Christian, Islamic and Jewish medieval manuscripts frequently have illustrations of extra-biblical legends. These depictions, as many recent studies have demonstrated, are often rooted in ancient Jewish sources.' The supposition of some scholars that these legends were also illustrated in individual Jewish books such as the Septuagint and the works of the historian Josephus is an argumentum ex silentio, as no such ancient illuminated Jewish manuscripts have come to light.2 The earliest illuminated Hebrew manuscripts with extrabiblical legends are from thirteenth-century Europe. However, it must be stressed that both Christian and Islamic literary traditions, which creatively utilized Jewish biblical narratives for their own theological purposes, exerted a direct influence on many Christian and Islamic artistic renderings.3 Let us examine three legendary biblical episodes to better understand this complex literary development and the impact these legends had on Jewish, Christian and Islamic artistic depictions. 1. In a fourteenth-century Catalonian Christian Psalter miniature (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS lat. 8846, fol. 166) we see an unusual scene of an angel embracing Adam's body, a still largely unformed lump of clay, while a gesturing God stands nearby. Similarly, a fourteenth-century Catalonian Passover Haggadah (London, British Library, MS Or. 2884, fol. lv) has the modeled body of Adam standing in the center surrounded by eight winged angels. Some of these angels are prostrating themselves before Adam, while others appear to be touching him, all in an act of adoration [Fig. 1]. Although it has been claimed that these images represent the angelic creation of man, there is little evidence to support this conclusion.4 Angels in Christianity and Judaism are ministers or servants of God; they are generally not depicted as partners in the divine act of creation.5 Most likely, these two miniatures are based on such sources as the first-century A.D. Vita Adae et Evae 14 a work well-known in the Middle Ages which reads: 'And Michael went out and called all the angels, saying, 'Worship the image of the Lord God, as the Lord God has instructed.'6 In Islamic art we find the earliest image of this legend in the Kulliyit-i Tarikh of Hafiz-i AbrQ (Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum, Bagdat 282, fol. 16), possibly made in Herat around 1415.7 A beautifully attired and crowned Adam stands before angels prostrating themselves before him. On the side stands Satan [Fig. 2]. This scene follows the description given in the Qur'An, Sura 2:32: And when we said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves before Adam, they fell prostrate, all save Iblis.8 2. Over a period of some 250 years we find several depictions of two ravens present at the fratricide [Cain and Abel] in