The Books of Adam

The Books of Adam

The Book of Adam or "Contradiction of Adam and Eve," is a romance made up of Oriental fables. It was first translated from the Ethiopian version into German by Dillman, "Das christliche Adambuch" (Göttingen, 1853), and into English by Malan, "The Book of Adam and Eve" (London, 1882). The "Pénitence d'Adam", or "Testament d'Adam", is composed of some Syrian fragments translated by Renan (Journal asiatique, 1853, II, pp. 427-469). "The Penitence of Adam and Eve" has been published in Latin by W. Meyer in the "Treatises of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences", XIV, 3 (Munich, 1879). To these are added "The Books of the Daughters of Adam", mentioned in the catalogue of Pope Saint Gelasius in 495-496, who identifies it with the "Book of Jubilees", or "Little Genesis", and also the "Testament of Our First Parents", cited by Anastasius the Sinaïte, LXXXIX, col. 967.

GEORGE J. REID