Satan deceived Adam and Eve for a second time. This is what we learn from a legend that is unexpectedly broadly spread from Greece in the West to Armenia and Georgia in the East. They concluded a contract with the Devil, submitting their offspring to his rule " until the Unbegotten is born an the Undying One dies" . Christ's baptism puts an end to this contract and servitude. This legend spread through popular and artistic sources through Eastern Christendom, alive still in the popular tales of Bulgaria and Greece, painted on Romanian churches and spread in Armenia legends. In his book Stone pursues this tale through its sometime exotic transmission and explores the world-view that emerges from it, contrasting it with the Western view, perpetuated by Augustine, of Adam's sin in the Garden. This is a detective tale of the pursuit of a tradition and its transmission and an exploration of its implications for the understanding of the human state.
Michael Stone was educated at the University of Melbourne and holds the degrees of PhD from Harvard University and D:Litt from the University of Melbourne. He has, since 1965, been on the Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he holds the double appointment of Gail
Levin de Nur Professor of Religion and Professor of Armenian Studies. He is the author of over 40 books and 250 articles in the fields of Ancient Judaism and Armenian Studies. His work has encompassed Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, and many aspects of Armenian Studies, with special emphasis on the Bible and biblical traditions in Armenian, the Armenians in the Holy Land and the history of Armenian writing.
Michael Stone was educated at the University of Melbourne and holds the degrees of PhD from Harvard University and D:Litt from the University of Melbourne. He has, since 1965, been on the Faculty of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he holds the double appointment of Gail
Levin de Nur Professor of Religion and Professor of Armenian Studies. He is the author of over 40 books and 250 articles in the fields of Ancient Judaism and Armenian Studies. His work has encompassed Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, and many aspects of Armenian Studies, with special emphasis on the Bible and biblical traditions in Armenian, the Armenians in the Holy Land and the history of Armenian writing.