.

What appear to be extracts are also found in other later texts such as the Cave of Treasures.

The story begins immediately after Adam and Eve's exile from the Garden of Eden and continues to the death of Adam and then the death of Eve. 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. We are told however that Adam and Eve had thirty sons and thirty daughters.

For other pseudepigraphical works about Adam and Eve see Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, Apocalypse of Adam and Testament of Adam.

External Links

• Adam and Eve Archive (http://www.iath.virginia.edu/anderson). This is an major ongoing project by Gary Anderson and Michael E. Stone to present all the original texts in the original languages and in translation. It currently contains English translations of the most important texts and also a synopsis guide allowing the viewer to easily jump from a section in one source to the parallel sections in other sources. All English translations here are also found elsewhere on the web but further links are given in case this site is down.

• 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 (ISBN 0198261527)
  • Latin Life of Adam and Eve
    • At Pseudepigrapha (http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/adamnev.htm)
    • At Christian Classics Ethereal Library: POT (http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/adamnev.htm)
    • At Wesley Center Online: Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (http://wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/ot/pseudo/adamnev.htm)
    • At Sacred Texts: Christianity: Apocrypha (http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/adamnev.htm)
    • At Free Books: Apocrypha (http://alge.anart.no/projects/free_books/apocrypha/Books_of_Adam_and_Eve.pdf) (PDF version)
  • Apocalypse of Moses (Greek version of the Life of Adam and Eve)
    • At Pseudepigrapha (http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/apcmose.htm)
    • At Christian Classics Ethereal Library: POT (http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/apcmose.htm)
    • At Wesley Center Online: Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (http://wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/ot/pseudo/apcmose.htm)
    • At Free Books: Apocrypha (http://alge.anart.no/projects/free_books/apocrypha/Apocalypsis_Mosis.pdf) (PDF version)
  • Slavonic Life of Adam and Eve
    • At Pseudepigrapha (http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/slanev.htm)
    • At Christian Classics Ethereal Library: POT (http://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/slanev.htm)
    • At Wesley Center Online: Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (http://wesley.nnu.edu/noncanon/ot/pseudo/slanev.htm)
    • At Sacred Texts: Christianity: Apocrypha (http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/apo/slanev.htm)
    • At Free Books: Apocrypha (http://alge.anart.no/projects/free_books/apocrypha/Slavonic_Vita_Adae_Et_Evae.pdf) (PDF version)

• The Book of Adam, translated from Georgian by J.-P. Mahe.
  • At Pseudepigrapha (http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/pseudepigrapha/TheBookOfAdam.htm)
  • At Free Books: Apocrypha (http://alge.anart.no/projects/free_books/apocrypha/The_Book_of_Adam_(Georgian).pdf) (PDF version)

• The Penitence of Adam (http://micro5.mscc.huji.ac.il/~armenia/website), 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 0788502786).