Compare the creation story in Genesis to the following stories.Native American:
Chinese:
Things to consider: the role of animals, the role of women, the notion of the fall.
In Gilgamesh the serpent steals the marvelous plant. Why the serpent instead of any other animal?In Genesis, what is the significance of the serpent?
In mythology and art, Women are often associated with the serpent:
1. Hugo van de Goes 1440-1482, The Fall: Adam and Eve tempted by the Snake: Goes portrays the serpent as a hybrid, part human, part serpent, and it seems, part reptile.
2. 1484-1545, Hans Baldung Grien: Serpent and Death
3. Medusa : Bernini was a sculptor, painter and architect and a formative influence as an outstanding exponent of the Italian Baroque. By 1624 he had adopted an expression that was passionate and full of emotional and psychological energy. His figures are caught in a transient moment from a single viewpoint, bursting into the spectator's space.
4. 1577-1640, Peter Paul Rubens, Medusa
5. 1863, German Franz von Stuck, Sin: Woman and Serpent
Hans Baldung Grien's The Flood, 1516