ly sculptures none of these figures
were chance devices, but all represented events, or supposed
events, and figures in their legends; thus it is evident that
a form of the story of the Fall, similar to that of Genesis,
was known in early times in Babylonia."[9:5]

[Illustration: Fig. No. 1]

This illustration might be used to illustrate the narrative of
_Genesis_, and as Friedrich Delitzsch has remarked (G. Smith's
_Chaldaeische Genesis_) is capable of no other explanation.

M. Renan does not hesitate to join forces with the ancient commentators,
in seeking to recover a trace of the same tradition among the Phenicians
in the fragments of Sanchoniathon, translated into Greek by Philo of
Byblos. In fact, it is there said, in speaking of the first human pair,
and of AEon, which seems to be the translation of _Havvah_ (in Phenician
_Havath_) and stands in her relation to the other members of the pair,
that this personage "has found out how to obtain nourishment from the
fruits of the tree."

The idea of the Edenic happiness of the first human beings constitutes
one of the universal traditions. Among the Egyptians, the terrestrial
reign of the god Ra, who inaugurated the existence of the world and of
human life, was a golden age to which they continually looked back with
regret and envy. Its "like has never been seen since."

The ancient Greeks boasted of their "Golden Age," when sorrow and
trouble were not known. Hesiod, an ancient Grecian poet, describes it
thus:

"Men lived like Gods, without vices or passions, vexation or
toil. In happy companionship with divine beings, they passed
their days in tranquillity and joy, living together in perfect
equality, united by mutual confidence and love. The earth was
more beautiful than now, and spontaneously yielded an abundant
variety of fruits. Human beings and animals spoke the same
language and conversed with each other. Men were considered
mere boys at a hundred years old. They had none of the
infirmities of age to trouble them, and when they passed to
regions of superior life, it was in a gentle slumber."

In the course of time, however, all the sorrows and troubles came to
man. They were caused by inquisitiveness. The story is as follows:
Epimetheus received a gift from Zeus (God), in the form of a beautiful
woman (Pandora).

"She brought with her a vase, the lid of which was (by the
c