The Site of Adam’s Tomb

Abstract

Although the major ancient Jewish Bible translations, the Septuagint and Targumim, render Joshua 14:15 relatively literally, at least without major deviations from Hebrew text, the Christian translation made by Jerome around 400 ce, the Vulgate, does deviate from biblical text at a major point. This chapter argues that it is precisely this Christian translation that incorporated Jewish exegetical traditions. There were also other Jewish traditions about burial of Adam and Eve: e.g., in Greek Life of Adam and Eve we read in 40.6-7 and 43.1-2 that Adam and Eve were interred on the same spot in earthly paradise from where God had taken dust in order to form Adam, a tradition found as early as second century BCE in Jubilees 4.29. In Judaism the tradition that finally became dominant was that the place where Adam was buried was the Temple Mount; in Christianity, however, that place was identified as Golgotha.Keywords: Adam's tomb; biblical text; Jewish exegetical traditions; Life of Adam and Eve; Septuagint; Targumim