Flaming sword (mythology)
A flaming sword is a sword which is glowing with a flame which is produced by some supernatural power. Flaming swords have existed in legends and myths for thousands of years.
Painting by Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix of an angel (Camael) expelling Adam and Eve with a flaming sword. According to Robert Means Lawrence, Arthur de Bles, and R.L. Giles, the angel who cast Adam and Eve out of Paradise was said to be Jophiel.
St Jophiel, stained glass at St Michael's Church, Brighton.
St Uriel, stained glass at St James' Church, Ewhurst Green.
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors.
They also provide the basis for the doctrines of the fall of man and original sin, which are important beliefs in Christianity, although not held in Judaism or Islam.
The Fall of Man by Peter Paul Rubens, 1628–29
The Creation of Adam depicted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo, 1508–1512
The Rebuke of Adam and Eve, Natoire, 1740
Adam and Eve in an illuminated manuscript (c. 950)
