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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] Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (823x700, 72 KB) Jan van Eyck painting Ghent Altarpiece, finished 1432. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (823x700, 72 KB) Jan van Eyck painting Ghent Altarpiece, finished 1432. ... Opened view of the polyptych. ... Events June 1 - Battle of San Romano - Florence defeats Siena foundation of Université de Caen In the end of the Hook and Cod wars, Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut and Holland is forced by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to abdicate all her estates in his favour; end of Hainaut... The Saint Bavo Cathedral (also known as Sint-Baafs Cathedral, or the Dutch Sint Baafskathedraal) is the seat of the diocese of Ghent. ... Cain is the name of: Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, according to the Bible James M. Cain, an American crime writer Dean Cain; American actor Cain, a murderous drug-dealer in the film RoboCop 2 Cain (Achaean), A powerful warrior in IREs online role-playing adventure... Abel may refer to: People Abel - the second son of Adam Abel of Denmark - Danish monarch Abel Ferrara - New York-based film director Saint Abel, archbishop of Rheims, abbot of Lobbes Adolf Abel Bernhard Abel and his brothers Arnold Abel and Florian Abel - sculptors and painters in the XVI century... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Michelangelos Creation of Adam, from the Sistine Chapel. ... Adam, Eve, and a female serpent (possibly Lilith) at the entrance to Notre Dame de Paris In Abrahamic religion, the Fall of Man, the Story of the Fall, or simply, the Fall, refers to mans transition from a state of innocence to a state of knowing only dualities such... The Qur’ān [1] (Arabic: , literally the recitation; also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, or Al-Quran) is the central religious text of Islam. ... The Book of Moses is a text published by Joseph Smith, Jr. ... For other uses, see Farmer (disambiguation). ... Shepherd in Făgăraş Mountains, Romania. ... This article is about the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... The Tetragrammaton in Phoenician (1100 BC to 300 CE), Aramaic (10th Century BC to 0) and modern Hebrew scripts. ...

The oldest known copy of the biblical narration is from the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QGen^b = 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] A few scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers.^[13][14] The Dead Sea scrolls consist of roughly 1000 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1979 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea) in the West... For other uses, see Martyr (disambiguation). ... An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor. ... For other uses, see Evil (disambiguation). ... A pericope (pur-IC-op-ee) (Greek περικοπη, a cutting-out) in rhetoric is a set of verses which form one coherent unit or thought. ... Sumer ( Sumerian: KI-EN-GIR, Land of the Lords of Brightness[1], or land of the Sumerian tongue[2][3], Akkadian: Å umeru; possibly Biblical Shinar ), located in southern Mesopotamia, is the earliest known civilization in the world. ...

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. An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference/representation of/to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art. ... Fratricide (from the Latin word frater, meaning: brother and cide meaning to kill) is the act of a person killing his or her brother. ...

[edit] Etymology

Cain and Abel are traditional English renderings of the Hebrew names Qayin (קין) and Havel (הבל). 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 Islamic Tradition, Abel is named as Hābīl (هابيل). while Cain is named as Qābīl (قابيل). Although their story is cited in the Quran, neither of them is mentioned by name. 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] Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ... Hebrew redirects here. ... The root is the primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. ... Julius Wellhausen (May 17, 1844 - January 17, 1918), was a German biblical scholar and Orientalist. ... Eberhard Schrader (January 7, 1836 - July 4, 1908), was a German orientalist. ... Akkadian (lišānum akkadÄ«tum) was a Semitic language (part of the greater Afro-Asiatic language family) spoken in ancient Mesopotamia, particularly by the Assyrians and Babylonians. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... The Quran (Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... Ethiopian Church in jerusalem The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (in transliterated Amharic:Yäityopya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan) is an Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia that was part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959, when it was granted its own Patriarch by Coptic Orthodox Pope of... This article is about the Christian scriptures. ...

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] Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... Look up cognate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The 1st millennium BC encompasses the Iron Age and sees the rise of successive empires. ... Motto Allah, al-Watan, at-Thawra, al-Wehda God, Nation, Revolution, Unity Anthem United Republic Capital (and largest city) Sanaa Official languages Arabic Demonym Yemeni Government Republic  -  President Ali Abdullah Saleh  -  Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mojawar Establishment  -  Unification May 22, 1990  Area  -  Total 527,968 km² (49th) 203,849 sq... A smith, or metalsmith, is a person involved in the shaping of metal objects. ... Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ...

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] Abel is a surname, and may refer to: Adolf Abel Alan Abel, American hoaxer Benjamin Abel, student Bernhard Abel and his brothers Arnold Abel and Florian Abel, sculptors and painters in the XVI century Bobby Abel, British cricketer Carl Friedrich Abel (Karl Friedrich Abel) Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian and... Abel may refer to: People Abel - the second son of Adam Abel of Denmark - Danish monarch Abel Ferrara - New York-based film director Saint Abel, archbishop of Rheims, abbot of Lobbes Adolf Abel Bernhard Abel and his brothers Arnold Abel and Florian Abel - sculptors and painters in the XVI century... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... For the record label, see Puritan Records. ... This article is about the modern Goidelic language. ...

[edit] 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 published considerably later than Genesis;^[28][29] and in both cases, the authors claimed to be prophetic interpreters of the Genesis account, not originators. The 7th century is the period from 601 - 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... The Pearl of Great Price is part of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church; see also Mormonism) and some other Latter Day Saint denominations. ...

[edit] Bible (Jewish)

Cain leads Abel to death, by Jimmy Titpot.

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] 2}Then 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.^[32] 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.^[33]
6Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you furious? And why are you downcast?^{[34] 7}If 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."^[35] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Image File history File links Cain_leadeth_abel_to_death_tissot. ... Image File history File links Cain_leadeth_abel_to_death_tissot. ...

– Genesis 4:1-8 (HCSB)

[edit] Qur'an (Muslim)

But recite unto them with truth the tale of the two sons of Adam, how they offered each a sacrifice, and it was accepted from the one of them and it was not accepted from the other. (The one) said: I will surely kill thee. (The other) answered: Allah accepteth only from those who ward off (evil). Even if thou stretch out thy hand against me to kill me, I shall not stretch out my hand against thee to kill thee, lo! I fear Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Lo! I would rather thou shouldst bear the punishment of the sin against me and thine own sin and become one of the owners of the fire. That is the reward of evil-doers. But (the other’s) mind imposed on him the killing of his brother, so he slew him and became one of the losers. Then Allah sent a raven scratching up the ground, to show him how to hide his brother’s naked corpse. He said: Woe unto me! Am I not able to be as this raven and so hide my brother’s naked corpse? And he became repentant.

– 5:27-31 Translation by Marmaduke Pickthall

[edit] Pearl of Great Price (Mormon)

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 (Original was in English)

[edit] 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. Midrash (Hebrew: מדרש; plural midrashim) is a Hebrew word referring to a method of exegesis of a Biblical text. ... The Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan is a Christian pseudepigraphical work found in Ethiopic and Arabic, from the 5th century CE at the earliest. ... For other uses, see The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (disambiguation). ... RLDS redirects here. ... The Book of Moses is a text published by Joseph Smith, Jr. ... The Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, also called the Inspired Version of the Bible or the JST, is a version of the Bible dictated by Joseph Smith, Jr. ...

[edit] 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]} Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1077x790, 436 KB)The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve, by William Blake ca. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1077x790, 436 KB)The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve, by William Blake ca. ... For other persons named William Blake, see William Blake (disambiguation). ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... For other uses, see Martyr (disambiguation). ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ... The Epistle to the Hebrews (abbr. ... For other uses, see Mercy (disambiguation). ... Revenge is retaliation against a person or group in response to wrongdoing. ...

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] A litany, in Christian worship, is a form of prayer used in church services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ... This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia Canon of the Mass (Canon Missæ, Canon Actionis) is the name used in the Roman Missal of the Tridentine period for the part of the Mass that began after the Sanctus with the words Te igitur. ... For other uses, see Abraham (name) and Abram (disambiguation). ... This article is in need of attention. ... Christ - Coptic Art Coptic Orthodox Christianity is the indigenous form of Christianity that, according to tradition, the apostle Mark established in Egypt in the middle of the 1st century AD (approximately AD 60). ... The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with a saint, and referring to the day as the saints day of that saint. ... is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

[edit] 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: For other uses, see Raven (disambiguation). ...

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.

[edit] 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: For other uses, see Martyr (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Testament of Abraham is a work now regarded as part of the Old Testament apocrypha. ...

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. Jesus Christ in a Coptic icon. ... The Books of Adam is a collective name of several apocryphal books relating to Adam and Eve. ... Syriac is an Eastern Aramaic language that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. ... The Cave of Treasures, sometimes referred to simply as The Treasure, is a book of the New Testament apocrypha, which was later declared heretical by the Roman Catholic Church. ... The generations of Adam are the two lines of descent from Adam, both ending in the name Lamech, which are given in Genesis. ...

[edit] Confrontation and consequences

[edit] 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)

[edit] Qur'an

Then God 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): Verse 31^[41]

[edit] 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

[edit] 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. In Christianity and Judaism, the curse of Cain and the mark of Cain refer to the Biblical passages in the Book of Genesis chapter 4, where God declared that Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, was cursed, and placed a mark upon him to warn others that killing... Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormons painting titled Cain flying before Jehovahs Curse, c. ... Enoch (Hebrew: חֲנוֹךְ; Tiberian: , Standard: ) is a name occurring twice in the generations of Adam. ...

[edit] 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 (`Oth, אות) 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] In Christianity and Judaism, the curse of Cain and the mark of Cain refer to the Biblical passages in the Book of Genesis chapter 4, where God declared that Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, was cursed, and placed a mark upon him to warn others that killing... This article is about male circumcision. ... For other uses, see Abraham (name) and Abram (disambiguation). ... Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt This article is about the Biblical figure. ... For other uses, see Pharaoh (disambiguation). ...

The word Oth in Hebrew also means "a letter" (of the alphabeth). Jewish mysticism, among other ancient lores, assigns spiritual ideas or powers to written letters and verses. The Mark of Cain may be a letter, a verse, a message, or a talisman.

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. The Kenites or Kainites (in Hebrew, Kainim) were a tribe of the ancient Levant, possibly a branch of the Midianite nation. ... For the self-titled album, see Avenged Sevenfold (album). ...

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. Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Baptist is...

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 wives 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. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

[edit] 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. For other uses, see Flying Dutchman (disambiguation). ... The Wandering Jew by Gustave Doré. For other uses, see Wandering Jew (disambiguation). ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( â–¶ (help· info)), the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ... Balamis 14th century Persian version of Universal History by al-Tabari Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Jarir at-Tabari 838–923 (father of Jafar, named Muhammad, son of Jarir from the province of Tabaristan, Arabic الطبري), was an author from Persia, one of the earliest, most prominent and famous Persian... Ibn Kathir (Arabic : بن كثير ) was an Islamic scholar born in Busra, Syria in 1301 CE. He was taught by the Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyya in Damascus, Syria. ... Tafsir al-Kabir (Arabic: ) or Tafsir al-Thalabi (ISBN 9004127771) is a book by Islamic scholar Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Thalabi. ...

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, the Wandering Cain theme has appeared in Mormon folklore (but not scripture) -- a second-hand account relates that an early Mormon, David W. Patten, encountered a very tall, hairy, dark-skinned man in Tennessee who said that he was Cain. The account states that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men. The recollection of Patten's story is quoted in Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2186x1219, 1218 KB) Σύνοψη Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormons painting titled Cain flying before Jehovahs Curse, c. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2186x1219, 1218 KB) Σύνοψη Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormons painting titled Cain flying before Jehovahs Curse, c. ... Fernand Cormon (1845-1924) was a French painter born in Paris. ... , The Musée dOrsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine, housed in the former railway station, the Gare dOrsay. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... David Wyman Patten (*November 14, 1799 in Theresa, New York; † October 25, 1838 in Missouri). ... This article is about the U.S. state of Tennessee. ... Spencer Woolley Kimball (March 28, 1895 – November 5, 1985) was the twelfth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1973-1985). ... Spencer Woolley Kimball (March 28, 1895 – November 5, 1985) was the twelfth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1973-1985). ...

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 than 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. The Book of Jubilees expands and reworks material found in Genesis to Exodus 15. ... Enoch (Hebrew: חֲנוֹךְ; Tiberian: , Standard: ) is a name occurring twice in the generations of Adam. ...

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". This article is about Earths moon. ... For other uses, see Man in the Moon (disambiguation). ... Dante redirects here. ... Dante shown holding a copy of the Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelinos fresco. ...

[edit] Origin

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

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. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Chaldean mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian mythologies, although Chaldea did not comprehend the whole territory inhabited by those peoples. ... Northwest Semitic Tammuz (Hebrew תַּמּוּז, Standard Hebrew Tammuz, Tiberian Hebrew Tammûz), Arabic تمّوز Tammūz; Akkadian Duʾzu, Dūzu; Sumerian Dumuzid (DUMU.ZID the true son) was the name of an Ancient Near Eastern deity. ... The Sumerian god in charge of canals and ditches. ... Inanna (DINANNA ) is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare. ... For other uses, see Charisma (disambiguation). ...

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). Centuries: 17th century BC - 16th century BC - 15th century BC Decades: 1550s BC 1540s BC 1530s BC 1520s BC 1510s BC - 1500s BC - 1490s BC 1480s BC 1470s BC 1460s BC 1450s BC The element Mercury has been discovered in Egyptian tombs dating from this decade. ... The category life-death-rebirth deity also known as a dying-and-rising god is a convenient means of classifying the many divinities in world mythology who are born, suffer death or an eclipse or other death-like experience, pass a phase in the underworld among the dead, and are...

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.

[edit] 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]} Image File history File links Download high resolution version (757x768, 108 KB)Cain and Abel with offerings; Cain killing Abel. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (757x768, 108 KB)Cain and Abel with offerings; Cain killing Abel. ... Byzantine monumental Church mosaics are a crowning glory of Medieval Art. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... A ringlet is a girls hairstyle. ... The word gentile is an anglicised version of the Latin word gentilis, meaning of or belonging to a clan or tribe. ... James Joseph Jacques Tissot (October 15, 1836 – August 8, 1902) was a French painter. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. Mormonism (also called Latter Day Saint theology or Mormon theology and Latter Day Saint culture or Mormon culture) is a religion, ideology, movement, and subculture originating in the early 1800s as a product of the Latter Day Saint movement. ... Son of Perdition can be found in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and John 17:12 and is a name commonly associated with the Antichrist and the biblical term of the Devils Advocate mentioned in 1 and 2 John. ... Organized crime or criminal organizations are groups or operations run by criminals, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit. ... Master Mahan is a title assumed first by Cain and later by his descendant Lamech according to the Book of Moses, a Latter-day Saint book of scripture. ...

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

[edit] 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. Lord Byron, English poet Lord Byron (1803), as painted by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824) was the most widely read English language poet of his day. ... Cain is a dramatic work written by Byron in 1821. ... Dante redirects here. ... Dante shown holding a copy of the Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelinos fresco. ... For other members of the family, see Steinbeck (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see East of Eden (disambiguation). ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Of Mice and Men is a novella by Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck, first published in 1937, which tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced Anglo migrant ranch workers in California during the Great Depression. ... Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (April 9, 1821–August 31, 1867) was one of the most influential French poets. ... Les Fleurs du Mal (literal trans. ... Don Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (September 29, 1864–December 31, 1936) was an essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher from Spain. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... Not to be confused with Geoffrey Archer or Baron Archer of Sandwell. ... This article is about the year. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ... A miniseries (sometimes mini-series), in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. ... Peter Strauss (born February 20, 1947) is an American television and movie actor, best known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s. ... Sam Neill, DCNZM, OBE (born 14 September 1947) is a New Zealand film and television actor. ...

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 And Then There Were None, 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, in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. In which Cain is constantly killing off his brother, despite the fact they are both immortals now. For other uses, see Grendel (disambiguation). ... This article is about the epic poem. ... An epilogue, or epilog, is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work. ... Agatha Mary Clarissa, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), commonly known as Agatha Christie, was an English crime writer of novels, short stories and plays. ... For the video game, see Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None. ... This page is about the band from Australia; see Cain for information about the mark of Cain. ... For other persons named Stephen King, see Stephen King (disambiguation). ... Cain Rose Up is a disturbing story from Stephen Kings Skeleton Crew. ... DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... Vertigo logo Vertigo is an imprint of comic book and graphic novel publisher DC Comics. ... Cain and Abel are a pair of fictional characters in the DC Comics universe based on the Biblical Cain and Abel. ... Neil Richard Gaiman (IPA: ) (born November 10, 1960[2]) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ... A statue of the sandman of Sandmännchen at Filmpark Babelsberg The Sandman is a character in popular Western folklore who brings good sleep and dreams by sprinkling magic sand onto the eyes of children. ...

In Penny Arcade, in the story arch where Gabriel joins Tycho's family for Thanksgiving, he meets Tycho's older brother. Penny Arcade is a webcomic and blog written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. ...

Tycho (to his niece, Anna): "Oh good, your dad's here."

Gabriel: "Is that bad? Aren't you guys brothers or something?"

Tycho (to Gabriel): "You might recall that Cain and Abel were brothers."

Cain was traditionally considered to have red hair; the expression "Cain-coloured beard" is used in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.^[47] Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Title page of the 1602 quarto The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare featuring the fat knight Sir John Falstaff and is Shakespeares only play to deal exclusively with contemporary English life. ...

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. Waiting for Godot is a play by Samuel Beckett, in which the characters wait for Godot, who never arrives. ... This article is about the Irish writer. ... Estragon (affectionately Gogo; he tells Pozzo his name is Adam) is one of the two main characters from Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot. ... Jason Charles Bourne is a fictional character of Robert Ludlum novels and subsequent film adaptations. ... For the 1988 film starring Richard Chamberlain, see The Bourne Identity (1988 film). ...

In Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael, the biblical story is interpreted as a tale with roots in the emergence of agriculture, where Abel is seen as symbolic of the hunter-gatherer societies that was in majority, and Cain as the then-new and emerging farming cultures. For other uses, see Daniel Quinn (disambiguation). ... Ishmael is a novel by Daniel Quinn. ... In anthropology, the hunter-gatherer way of life is that led by certain societies of the Neolithic Era based on the exploitation of wild plants and animals. ...

In Hermann Hesse's book Demian (novel), the author uses the story of Cain and Abel to state that Cain actually was rewarded with the mark given by God. Hermann Hesse (pronounced ) (2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. ...

In Kaori Yuki's story Godchild, the name Cain was seen as a curse on the story's protagonist as he had tried to kill a relative. Kaori Yuki (由貴 香織里 Yuki Kaori) is a manga artist (or mangaka) from Tokyo. ... Serialized in Hana to Yume Daisuki Original run 1992 – 1994 Volumes 5 Manga: Godchild (continuation) Author Kaori Yuki Publisher Hakusensha Serialized in Hana to Yume Shojo Beat Daisuki Magnolia Shojo Stars Original run 2001 – ?? Volumes 8 This article is about the Japanese manga series. ...

The protagonist of Iain Banks's novel A Song of Stone is named Abel.

[edit] Games

• Caine is a character fictionalized as the father of all vampires in White Wolf Game Studio's role-playing games set in the World of Darkness. His story is based on the biblical story of Cain, and is recounted in the Book of Nod and The Erciyes Fragments.
• In the PC role-playing game Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines the player can meet a mysterious figure that is supposedly Cain in modern day LA.
• The Command and Conquer universe features the "villain" (He can be seen as the opposite in many respects though)Kane; in the ending of the first game, and during a spinoff, Command & Conquer: Renegade, pieces from the Temples of Nod (in Sarajevo and Cairo, respectively), show Cain killing Abel.
• In Final Fantasy IV, one of the characters, Kain, uses a lance as his primary weapon. He betrayed his best friend Cecil and almost killed him. Also interesting to note is that in the Gameboy Advance version, Kain's ultimate weapon is called Abel's Lance.

Caine is a fictional character, the father of all vampires in White Wolf Game Studios role-playing games set in the World of Darkness. ... Further reading Christopher Frayling - Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula 1992. ... White Wolf, Inc. ... This article is about traditional role-playing games. ... The World of Darkness (or WoD) is the name given to three related but distinct fictional universes. ... The Book of Nod tells the creation story of the vampires in White Wolf Game Studios Vampire: The Masquerade books and role-playing games. ... The Erciyes Fragments Th