Would this show the Eden story is ancient?

[A_Nony_Mouse]

Seems to me the simplest explanation is the Egyptians created the Eden story. Odds against the accidental usage of the same imagery (tree with fruit, snake, heel on head, enemy of the god who gives life) appears way to high for me.

I did a quick google search for the origin of the picture, but couldn't find it. Do you have any references to where and when it was found? I think that kind of information is important before the simplest explanation should be derived.

(ETA) I found it! Link is here: http://www.bridgemanart.com/en-GB/asset ... f-inherkha

"Under a sacred sycomore the sun god Ra, in his cat form, kills the snake god Apophis (shown coiled around the sacred sycamore or persea tree which was a symbol of the sun), god of the underworld and symbol of the forces of chaos and evil" -- Ancient Egyptian Date/Period: 20th dynasty c1186-1070 BC

Looks like Ra is killing the snake using a blade. Otherwise, looks genuine enough.

I didn't think authenticity would be an issue. http://scalambra.wordpress.com/2013/06/ ... ent-egypt/ This has fruit, sycamore does not fruit therefore a persea tree originally. Eat its fruit and learn the divine plan and live forever. Two trees in Eden which gave knowledge of something else and eternal life. The "coincidental" shared concepts multiply.

I would guess the "blade" is the feather of justice for the scales judging the souls of the dead to determine reward or punishment in the afterlife.

[A_Nony_Mouse]

Seems to me the simplest explanation is the Egyptians created the Eden story. Odds against the accidental usage of the same imagery (tree with fruit, snake, heel on head, enemy of the god who gives life) appears way to high for me.

I did a quick google search for the origin of the picture, but couldn't find it. Do you have any references to where and when it was found? I think that kind of information is important before the simplest explanation should be derived.

(ETA) I found it! Link is here: http://www.bridgemanart.com/en-GB/asset ... f-inherkha

"Under a sacred sycomore the sun god Ra, in his cat form, kills the snake god Apophis (shown coiled around the sacred sycamore or persea tree which was a symbol of the sun), god of the underworld and symbol of the forces of chaos and evil" -- Ancient Egyptian Date/Period: 20th dynasty c1186-1070 BC

Looks like Ra is killing the snake using a blade. Otherwise, looks genuine enough.

I would not have guessed that as a cat. Big ears for a cat. However, my understanding is cats are considered sacred in some fashion symbolic in Egyptology.

http://scalambra.wordpress.com/2013/06/ ... ent-egypt/ Yes the cat goddess Bast. So it is a woman's heel crushing the head of the snake. Another parallel to the Eden story.

[Mental flatliner]

What if I could show an ancient and unambiguous painting of the tree with fruit? And under that tree there is a snake? And the head of that snake is being crushed by the heel of a foot? And the inscription says the snake is the enemy of the god who brings life to the world?

Would this convince you the story of Eden is ancient and therefore Genesis is ancient?

Here is the bad news. http://www.giwersworld.org/made-in-alex ... -eden.html The imagery is old and Egyptian. It was repurposed for the Eden story. As Hollywood would say, the story was reimagined.

The answer to your question is in the hieroglyphs in the top left. They tell the story the pic is depicting. Just because the picture reminds you of something in the Bible isn't enough.

I have a complete set of Egyptian monuments translated into English. If you could get me an approximate date, period, where discovered, etc. (any information), I might be able to find a translation by an Egyptologist and not an anonymous webmeister.

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Information from a post above: 20th Dynasty, tomb of Inherkha. That ought to be enough. I'll see what I can do.
(20th dynasty doesn't sound promising, though. Genesis 2-3 in original form was 1000 miles east and 1000-2000 years earlier. I doubt the two are related.)

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Edited May 12:

This "painting" is not available in Henry Breasted's "Monuments of Egypt", and if you google the name of the tomb, you get no returns from university web sites.

My gut tells me this is a fake.