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13 Cain the Giant: Watchers Traditions in the Lif Life of Adam and Eve e of Adam and Eve Silviu N. Bunta The title “Life of Adam and Eve” (henceforth LAE) is commonly used in reference to an entire corpus of literature1 that contains the Greek Apocalypse of Moses known widely today as the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (GLAE),2 the Latin Vita Adae et Evae (LLAE),3 the Armenian Penitence of Adam (ALAE),4 the Slavonic Book of Adam and Eve,5 the Georgian Book of Adam (GeLAE),6 and the 1. For succinct introductions to this corpus, see particularly Michael E. Stone, A History of the Literature of Adam and Eve, SBLEJL 3 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1992), and Marinus de Jonge and Johannes Tromp, The Life of Adam and Eve (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997). 2. This title is a misnomer, based on an introduction prefaced to the text at a later time and uncritically appropriated by the earlier editions of the book (cf. Marinus de Jonge, Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament as Part of Christian Literature [Leiden: Brill, 2003], 201, n. 2). A synoptic presentation of the major text forms is available in John R. Levison, Texts in Transition: The Greek Life of Adam and Eve, SBLEJL 16 (Atlanta: SBL, 2000). Critical editions of the Greek text exist in Albert-Marie Denis, Concordance grecque des pseudépigraphes d’Ancien Testament (Louvain-la-Neuve: Université catholique de Louvain, 1987); Johannes Tromp, The Life of Adam and Eve in Greek: A Critical Edition (Leiden: Brill, 2005). 3. W. Meyer, “Vita Adae et Evae,” Abhandlungen der königlichen Bayerischen Akademie des Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-philologische Klasse 14 (1878): 185–250. 4. Michael E. Stone, The Penitence of Adam, CSCSO 429–30 (Louvain: Peeters, 1981); Stone, Texts and Concordances of the Armenian Adam Literature, SBLEJL 12 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1996), 70–81. 5. Only the longer recension has received a critical edition to date: Vatroslav Jagić, “Slavische Beiträge zu den biblischen Apocryphen, I: Die altkirchenslavischen Texte des Adambuches,” in Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften philosophisch-historiche Klasse 42 (1893): 1–104. In 1925, Iordan Ivanov published another manuscript of the longer recension, MS 433 of the National Library in Sofia, which was apparently unknown to Jagič: Iordan Ivanov, Bogomilski knigi i legendi (Sofia, Bulgaria 1925). I consulted this work in its French translation, Jordan Ivanov, Livres et légendes bogomiles: Aux sources du catharisme, trans. M. Ribeyrol (Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 1976). 181 Romanian Story of Adam and Eve.7 The Latin writing is the only one of these texts to actually carry the title used loosely in reference to the entire corpus. All text forms follow generally a similar story line: the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise; Abel’s death at the hands of his brother Cain; a fatal illness of Adam; Adam’s account of the fall; Eve’s and Seth’s quest for healing oil; Eve’s account of the fall; Adam’s death and assumption to paradise; Adam’s burial; Abel’s burial; and Eve’s death and burial.8 Scholars have previously noted several points of convergence between this Adamic corpus and early Enochic literature, that is, 1 Enoch and 2 Enoch. Thus, almost thirty years ago George Nickelsburg argued that LLAE 25-29 shows parallels with 1 Enoch 14 and 83–90 and that LLAE 49–50 comes from a tradition influenced by 1 Enoch 91 and 93.9 Even more points of convergence have been assumed between the LAE corpus and 2 Enoch. Michael Stone notes that 2 Enoch 31:5-6 (recension J) and 22:7 reflect a tradition of the fall of Satan similar to the one extant in LLAE, ALAE, and GeLAE 11:2—17:3, according to which Satan and other angels refused to venerate the first human.10 Moreover, he argues that there is a clear parallelism between the storyline in 2 Enoch 21–22 and the narrative of the fall of Satan in LAE. Andrei Orlov remarks that some features of 2 Enoch reflect Adam traditions, particularly the designation of Enoch as the king of creation and as “youth,” the hunger theme, and the motif of the oil from the tree of life.11 He further notes that 2 Enoch 7, which depicts 6. French translation in J.P. Mahé, “Le Livre d'Adam géorgienne de la Vita Adae,” in Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religions, ed. R. van den Broek and M. J...

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