Adam and Eve with Dr. Robert Price

These are my notes on the MythVision Podcast Here’s what nobody told you about Adam & Eve with Dr. Robert M. Price video.

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Dr. Price talks about the proper and improper uses of the term “parallelomania”, which was coined by Rabbi Samuel Sandmel (1911-1979). He also provides commentary on conspiracy theories and biblical authorship. This first part is all a response to a comment left under one of the YouTube videos.

Derek moves onto the main topic (Adam) around 11:30.

@12:37 – “When do you place the writing of this character Adam in Genesis?”
Also a question along the lines of “Where are the pagan parallels?”.

Dr. Price begins his response by drawing attention to the fact that “Adam was not the only first man myth held in ancient Israel”. He brings up Enosh (not Enoch), name meaning “Man/Human Being”, and that Adam means “Red Earth”. He talks about the consonant only writing and how letters can get mixed up and turned into other words.

@c.18:46-21:00 – Price notes that the descendants of Israel are called Israelites, of Ammon are Ammonites, of Moab are Moabites etc…. The Edomites are named oddly, given they are descendants of Esau. The original Edomite myth, the first man was named Edom. Adam meant Edom, they didn’t want two guys with that name so they had Esau be the father. This is one of the reasons Esau is so similar to Adam. Adam was the second first man, displacing Edom.

@c.21:40 – He says Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all things. Here he draws a connection between Eve and Aruru (Ninhursag) and also Cybele (Mountain Mother). Cybele and Attis/Eve and Adam.
Eve/Hebe, Price says Hebe is Hittite and Greek goddess, but all I found was her being Greek (as a wife of Hercules at one point), later Roman.

@23:00 – He says there was another version of Hebe’s story floating around ??? He trails off and brings up Pandora and from there I can’t tell who what he’s saying goes to. He says that one of them was originally a creator until later when the story got changed and she was brought gifts by other gods.
Pandora’s name means “all gifts”.

@c.24:00 – Eve being made from the rib, or side. Ancient Rabbis thought that the human being (the Adom) was split down the middle into two human creatures. This is Eve being taken from Adam’s side, unlike the animals. This may be the original point.

This is a lot like the creation story where Zeus created people in combined sets of two, and later he divided the humans into two. There were 3 types.

Zoroastrian mythology, Ahura Mazda created the primal human being, Keyumars/Gayōmart. It was a big ball with human limbs, the evil god split it in half trying to kill it, but it only resulted in the first man and women to be created, Mashya and Mashyana.

@c.28:24 – It seems likely the Bible writers were drawing upon contemporary cultures. Adam turns out to be mythical, the Hebrew version of these other myths.

@c.30:00 – The whole Eden story appears to be another version of the Prometheus myth. The hero is the serpent, unnamed. He stems from the worship of the god, Nehushtan, essentially another version of Leviathan. Levi is a synonym of serpent. 2 Kings, Hezekiah ejected the various other gods who’d been worshiped in the temple, one of them was Nehushtan. The writer of Kings tells us that it was Moses’ brazen serpent, it’s like a serpent but not a serpent and it gets rid of serpents. The serpents released on them were called Seraphim, same as the highest group of angels.

@c.35:00 – In the Greek story, Prometheus is a titan. Prometheus was Zeus’ cousin. Prometheus took pity on the humans, Zeus didn’t care much. Prometheus pulls a stunt where he switches the contents of the amphorae. Zeus realizes he’s been duped by Prometheus and is upset, but the point is Prometheus gave Zeus’ food to the humans. Just like the serpent gives God’s food to the humans and God gets upset. Next Prometheus brings them fire and teaches them how to make it. Zeus finds out and gets upset because as in Eden, the humans have gained knowledge which they weren’t suppose to have. The serpent is considered the wisest of creatures God made and Prometheus’ name means foresight and can outwit Zeus because he’s smarter. Prometheus gets punished by being imprisoned on Mount Etna, basically crucified on a boulder, and every day an eagle/vulture comes to tear at his liver and eats it and it grows back every day for the bird. A very Groundhog Day on Elm’s Street type situation. Eventually Hercules saves him.
Very much like cursing the serpent, clipping his wings, cursing it to the ground. Nehushtan and Prometheus, both discredited gods.

@c.43:46 – Parallel to Eden – The oddity about the tree of knowledge, why is it forbidden and why does the story suddenly jump into procreation?
The tree was the knowledge of procreation. The woman is made as a companion, nothing yet about procreation.

God created the Adom to tend to the garden. The Babylonian Enuma Elish created humans basically as a staff of servants. The humans then become like gods when they eat the fruit.

@c.49:55 – The Gilgamesh epic parallel. Gilgamesh is the offspring of gods and is a demigod. He’s sleeping with the women, sending men into battle, eating all the food. Enkidu is created in response, made from the dirt of the ground. His friends are animals, living like Tarzan and Adam. Enkidu has sex with a woman for weeks and then becomes human. He goes to the watering hole and the animals run in terror because he is “wise like a god”. Sexual knowledge, and alienated from the animals.
The fruit comes later. Enkidu is killed, Gilgamesh can’t take it, goes to find a way to bring him back to life. He goes and gets a root from the bottom of a lake. He gets it, puts it on the shore, he goes to take a bath, and a serpent steals the root and Gilgamesh loses hope in gaining immortality.

They talk about Revelation for a few minutes and the idea of Jesus being the final Adam (or another Adam). Closing up, one guy messed it all up, one guy is going to fix it. The Adam at the End of Time.

@c.1:05:00 – The nativity of the child destined to rule the nation, is this Jesus? The dragon comes to devour the child to prevent that, the woman gets a pair of wings to fly to the wilderness. This is from Greek mythology, Uranus devouring his children. This theme of a newborn almost being killed. Parallels between New and Old Testament.

Must be celibate to be saved. The closing remark.

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References:

[1] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelomania

[2] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninhursag

[3] – https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/aruru

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