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The Irish Adam and Eve Story from Saltair Na Rann, Vol. 1: Text and Translation
113 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1976
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About the author
David Greene
8 booksDavid Greene was professor in the DIAS (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies) from 1948-55, professor of Irish at Trinity College Dublin (1955-67) and senior professor at the School of Celtic Studies at DIAS from 1967 until his death. He was president of the RIA (Royal Irish Academy) from 1973-76.
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July 19, 2024
This is a 10th-century Middle Irish poem, here presented alongside superb translation and extensive commentary (the latter published at the same time in the second volume).
Apocryphal literature was widely known to medieval Irish scholars, and that quite early on – it is estimated that an extensive body of apocrypha was already in circulation before the 7th century in Ireland. As they liked writing as much as reading, those guys were eagerly adding to and building upon all that imported literature, and the story of Adam and Eve is a prime example.
The bare bones of the story are of course in accordance with the canon: Eve is tempted to take the apple, she shares it with Adam, they both get banished from Eden and destined to suffer hard labour and mortality. But the Irish story is much more detailed, much more dramatic, and it takes on the issue of responsibility for the sin in a very different way to what we’re used to hear.
First, the story focuses on Lucifer’s fall and how he refused to acknowledge the superiority of Adam, ‘for it would be a snare (…) if I should submit myself to the junior.’ Then, colourful and dramatic descriptions of heaven and hell follow.
The creation of Adam is also a bit different from how it’s described in the Book of Genesis. He was being shaped out of earth for three days and subject to great suffering during that process until, after three days, he was given a soul, and after nine months his woman was formed: ‘noble Eve, prudent, bright, fair and modest, dear, shapely (...) the excellent foundation of true children’.
Eve is also described in a very different way. She is ‘prudent’ and ‘noble’ – these adjectives appear several times – and the way Lucifer approaches her is presented as genuinely convincing, so that the reader may be inclined to sympathise with her. Lucifer’s ‘clear wisdom’ turns out to be misleading, of course, Eve shares the apple with Adam, and God is displeased. Adam tries to excuse himself by telling God that it was his wife who tempted him into sin, but God likes that even less. ‘If Adam, with all his faults, had repented, his sins would have been clearly forgiven him,’ says the narrator. It really looks like the author of the poem thought that it had been Adam’s attempt to shift the blame onto Eve that got them both expelled from Eden!
Apocryphal literature was widely known to medieval Irish scholars, and that quite early on – it is estimated that an extensive body of apocrypha was already in circulation before the 7th century in Ireland. As they liked writing as much as reading, those guys were eagerly adding to and building upon all that imported literature, and the story of Adam and Eve is a prime example.
The bare bones of the story are of course in accordance with the canon: Eve is tempted to take the apple, she shares it with Adam, they both get banished from Eden and destined to suffer hard labour and mortality. But the Irish story is much more detailed, much more dramatic, and it takes on the issue of responsibility for the sin in a very different way to what we’re used to hear.
First, the story focuses on Lucifer’s fall and how he refused to acknowledge the superiority of Adam, ‘for it would be a snare (…) if I should submit myself to the junior.’ Then, colourful and dramatic descriptions of heaven and hell follow.
The creation of Adam is also a bit different from how it’s described in the Book of Genesis. He was being shaped out of earth for three days and subject to great suffering during that process until, after three days, he was given a soul, and after nine months his woman was formed: ‘noble Eve, prudent, bright, fair and modest, dear, shapely (...) the excellent foundation of true children’.
Eve is also described in a very different way. She is ‘prudent’ and ‘noble’ – these adjectives appear several times – and the way Lucifer approaches her is presented as genuinely convincing, so that the reader may be inclined to sympathise with her. Lucifer’s ‘clear wisdom’ turns out to be misleading, of course, Eve shares the apple with Adam, and God is displeased. Adam tries to excuse himself by telling God that it was his wife who tempted him into sin, but God likes that even less. ‘If Adam, with all his faults, had repented, his sins would have been clearly forgiven him,’ says the narrator. It really looks like the author of the poem thought that it had been Adam’s attempt to shift the blame onto Eve that got them both expelled from Eden!
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