The ancient Etruscan legend, according to Delitzsch, is almost the same as the Persian. They relate that God created the world in six thousand years. In the first thousand he created the Heaven and Earth; in the second, the Firmament; in the third, the Waters of the Earth; in the fourth, the Sun, Moon and Stars; in the fifth, the Animals belonging to air, water and land; and in the sixth, Man alone.'

Dr. Delitzsch, who maintains to the utmost the historical truth of the Scripture story in Genesis, yet says:

"Whence comes the surprising agreement of the Etruscan and Persian legends with this section? How comes it that the Babylonian cosmogony in Berosus, and the Phænician in Sauchoniathon, in spite of their fantastical oddity, come in contact with it in remarkable details ?"

After showing some of the similarities in the legends of these different nations, he continues:

"These are only instances of that which they have in common. Hor such an account outside of Israel, we must, however, conclude, that the author of Genesis i. has no vision before him, but a tradition."

Von Bohlen tells us that the old Chaldæan cosmogony is also the same."

4

To continue the Persian legend; we will now show that according to it, after the Creation man was tempted, and fell. Kalisch and Bishop Colenso tell us of the Persian legend that the first couple lived originally in purity and innocence. Perpetual happiness was promised them by the Creator if they persevered in their virtue. But an evil demon came to them in the form of a serpent, sent by Ahriman, the prince of devils, and gave them fruit of a wonderful tree, which imparted immortality. Evil inclinations then entered their hearts, and all their moral excellence was destroyed. Consequently they fell, and forfeited the eternal happiness for which they were destined. They killed beasts, and clothed themselves in their skins. The evil demon obtained still more perfect power over their minds, and called forth envy, hatred, discord, and rebellion, which raged in the bosom of the families.

Since the above was written, Mr. George Smith, of the British Museum, has discovered cuneiform inscriptions, which show conclusively that the Babylonians had this legend of the Creation and

1 "The Etruscans believed in a ereation of six thousand years, and in the successive production of different beings, the last of which was man." (Dunlap: Spirit Hist. p. 357.)

2 Quoted by Bishop Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 115.

Intro. to Genesis, vol. ii. p. 4.

• Com. on Old Test. vol. i. p. 63.

The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 152.

Fall of Man, some 1,500 years or more before the Hebrews heard of it. The cuneiform inscriptions relating to the Babylonian legend of the Creation and Fall of Man, which have been discovered by English archæologists, are not, however, complete. The portions which relate to the Tree and Serpent have not been found, but Babylonian gem engravings show that these incidents were evidently a part of the original legend. The Tree of Life in the Genesis account appears to correspond with the sacred grove of Anu, which was guarded by a sword turning to all the four points of the compass." A representation of this Sacred Tree, with "attendant cherubim," copied from an Assyrian cylinder, may be seen in Mr. George Smith's "Chaldean Account of Genesis."

3

Figure No. 1, which

we have taken from the same work,

edge, fruit, and the serpent. Mr. Smith says of it:

"One striking and important specimen of early type in the British Museum collection, has two figures sitting one on each side of a tree, holding out their hands to the fruit, while at the back of one (the woman) is scratched a serpent. We know well that in these early sculptures none of these figures were chance devices, but all represented events, or supposed events, and figures in their legends; thus it is evident that a form of the story of the Fall, similar to that of Genesis, was known in early times in Babylonia."5

This illustration might be used to illustrate the narrative of Genesis, and as Friedrich Delitzsch has remarked (G. Smith's Chaldäische Genesis) is capable of no other explanation.

M. Renan does not hesitate to join forces with the ancient commentators, in seeking to recover a trace of the same tradition among the Phenicians in the fragments of Sanchoniathon, translated into Greek by Philo of Byblos. In fact, it is there said, in speaking of the first human pair, and of which seems to be the translation of Havvâh (in Phenician

1 See Chapter xi.

2 Mr. Smith says, "Whatever the primitive account may have been from which the earlier part of the Book of Genesis was copied, it is evident that the brief narration given in the Pentatench omits a number of incidents and explanations-for instance, as to the origin of

on,

evil, the fall of the angels, the wickedness of the serpent, &c. Such points as these are included in the cuneiform narrative." (Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, pp. 13, 14.)

Smith: Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 88. 4 Ibid. p. 89. Ibid. p. 91.

Haváth) and stands in her relation to the other members of the pair, that this personage " has found out how to obtain nourishment from the fruits of the tree."

The idea of the Edenic happiness of the first human beings constitutes one of the universal traditions. Among the Egyptians, the terrestial reign of the god Râ, who inaugurated the existence of the world and of human life, was a golden age to which they continually looked back with regret and envy. Its "like has never been seen since."

The ancient Greeks boasted of their "Golden Age," when sorrow and trouble were not known. Hesiod, an ancient Grecian poet, describes it thus:

"Men lived like Gods, without vices or passions, vexation or toil. In happy companionship with divine beings, they passed their days in tranquillity and joy, living together in perfect equality, united by mutual confidence and love. The earth was more beautiful than now, and spontaneously yielded an abundant variety of fruits. Human beings and animals spoke the same language and conversed with each other. Men were considered mere boys at a hundred years old. They had none of the infirmities of age to trouble them, and when they passed to regions of superior life, it was in a gentle slumber." In the course of time, however, all the sorrows and troubles came to man. They were caused by inquisitiveness. The story is as follows: Epimetheus received a gift from Zeus (God), in the form of a beautiful woman (Pandora).

"She brought with her a vase, the lid of which was (by the command of God), to remain closed. The curiosity of her husband, however, tempted him to open it, and suddenly there escaped from it troubles, weariness and illness from which mankind was never afterwards free. All that remained was hope.'

Among the Thibetans, the paradisiacal condition was more complete and spiritual. The desire to eat of a certain sweet herb deprived men of their spiritual life. There arose a sense of shame, and the need to clothe themselves. Necessity compelled them to agriculture; the virtues disappeared, and murder, adultery and other vices, stepped into their place.'

The idea that the Fall of the human race is connected with agriculture is found to be also often represented in the legends of the East African negroes, especially in the Calabar legend of the Creation, which presents many interesting points of comparison with the biblical story of the Fall. The first human pair are called by a bell at meal-times to Abasi (the Calabar God), in heaven; and in place of the forbidden tree of Genesis are put agriculture

1 Murray's Mythology, p. 208.

2 Kalisch's Com. vol. i. p. 64.

The

and propagation, which Abasi strictly denies to the first pair. Fall is denoted by the transgression of both these commands, especially through the use of implements of tillage, to which the woman is tempted by a female friend who is given to her. From that moment man fell and became mortal, so that, as the Bible story has it, he can cat bread only in the sweat of his face. There agriculture is a curse, a fall from a more perfect stage to a lower and imperfect one.'

Dr. Kalisch, writing of the Garden of Eden, says:

"The Paradise is no exclusive feature of the early history of the Hebrews. Most of the ancient nations have similar narratives about a happy abode, which care does not approach, and which re-echoes with the sounds of the purest bliss."

The Persians supposed that a region of bliss and delight called Heden, more beautiful than all the rest of the world, traversed by a mighty river, was the original abode of the first men, before they were tempted by the evil spirit in the form of a serpent, to partake of the fruit of the forbidden tree Hôm.'

Dr. Delitzsch, writing of the Persian legend, observes:

"Innumerable attendants of the Holy One keep watch against the attempts of Ahriman, over the tree Hom, which contains in itself the power of the resurrection. 4

The ancient Greeks had a tradition concerning the “Islands of the Blessed," the "Elysium," on the borders of the earth, abounding in every charm of life, and the "Garden of the Hesperides," the Paradise, in which grew a tree bearing the golden apples of Immortality. It was guarded by three nymphs, and a Serpent, or Dragon, the ever-watchful Ladon. It was one of the labors of Hercules to gather some of these apples of life. When he arrived there he found the garden protected by a Dragon. Ancient medallions represent a tree with a serpent twined around it. Hercules has gathered an apple, and near him stand the three nymphs, called Hesperides.' This is simply a parallel of the Eden myth.

The Rev. Mr. Faber, speaking of Hercules, says:

"On the Sphere he is represented in the act of contending with the Serpent, the head of which is placed under his foot; and this Serpent, we are told, is that which guarded the tree with golden fruit in the midst of the garden of the Hesperides. But the garden of the Hesperides was none other than the garden of Puradise; consequently the serpent of that garden, the head of which is crushed beneath the heel of Hercules, and which itself is described as encircling with its

1 Goldziher: Hebrew Mythology, p. 87.
⚫ Com. on the Old Test. vol. i. p. 70.
• Ibid.

Ibid. "The fruit and sap of this Tree of

Life begat immortality." (Bonwick: Egyptian
Belief, p. 240.)

See Montfancen : L'Antiquité Expliquée, vol, i. p. 211, and Pl. cxxxiii.

folds the trunk of the mysterious tree, must necessarily be a transcript of that Serpent whose form was assumed by the tempter of our first parents. We may observe the same ancient tradition in the Phoenician fable representing Ophion or Ophioneus.

"1

And Professor Fergusson says:

"Hercules' adventures in the garden of the Hesperides, is the Pagan form of the myth that most resembles the precious Serpent-guarded fruit of the Garden of Eden, though the moral of the fable is so widely different."

The ancient Egyptians also had the legend of the "Tree of Life." It is mentioned in their sacred books that Osiris ordered the names of some souls to be written on this "Tree of Life," the fruit of which made those who ate it to become as gods."

Among the most ancient traditions of the Hindoos, is that of the "Tree of Life"-called Soma in Sanskrit-the juice of which imparted immortality. This most wonderful tree was guarded by spirits.*

Still more striking is the Hindoo legend of the "Elysium” or "Paradise," which is as follows:

"In the sacred mountain Meru, which is perpetually clothed in the golden rays of the Sun, and whose lofty summit reaches into heaven, no sinful man can exist. It is guarded by a dreadful dragon. It is adorned with many celestial plants and trees, and is watered by four rivers, which thence separate and flow to the four chief directions."5

The Hindoos, like the philosophers of the Ionic school (Thales, for instance), held water to be the first existing and all-pervading principle, at the same time allowing the co-operation and influence of an immaterial intelligence in the work of creation. A Vedic poet, meditating on the Creation, uses the following expressions:

"There

"Nothing that is was then, even what is not, did not exist then." was no space, no life, and lastly there was no time, no difference between day and night, no solar torch by which morning might have been told from evening." Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled in gloom profound, as ocean without light."

The Hindoo legend approaches very nearly to that preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, it is said that Siva, as the Supreme Being, desired to tempt Brahmá (who had taken human form, and was called Swayambhura-son of the self-existent), and for this object he dropped from heaven a blossom of the sacred fig tree.

1 Faber Origin Pagan Idolatry, vol. i. p. 443; in Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 237. 2 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 13. Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 159.

4 See Bunsen's Keys of St. Peter, p. 414.

5 Colenso: The Pentateuch Examined, vol. iv. p. 153.

148.

Buckley: Cities of the Ancient World, p

7 Müller: Hist. Sanskrit Literature, p. 559.