ADAM

the first man according \ to Genesis. The derivation of the name is obscure, probably from a root also found fn A yrian ‘to make, produce,’ po ibly from another ‘to be red,’ but A. means in Hebrew also ‘man, mankind’ in general. ec 2 men vee SS The more primitive account of the creation of man is in chap. ii. 4b-8; that in i-ii. 4a (the Priestly Code) is later. Some think that originally the narrative was merely mythological and has been ‘toned down’ by the editor. The creation of man in ‘the image of God’ and some later traditions seem to show that the position of A. was exalted. Several Babylonian legends offer some, but none a very complete parallel to the story of A.; according to one, a hero Etana is cast down from heaven, which suggests the Fall. There are not many references to A. in the other books of the Old Testament, and the conception of original sin as resulting from the Fall is hardly found. Various legends about him are found in later Jewish lit., and works exist bearing his name in Ethiopic and Armenian.