The story of God making Eve out of Adam's rib may have come from an ancient legend from Mesopotamia, a region located in southwest Asia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in modern-day Iraq. After the Sumerian god Enki ate eight plants belonging to his wife, the goddess Ninhursag, she cursed him so that eight parts of his body became diseased. When he was nearly dead, the gods persuaded Ninhursag to help him, and she created eight healing goddesses. The goddess who cured Enki's rib was Ninti, whose name means “lady of the rib” and “lady of life.” In Hebrew mythology, Adam names the woman created from his rib Hawwah, which means “life.” The Sumerian story probably influenced the Hebrew one, which became the basis for the version of Eve's creation found in the Bible.
Which is longer and probably several centuries older, God made Adam from dust and breathed “the breath of life” into his nostrils. God then created animals so that Adam would not be alone. However, God saw that Adam needed a human partner, so he put Adam to sleep, took a part of him (traditionally, his rib), and created Eve from it.
The Garden of Eden and the Fall Adam and Eve lived in a garden called Eden, from which four rivers flowed out into the world. Like other earthly paradises in mythologies of the dry Near East, Eden was a well-watered, fertile place that satisfied Adam and Eve’s every need. God imposed only one rule about life in this paradise: the two were told to never eat the fruit of the “tree of knowledge.”
A clever serpent in the garden persuaded Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, then Adam tasted the fruit as well. Immediately upon tasting the fruit, Adam and Eve lost their innocence. Ashamed of their nakedness, they covered themselves with leaves. God saw that they had disobeyed him and drove them from the Garden of Eden.
When Adam and Eve left Eden, human history began. The two worked long and hard to survive. Eventually, they grew old and died, but not before they had children. The first two were their sons, Cain and Abel. According to Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, all the people of the world are descended from the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.
World History
