Adam

Adam (Heb. man or ruddy), the first man. The story of his creation will be found in the first three chapters of Genesis, told, perhaps, by two different hands, and bearing many points of resemblance to the primitive legends of India, Persia, Greece, and other countries. The temptation of Eve by the Serpent, and of Adam by Eve; the sin of eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge; their expulsion from Eden, and the curse upon their posterity, have given rise to multitudinous discussions, according as the words of the Bible are taken in their literal sense or explained on a figurative or allegorical hypothesis. Adam and Eve had several sons and daughters, Cain, Abel, and Seth being the eldest. The date of the Creation was assigned by chronologers of the old school to the year 4004 B.C., and Scripture states that Adam lived 930 years. Amongst many strange legends collected in the Talmud, one of the best known is that which makes Lilith (q.v.), the mother of demons, Adam's first wife.