Pandora's Relationship To Eve of The Genesis Account
The characters of Eve in Genesis and Pandora in the Works and Days have some striking similarities. Each is the first woman in the world; and each is a central character in a story of transition from an original state of plenty and ease to one of suffering and death, a transition which is brought about in revenge for a transgression of divine law.
There are also major differences. Eve and Adam transgress in the former, whereas Prometheus does so in the latter. Eve was created to help Adam, Pandora to bring punishment to the men who benefited from the crime (Prometheus having been punished separately).
Some believe that in the centuries following the conquest of western Asia by Alexander the Great, each story was retold to more closely resemble the other. In 1 Timothy, Eve alone appears to be labelled a transgressor. In Pandora by Bishop Jean Oliver, Pandora is said to "open the box in defiance of a divine injunction".
Read more about this topic: Pandora
Famous quotes containing the words relationship, eve, genesis and/or account:
“When a mother quarrels with a daughter, she has a double dose of unhappiness—hers from the conflict, and empathy with her daughter’s from the conflict with her. Throughout her life a mother retains this special need to maintain a good relationship with her daughter.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”
—Bible: Hebrew Genesis 1:29.
But in a later context, God told the disgraced Adam, “and thou shalt eat the herb of the field” (Genesis 3:18)
“There is no permanent class of hired laborers amongst us. Twenty five years ago, I was a hired laborer. The hired laborer of yesterday, labors on his own account today; and will hire others to labor for him tomorrow. Advancement—improvement in condition—is the order of things in a society of equals.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)