CHAPTER FOUR THE CAVE OF TREASURES: CALVARY VERSUS EARTHLY PARADISE In late antiquity the story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from paradise drew the attention of both Jewish and Christian writers,1 among them early Syriac authors such as Ephrem and the anonymous writer of Liber Graduum discussed earlier in Chapters 2 and 3. Closely con- nected to it was interest in the biblical account of Cain’s crime and punishment, which might itself have functioned as a reiteration of sorts both of Adam’s original sin and of his expulsion from paradise.2 No wonder then that according to some early Jewish traditions the primordial disaster to the human race had to do not so much with the expulsion from paradise but with Cain’s crime (or, alternatively, his hideous nature).3 Traditions of this kind were further developed in a number of Gnostic sources from late antiquity.4 Related motifs and themes attested in Greek and Syriac texts have been studied in detail by J. B. Glenthoj,5 whose work has provided very useful data for further comparative study. On the Syriac side we have, in addition to a number of relevant passages in biblical commentaries and homi- lies by such authors as Ephrem and Jacob of Serugh, a Syriac Life of Abel published by S. Brock6 and an untitled composition published by A. Levene.7 1 See, for example, G. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection; B. L. Visotsky, Fathers of the World: Essays in Rabbinic and Patristic Literatures (Tübingen, 1995). 2 See P. R. Davies, “Sons of Cain,” in J. D. Martin and P. R. Davies (eds.), A Word in Season: Essays in Honour of William McKane, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 42 (1986), pp. 35–56. 3 E.g., attested in Philo (Questions on Genesis 60; On the Posterity and Exile of Cain 2–4) and Aramaic Targums (e.g., Tg. Ps.-J. to Gen 6:4). 4 See B. A. Pearson, “Cain and Cainites,” in idem, Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyp- tian Christianity (Minneapolis, 1990), pp. 95–107, esp. 103. 5 J. B. Glenthoj, Cain and Abel in Syriac and Greek Writers (4th–6th centuries) (Louvain, 1997). 6 See S. P. Brock, “A Syriac Life of Abel,” Le Muséon 87 (1974), pp. 467–492, who suggested a late fifth or early sixth century date for its composition. 7 A. Levene, The Early Syrian Fathers on Genesis (London, 1951). 88 chapter four This chapter deals with The Cave of Treasures (CT), another original Syriac work that in its opening sections extensively addresses both the story of the protoplasts and that of Cain and Abel. There seems to be a scholarly consensus that CT was originally composed in Syriac; the text has been presented by Ri as extant in two—West-Syriac and East-Syriac—recensions (R. Oc. and R. Or. respectively).8 The fourth century has often been seen as the time of compilation of an earlier version of the text; Ri in his edition of CT proposes the first half of the third century, but in any case it is plausible that earlier traditions found their way into the text. A final redaction at the beginning of the sixth century by an East-Syrian scholar is usually assumed.9 As a whole, CT narrates the history of salvation from the days of the creation and Adam’s fall all the way to Jesus’ death and resurrection and the Pentecost. Our investigation focuses on the salient narrative strategies of CT, employing a number of unique motifs, such as play- ing down the negative effects of Adam’s sin and the expulsion from paradise, presenting the ritual swearing by Abel’s innocent blood as a self-sufficient salvific act, and highlighting the remoteness of Jeru- salem and Golgotha—the traditional arena of Christian redemption discourse—from the initial locus of earthly bliss in the East. Some of these peculiar motifs are backed in CT by references to certain oddi- ties in the Old Testament text itself. CT seems to be aware of both the exegetical problems posed by the biblical source and a spectrum of existing exegetical solutions. The unique trends attested inCT will be outlined vis-à-vis relevant traditions in both Christian and Jew- ish exegesis of late antiquity; this analysis will make possible a better appreciation of the polemical stance of the cult-oriented community behind CT. Expulsion or Orderly Exodus? The notion that having been expelled from paradise Adam continued to dwell in its vicinity is strongly present in the Greek Life of Adam 8 S.-M. Ri, La Caverne des Tresors. Les deux recensions Syriaces, CSCO (Louvain, 1987). 9 For a recent discussion of the status quaestionis and new suggestions, see C. Leon- hard, “Observations on the Date of the Syriac Cave of Treasures,” in M. Daviau, J. W. Wevers, and M. Weigl (eds.), The World of the Arameans III. Studies in Language and Literature in Honour of Paul-Eugène Dion (Sheffield, 2001), pp. 255–294. .