Adam and eve traditions in fifth-century armenian literature

The present study presents discussions of the Adam and Eve stories in the writings of the first century of Armenian literacy. Indeed, the Armenians created an extraordinarily rich apocryphal literature in which the stories of Adam and Eve were repeatedly rehearsed. But, apocryphal literature is just one of the ways in which the Adam and Eve stories were rewritten within Armenian culture and influenced it. In the present article we present narrative and exegetical material relating to the stories of Genesis 1-3 organized by subjects and themes and set under the appropriate biblical verses. Remarks have been added on the exegesis lying behind the statements made, together with some comparative Greek and Syriac material. Above all, our purpose is to present the Armenian tradition, including those views which lay behind subsequent Armenian interpretations of these stories - artistic, theological, exegetical and literary.