In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God regarded Abel's offering, but not Cain's. Cain killed Abel and God cursed Cain, sentencing him to a life of transience. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod, where he built a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch.
Cain slaying Abel, by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1600
Cain leadeth Abel to death, by James Tissot, c. 1900
A depiction of Cain burying Abel from an illuminated manuscript version of Stories of the Prophets
Cain and Abel. Plaster cast after bronze (1425–1438) by Jacopo Della Quercia (1374–1438), Bologna, Italy. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh
The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, Bereshit. Genesis is an account of the creation of the world, the early history of humanity, and the origins of the Jewish people.
The Creation of Man by Ephraim Moses Lilien, 1903.
The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, 1512.
The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Paul Rubens, c. 1615, depicting both domestic and exotic wild animals such as tigers, parrots and ostriches co-existing in the garden
Noah's Ark (1846), by the American folk painter Edward Hicks.
