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Their names are often used in works of fiction simply as a reference, also. In ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]], the character of [[Estragon]] tries to guess the names of two other characters. He guesses Abel and Cain. One of [[Jason Bourne]]'s many names in the ''[[The Bourne Identity (novel)|The Bourne Identity]]'' and its sequels was Cain, an operative name in the Treadstone 71 program.
Their names are often used in works of fiction simply as a reference, also. In ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]], the character of [[Estragon]] tries to guess the names of two other characters. He guesses Abel and Cain. One of [[Jason Bourne]]'s many names in the ''[[The Bourne Identity (novel)|The Bourne Identity]]'' and its sequels was Cain, an operative name in the Treadstone 71 program.


In [[Daniel Quinn]]'s book [Ishmael (novel)[Ishmael]], the biblical story is interpreted as a tale with roots in the emergence of [[agriculture]], where Able seen as symbolic of the [[hunter-gatherer]] societies that was in majority, and Cain as the then new and emerging farming cultures.
In [[Daniel Quinn]]'s book [[Ishmael (novel)|Ishmael]], the biblical story is interpreted as a tale with roots in the emergence of [[agriculture]], where Able seen as symbolic of the [[hunter-gatherer]] societies that was in majority, and Cain as the then new and emerging farming cultures.


=== Music ===
=== Music ===

Revision as of 21:25, 29 December 2007

Template:Redirect4

Look up fratricide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Detail of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432) at Saint Bavo Cathedral.

According to Genesis, Cain and Abel were the first and second sons of Adam and Eve,[1] born after the Fall of Man.[2] Their story is told in Genesis 4:1–16, the Qur'an at 5:26-32, and Moses 5:16-41. In all versions, Cain, a farmer,[3] commits the first murder by killing his brother Abel, a shepherd,[4] after God (called YHWH)[5] rejects Cain's sacrifice but accepts Abel's.[6]

The oldest known copy of the biblical narration is from the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QGenb = 4Q242, mid 1st century), inspected using infra-red photography and published by Jim R Davila as part of his doctoral dissertation in 1988.[7][8] Cain and Abel appear in a number of other texts,[9] and the story is the subject of various interpretations.[10] Abel, the first murder victim, is sometimes seen as the first martyr;[11] while Cain, the first murderer, is sometimes seen as a progenitor of evil.[12] Modern scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers.[13][14]

Allusions to Cain and Abel as an archetype of fratricide (brother killing) persist in numerous references and retellings, through medieval art and Shakespearean works up to the present day.

Etymology

Cain and Abel are traditional English renderings of the Hebrew names Qayin (Template:Hebrew) and Havel (Template:Hebrew). The original text did not provide vowels.[15] Abel's name has the same three consonants as a root thought to have originally meant "breath", but is known from the Bible primarily as a metaphor for what is "elusive", especially the "vanity" of human enterprise.[16] Julius Wellhausen, and many scholars following him, have proposed the name to be independent of the root.[17] Eberhard Schrader had previously put forward the Akkadian (Old Assyrian dialect) ablu ("son") as a more likely etymology.[18] In the Qur'an, Abel is named as Hābīl (هابيل). Cain is not named in the Qur'an, however Islamic tradition records his name as Qābīl (قابيل). Cain is called Qayen in the Ethiopian version of Genesis.[19] The Greek of the New Testament refers to Cain three times,[20] using two syllables ka-in (Κάïν) for the name.[21]

More recent scholarship has produced another theory, a more direct pun. Abel is here thought to derive from a reconstructed word meaning "herdsman", with the modern Arabic cognate ibil, now specifically referring only to "camels". Cain, on the other hand, is thought to be cognate to the mid-1st millennium BC South Arabian word qyn, meaning "metal smith".[22] This theory would make the names merely descriptions of the roles they take in the story—Abel working with livestock, and Cain with agriculture—and would parallel the names Adam ("man") and Eve ("life", Chavah in Hebrew).[23]

The name Abel has been used in many European languages as both a surname and first name. In English, however, even Cain features in 17th Century, Puritan-influenced families, who had a taste for biblical names, sometimes despite the reputation of the original character.[24][25][26] Contrary to popular belief, the surname McCain does not mean "Son of Cain" in Gaelic, rather it is a contraction (also McCann) of Mac Cathan. Gaelic cathan means "warrior", from cath "battle".[27]

Murder and motive

For convenience, the story can be considered in two sections — 1. murder and motive and 2. confrontation and consequences.

The Qur'an (early 7th century) and Pearl of Great Price (1851) are both considerably later than Genesis;[28][29] and in both cases, the authors claimed to be prophetic interpreters of the Genesis account, not originators.

Bible

Cain leads Abel to Death, by James Tissot.

1Adam knew his wife Eve intimately, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have had a male child with the LORD’s help."[30]

2Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of a flock, but Cain cultivated the land. 3In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the LORD. 4And Abel also presented [an offering][31] — some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he was downcast.[32]

6Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you furious? And why are you downcast?[33] 7If you do right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it."

8Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go out to the field."[34]

And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

— Genesis 4:1-8 (HCSB)

Qur'an

And tell them accurately the story of the two sons of Adam. When the two offered their sacrifices, the offering of the one was accepted but that of the other was not accepted. The latter said, 'I will kill you.' The other answered, 'Allah accepts the offerings of the pious people only. Even if you stretch your hand to kill me, I shall not lift my hand to kill you, for I fear Allah, the Lord of the universe; I would rather prefer that you should bear the burden of my sin as well as of your own sin, and become a dweller of Hell; this is the just retribution of the iniquity of the aggressors.' Even after this his evil soul prompted him to slay his brother without the slightest compunction: so he killed him and became one of the losers.

— Al-Ma'ida (Sura 5): 27-31[35]

Pearl of Great Price

16And Adam and Eve, his wife, ceased not to call upon God. And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare Cain, and said: I have gotten a man from the Lord; wherefore he may not reject his words. But behold, Cain hearkened not, saying: Who is the Lord that I should know him?

17And she again conceived and bare his brother Abel. And Abel hearkened unto the voice of the Lord. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 18And Cain loved Satan more than God. And Satan commanded him, saying: Make an offering unto the Lord. 19And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 20And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering; 21But unto Cain, and to his offering, he had not respect. Now Satan knew this, and it pleased him. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 22And the Lord said unto Cain: Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? 23If thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and Satan desireth to have thee; and except thou shalt hearken unto my commandments, I will deliver thee up, and it shall be unto thee according to his desire. And thou shalt rule over him; 24For from this time forth thou shalt be the father of his lies; thou shalt be called Perdition; for thou wast also before the world. 25And it shall be said in time to comeThat these abominations were had from Cain; for he rejected the greater counsel which was had from God; and this is a cursing which I will put upon thee, except thou repent. 26And Cain was wroth, and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord, neither to Abel, his brother, who walked in holiness before the Lord. 27And Adam and his wife mourned before the Lord, because of Cain and his brethren. 28And it came to pass that Cain took one of his brothers' daughters to wife, and they loved Satan more than God. 29And Satan said unto Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not; for if they tell it, they shall surely die; and this that thy father may not know it; and this day I will deliver thy brother Abel into thine hands. 30And Satan sware unto Cain that he would do according to his commands. And all these things were done in secret. 31And Cain said: Truly I am Mahan, the master of this great secret, that I may murder and get gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and he gloried in his wickedness.

32And Cain went into the field, and Cain talked with Abel, his brother. And it came to pass that while they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him.

— Moses 5:16-32

Motives

The inherent selfishness of Cain, his jealousy, rivalry, and aggression are central to the story. The disconnection between Cain and his higher nature is so great that he fails to understand and master his lower self even in the face of God's wisdom and hospitality. The account in The Qur'an [5.27-32], similar to one given in The Torah, also strongly implies that the motivation of the fratricide of Cain was due to the rejection of his offering to God, but this is an implication and not explicitly clear.

Though Genesis depicts Cain's motive in killing Abel as simply being one of jealousy concerning God's favoritism of Abel, this is not the view of many extra-biblical works. The Midrash, and the obscure First Adam and Eve all record that the real motive involved the desire of women. According to Midrashic tradition, Cain and Abel each had twin sisters, whom they were to marry. The Midrash records that Abel's promised wife was the more beautiful, and hence Cain desired to rid himself of Abel, whose presence was inconvenient. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ, there is a different view, found in part of their scripture, the Book of Moses (part of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible), which describes that Cain's motive is still jealousy, but it is Abel's livestock of which he is jealous. This translation also holds that it was Satan that "commanded" Cain to make the offering, thus making Cain's sacrifice vain and faithless.

Abel's death

William Blake's The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve.

In Christianity, comparisons are sometimes made between the death of Abel and that of Jesus, the former thus seen as being the first martyr. In Matthew 23:35, Jesus speaks of Abel as righteous. However, the Epistle to the Hebrews states that The blood of sprinkling ... [speaks] better things than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24), i.e., the blood of Jesus is interpreted as demanding mercy but that of Abel as demanding vengeance (hence the curse and mark).[citation needed]

Abel is invoked in the litany for the dying in Roman Catholic Church, and his sacrifice is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass with those of Abraham and Melchisedek. The Coptic Church commemorates him with a feast day on December 28.[36]

Burial

According to the Qur'an, it was Cain who buried Abel, and he was prompted to do so by a single raven scratching the ground, on God's command. The Qur'an states that upon seeing the raven, Cain regretted his action [al-Ma'idah:27-31], and that rather than being cursed by God, since he hadn't done so before, God chose to create a law against murder:

if anyone slew a person - be it for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.

Underworld

In classical times, as well as more recently, Abel was regarded as the first innocent victim of the power of evil, and hence the first martyr. In the esoteric Book of Enoch (at 22:7), the soul of Abel is described as having been appointed as the chief of martyrs, crying for vengeance, for the destruction of the seed of Cain. This view is later repeated in the Testament of Abraham (at A:13 / B:11), where Abel has been raised to the position as the judge of the souls:

an awful man sitting upon the throne to judge all creatures, and examining the righteous and the sinners. He being the first to die as martyr, God brought him hither [to the place of judgment in the nether world] to give judgment, while Enoch, the heavenly scribe, stands at his side writing down the sin and the righteousness of each. For God said: I shall not judge you, but each man shall be judged by man. Being descendants of the first man, they shall be judged by his son until the great and glorious appearance of the Lord, when they will be judged by the twelve tribes of Israel, and then the last judgment by the Lord Himself shall be perfect and unchangeable.

According to the Coptic Book of Adam and Eve (at 2:1-15), and the Syriac Cave of Treasures, Abel's body, after many days of mourning, was placed in the Cave of Treasures, before which Adam and Eve, and descendants, offered their prayers. In addition, the Sethite line of the Generations of Adam swear by Abel's blood to segregate themselves from the unrighteous.

Confrontation and Consequences

Bible

9Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

10Then He said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground! 11So now you are cursed [with alienation][37] from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed. 12If you work the land, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

13But Cain answered the Lord, “My punishment[38] is too great to bear! 14Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”

15Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case,[39] whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.”[40] And He placed a mark on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him.

16Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

— Genesis 4:9-16 (HCSB)

Qur'an

Then Allah sent a raven which began to scratch the ground to show him how he might hide the corpse of his brother. Seeing this, he cried, 'Woe be to me! I have not been able to do even as this raven has done and so devise a plan of hiding the corpse of my brother.' After this he became very remorseful of what he had done.

— Al-Ma'ida (Sura 5): 27-31[41]

Pearl of Great Price

33And Cain gloried in that which he had done, saying: I am free; surely the flocks of my brother falleth into my hands.

34And the Lord said unto Cain: Where is Abel, thy brother? And he said: I know not. Am I my brother's keeper? 35And the Lord said: What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood cries unto me from the ground. 36And now thou shalt be cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. 37When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. 38And Cain said unto the Lord: Satan tempted me because of my brother's flocks. And I was wroth also; for his offering thou didst accept and not mine; my punishment is greater than I can bear. 39Behold thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the Lord, and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that he that findeth me will slay me, because of mine iniquities, for these things are not hid from the Lord. 40And I the Lord said unto him: Whosoever slayeth thee, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And I the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

41And Cain was shut out from the presence of the Lord, and with his wife and many of his brethren dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

— Moses 5:16-41

Comments

The story continues with God approaching Cain asking about Abel's whereabouts. In a response that has become a well-known saying, Cain answers, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Finally, seeing through Cain's deception, as "the voice of [Abel's] blood is screaming to [God] from the ground", God curses Cain to wander the earth. Cain is overwhelmed by this and appeals in fear of being killed by other men, and so God places a mark on Cain so that he would not be killed, stating that "whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be upon him sevenfold". Cain then departs, "to the land wandering". Early translations instead stated that he departed "to the Land of Nod", which is generally considered a mistranslation of the Hebrew word Nod, meaning wandering. Despite being cursed to wander, Cain is later mentioned as fathering a lineage of children with an unnamed wife of unknown origin (Gen. 4:17), and founding a city, which he named Enoch after the name of his son.

Mark of Cain

Main article: Curse and mark of Cain

Much has been written about the curse of Cain, and associated mark. The word translated as mark (`avah, Template:Hebrew) could mean a sign, omen, warning, or remembrance.[42] In the Bible, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens,[43] circumcision as a token of God's covenant with Abraham,[44] and the signs performed by Moses before Pharaoh.[45] Although most scholars believe the writer of this part of the story had a clear reference in mind that readers would understand, there is very little consensus today as to exactly what the mark could have been.

The Bible makes reference on several occasions to Kenites, who, in the Hebrew, are referred to as Qayin, i.e. in a highly cognate manner to Cain (Qayin). The Mark of Cain is thus believed to originally refer to some very identifying mark of the Kenite tribe, such as red hair, or a ritual tattoo of some kind, which was transferred to Cain as the tribe's eponym. The protection the mark is said to afford Cain (harming Cain involving the harm being returned sevenfold) is hence seen as some sort of protection that membership of the tribe offered, in a form such as the entire tribe attacking an individual who harms just one of their number.

Baptist and Catholic groups both consider the idea of God cursing an individual to be out of character, and hence take a different stance. Catholics officially view the curse being brought by the ground itself refusing to yield to Cain, whereas some Baptists view the curse as Cain's own aggression, something already present that God merely pointed out rather than added.

In Judaism, the mark is not a punishment but a sign of God's mercy. When Cain was sentenced to be a wanderer he didn't dispute the punishment but only begged that the terms of his sentence be altered slightly, protesting Whoever meets me will kill me! For reasons that aren't specified, God agrees to this request. He puts the mark on Cain as a sign to others that Cain should not be killed until he has had seven generations of children. Lamech, his descendant, thought that the mark was passed down to him and also that it multiplied. In Genesis 4:23–24, he confesses to his wife that he killed two men (possibly one), and that if his grandparent Cain was protected seven times, then he should have it seventy-seven times.

Wanderer

As Cain was ordered to wander the earth in punishment, a tradition arose that this punishment was to be forever, in a similar manner to the (much later) legends of the Flying Dutchman or the Wandering Jew. According to some Islamic sources, such as al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir and al-Tha'labi, he migrated to Yemen.

File:Cormon F Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse.jpg
Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormon's painting titled "Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse", c. 1880, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Though variations on these traditions were strong in medieval times, with several claims of sightings being reported, they have generally gone out of favour. Nevertheless, both the Wandering Cain theme appeared in Mormon folklore (but not scripture). The last known claim of a sighting appears to have been in the United States in the year 1868, when he was reported to have visited a Mormon named O'Grady (see Desert News, September 23, 1868). Prior to this in 1836, another early Mormon - David W. Patten - claimed to have encountered a very tall, hairy, dark-skinned man in Tennessee who said that he was Cain. Patten claimed that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men. Patten's story is quoted in Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness.

Despite these later traditional beliefs of perpetual wandering, according to the earlier Book of Jubilees (chapter 4) Cain settled down, marrying his sister, Awan, resulting in his first son, Enoch (considered to be different to the more famous Enoch), approximately 196 years after the creation of Adam. Cain then established the first city, naming it after his son, built a house, and lived there until it collapsed on him, killing him in the same year that Adam died.

A medieval legend used to say that at the end, Cain arrived at the Moon where he eternally settled with a bundle of twigs. This was originated by popular fantasy interpreting the shadows on the Moon face. An example of this belief can be found in Dante Alighieri's Inferno (XX, 126[46]) where the expression "Cain and the twigs" is used as a synonym of "moon".

Origin

Cain killing Abel, from a 15th century manuscript.

One theory sees the story as composed of a number of layers, with the original layer deriving from the Sumerian tale of the wooing of Inanna. In the tale, seen as representing the ancient conflict between nomadic herders and settled agrarian farmers, Dumuzi, the god of shepherds, and Enkimdu, the god of farmers, are competing for the attention of Inanna, chief goddess. Dumuzi is brash and aggressive, but Enkimdu is placid and easy going, so Inanna favours Enkimdu. However, on hearing this, Dumuzi starts boasting about how great he is, and exhibits such strong charisma that Enkimdu tells Inanna to marry Dumuzi and then wanders away.

The biblical correspondence in this theory being God to Inanna, Abel, the shepherd, to Dumuzi, and Cain, the farmer, to Enkimdu, and equating only to the competitive part of the story, Cain wandering away, and the extra-biblical traditions concerning the involvement of a beautiful woman. The presence of sacrifices, rather than mere words, in the biblical story, is sometimes seen as simply the priesthood's spin on the story, to emphasise that one form of sacrifice is better than the other.

In later mythology, though still before 1500s BC, Dumuzi had become conflated with Enkimdu, and so acted as a general agricultural deity, though still retaining some of the earlier myths. In his more general role, since he was responsible for the yearly crop-cycle, Dumuzi became seen as a life-death-rebirth deity. Exactly how the myth fits in with the marriage of Dumuzi to Inanna is not clear, since the surviving copies of the myth abruptly begin with Inanna descending to the underworld for an unknown reason. Innana can only escape by exchanging herself for a god not in the underworld, and so considers each of them in turn. Dumuzi is only too glad she has gone, and so, in anger, she sends demons upon him, and he dies, thus releasing her. She then changes her mind, showing favour, and bringing Dumuzi back by persuading his sister to take his place for 6 months each year (hence starting the annual cycle).

This murder of Dumuzi is thought, critically, to be the source of the murder of Abel. Since God, unlike Inanna, was seen as being powerful enough not to get stuck in the underworld, he would have had no need to escape, and so no motive to kill Abel, hence the blame shifting to the jealous Cain/Enkimdu. The part of the story involving perpetual annual resurrection and death is not given to Abel, who is supposedly merely mortal.

Legacy and symbolism

15th century depiction of Cain and Abel, Speculum Humane Salvationis, Germany.

In medieval Christian art, particularly in 16th century Germany, Cain is depicted as a stereotypical ringleted, bearded Jew, who killed Abel the blonde, European gentile symbolizing Christ.[47] This traditional depiction has continued for centuries in some form, such as James Tissot's 19th century Cain leads Abel to Death, shown above. This was the result of an apparent necessity to resolve the problem of fratricide not involving an outsider, by explaining it as the result of a group historically vilified by Christianity.[dubious – discuss][48][49]

Another view is taken in Latter-day Saint theology, where Cain is considered to be the quintessential Son of Perdition, the father of secret combinations (i.e. secret societies and organized crime), as well as the first to hold the title Master Mahan meaning master of [the] great secret, that [he] may murder and get gain.

Nessuno tocchi Caino ("Hands Off Cain") is an Italian association against death penalty.

Literature

As the first murderer and first murder victim, Cain and Abel have often formed the basis of tragic drama. Lord Byron rewrote and dramatized the story in the poem "Cain", viewing Cain as symbolic of a sanguinary temperament, provoked by Abel's hypocrisy and sanctimony.[47] In Dante's Purgatory Cain is remembered by the souls in Purgatory in Canto XIV (14) on page 153, verse 133 saying "I shall be slain by all who find me!", Cain is facing the punishment that God has visited upon him for the sin of Envy, which is a similar play on the words in Genesis 4:13–14 where he says, "I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden retells the Cain and Abel story in the setting of the late 19th and early 20th century western migration towards California. Also, his novelette Of Mice and Men draws elements from the story. Baudelaire is more sympathetic to Cain in his poem "Abel et Caïn" in the collection Les Fleurs du mal, where he depicts Cain as representing all the downtrodden people of the world. The poem's last lines exhort, "Race de Caïn, au ciel monte/Et sur la terre jette Dieu!" (In English: "Race of Cain, storm up the sky / And from the heavens cast down God!") Miguel de Unamuno's Abel Sánchez (1917) is a study on envy. Abel receives everything undeservingly, while his friend Joaquín is despised by God and society and envies him. Kane and Abel is a modern adaptation, a 1979 novel by British author Jeffrey Archer. In 1985, it was made into a CBS television miniseries titled Kane & Abel starring Peter Strauss as Rosnovski and Sam Neill as Kane.

Some form of legacy or curse of the name is often seen in literature: the monster Grendel in Beowulf is a descendant of Cain. In the epilogue to Agatha Christie's novel Ten Little Indians, the author refers to the Mark of Cain in laying out the clues. There is a Stephen King short story titled Cain Rose Up, in which a college youth goes on a killing spree while ruminating on the story of Cain and Abel. In the DC Comics (Vertigo division) universe Cain and Abel are a pair of fictional characters based on the Biblical Cain and Abel, inNeil Gaiman's Sandman series. In which Cain is constantly killing off his brother, despite the fact they are both immortals now.

Cain was traditionally considered to have red hair; the expression "Cain-coloured beard" is used in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.[47]

Their names are often used in works of fiction simply as a reference, also. In Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, the character of Estragon tries to guess the names of two other characters. He guesses Abel and Cain. One of Jason Bourne's many names in the The Bourne Identity and its sequels was Cain, an operative name in the Treadstone 71 program.

In Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael, the biblical story is interpreted as a tale with roots in the emergence of agriculture, where Able seen as symbolic of the hunter-gatherer societies that was in majority, and Cain as the then new and emerging farming cultures.

Music

Games

Television and film

  • The Matrix Reloaded features two minor villains by the names of Cain and Abel. Both are supposedly vampires from an older version of the titular Matrix who were saved because of their difficulty to terminate. Abel is shot in the head by Persephone while Cain is sent to find Persephone's husband, and later killed in a fight with Neo.

See also

References

  1. ^ "She conceived and gave birth to Cain. ... Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel." Genesis 4:1–2 (Holman Christian Standard Bible, HCSB).
  2. ^ "God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground." Gen 3:23 (HCSB).
  3. ^ "Cain cultivated the land." Gen 4:2 (HCSB).
  4. ^ "Abel became a shepherd." (Genesis 4:2).
  5. ^ Genesis 4:1,3 and others (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, BHS).
  6. ^ Relevant passage quoted in text below.
  7. ^ Jim R Davila, Unpublished Pentateuchal Manuscripts from Cave IV Qumran: 4QGenExa, 4QGenb-h, j-k, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1988.
  8. ^ PaeleoJudaica, Davila's blog post [search for 4QGenb].
  9. ^ Jubilees 4:31; Patriarchs, Benjamin 7; Enoch 22:7.
  10. ^ Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 1:7:5 (c. 180) describes (unfavourably) a Gnostic interpretation. Church Fathers, Rabbinic commentators and more recent scholars have also proposed interpretations.
  11. ^ Notably by Jesus of Nazareth as quoted by Matthew 23:35 (late mid 1st century), "The blood of righteous Abel," in a reference to many martyrs.
  12. ^ Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer 21 (c. 833) and others.
  13. ^ Transliteration of original language version: Dumuzid and Enkimdu at Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL) founded by Jeremy Allen Black from Oxford University. English translation at "Chapter IV. Miscellaneous myths: Inanna prefers the farmer". Sacred Texts. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  14. ^ "Cain and Abel". USBible.com. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  15. ^ BHS.
  16. ^ Brown Driver Briggs (BDB), p. 210.
  17. ^ Julius Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, volume 3, (1887), p. 70.
  18. ^ Eberhard Schrader, Die Keilinschrift und das Alte Testament, 1872.
  19. ^ "Holy of Holies". Time Emits. Retrieved 2007-09-08.
  20. ^ Hebrews 11:4; 1 John 3:12; Jude 1:11.
  21. ^ Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27).
  22. ^ Richard S. Hess, Studies in the Personal Names of Genesis 1-11, pp. 24-25. ISBN 3788714786.
  23. ^ See Adam and Eve for details.
  24. ^ For popularity in Thornton, Yorkshire see 'Thornton Village: History' [Internet], Brontë County.
  25. ^ For a neutral comment regarding America see Myra Vanderpool Gormley, 'Given Names in Early America: Shaped by history, religion and traditions' [Internet], RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees, (Los Angeles Times Syndicate, 1989).
  26. ^ For general unpopularity note that, "There was a natural dislike of Cain, Delilah, Jezebel, Herod." Donald Lines Jacobus, Genealogy As Pastime and Profession, 2nd revised edition, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publication Company, 1978), p. 29. ISBN 9780806301884
  27. ^ 'Cain', Etymology Online.
  28. ^ Mohammad was born c. 570.
  29. ^ Franklin D. Richards, The Pearl of Great Price: Being a Choice Selection from the Revelations, Translations and Narrations of Joseph Smith, (Liverpool: KD Richards, 1851).
  30. ^ Literally, the Lord (HCSB).
  31. ^ The bracketed text has been added for clarity (HCSB).
  32. ^ Lit and his face fell (HCSB).
  33. ^ Lit. why has your face fallen (HCSB).
  34. ^ Sam, LXX, Syr, Vg; MT omits Let’s go out to the field (HCSB).
  35. ^ S. Abul A'la Maududi The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Brief Notes. Lahore, Pakistan: 13E, Shahalam Market, 12th Edition 1995.
  36. ^ Holweck, F. G. A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
  37. ^ The bracketed text has been added for clarity.
  38. ^ Or sin
  39. ^ LXX, Syr, Vg read Not so!
  40. ^ Or suffer severely.
  41. ^ S. Abul A'la Maududi The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Brief Notes. Lahore, Pakistan: 13E, Shahalam Market, 12th Edition 1995.
  42. ^ BDB, p. 16f.
  43. ^ Genesis 1:14
  44. ^ Genesis 17:11).
  45. ^ Exodus 4:8–9).
  46. ^ Dante, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, canto 20, line 126 and 127. The Dante Dartmouth Project contains the original text and centuries of commentary.
    "For now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine
    On either hemisphere, touching the wave
    Beneath the towers of Seville. Yesternight
    The moon was round."
    Also in Paradiso, canto 2, line 51.
    But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots
    Upon this body, which below on earth
    Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?”
  47. ^ a b c de Vries, Ad (1976). Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. pp. p. 75. ISBN 0-7204-8021-3. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  48. ^ Mellinkoff, Ruth (1993). Outcasts: Signs of Otherness in Northern European Art of the Middle Ages. Univ of California Press. ISBN 0520078152. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) [Checked Mellinkoff against text at Google Books, "fratricide" only found once—in Bibliography! The title of another work. AH]
  49. ^ The Atheism Tapes: Jonathan Miller in Conversation (TV-Series). United Kingdom. 2003. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |crew= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |distributor= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help) [Don't have access to confirm this source. AH]
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