Is it true that there was an apple forbidden fruit from the Biblical Eden garden?

Many believe that the fruit, in biblical history ate Adam and Eve, was precisely an apple. We checked whether the Bible really indicates exactly what fruit was a forbidden fruit.

A heavenly forbidden fruit is traditionally considered an apple. So They say Many onlineresourcesWriting on the topic of the Bible. Some children's adaptations of this book too Mention It is this fruit. Russian public figure and philosopher Alexander Dugin Writes In his article: “But he (Adam.-Approx. Ed.) saw that the apple was already bitten-and not by someone, but Eve.” Numerous works the art of the Renaissance depict Adam and Eve, breaking the forbidden fruit from the apple tree.

The scene of the fall is widespread in European art. For example, on the joint work of Peter Paul Rubens and Yana Bruegel Senior "Eden garden with a sowing of people"Depicts Adam and Eve, standing at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The trunk of the tree wraps the snakes, which serves Eve an apple. In the biblical book of Genesis, the scene of the fall Described So: “And the wife saw that the tree is good for food and that it is pleasant for the eyes and lusty, because it gives knowledge; and took his fruits and ate; And she also gave her husband, and he ate. ” The Jewish word used in this verse is פרי (“at”) - in the biblical and modern Hebrew So the "fruit". But nowhere in the Bible it is said what kind of tree it was and what fruits grew on it.

How Writes Live Science publication, rabbis in Talmude (a collection of rabbinistic reasoning about the law, philosophy and interpretations of the Torah) and others work They put forward several versions about what kind of fruit the forbidden fruit could be. For many years, their leading version has been figs. According to biblical history, after the eruption of the forbidden fetus, Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nudity and used fig leaves to cover themselves. In the book of Genesis Written: "And they both opened both of them, and they learned that Nagi, and sewed the figs, and made themselves surrounds." In works of art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, most often naked bodies are covered with fig leaves. For example, on fresco Michelangelo Buonarroti “The fall and exile from paradise” in the Sistine Chapel, judging by the shape of the leaves, is depicted precisely a fiber tree, although it is not clear which fruit of the snake serves Eve. But on picture Titian Heroes are covered with fig leaves, but Eve still breaks the apple from the tree.

The rabbis also suggested that the forbidden fruit could be citron -A bitter-sweet fruit from the citrus family. There were also versions that it could be grapes, grenade, walnut or fruit of an ore tree (Carbot). Italian journalists Roberto Beretta and Elizabette Broly They say In his book “Eleven Commandments” that where the Eden garden was supposedly located, apple trees could not grow. Journalists believe that the blame for the false version was too free translation of the text of the Bible from Hebrew into Latin.

In the 4th century, Bishop of Rome Damasius I, who was the first of the Roman bishops, began to call himself a dad, ordered The leading biblicalist of that time, Jerome Stridon, transfer the Jewish Bible to Latin. The result of 15 years of work was Vulgate. In it, to designate the fetus (Jewish “at”), Jerome used the Latin word Mālum ("apple"). Probably his choice fell on this word, because it is similar to the word Malum - “Evil”, “punishment”, “ailment”, “misconduct”.

When translating the Bible into English, the word Apple also fit the meaning. During Medieval England Apple meant Any fruit or nut and only after the XVII century began to designate an apple. 

Unlike translators who allow allegory in the text, painters needed to identify a tree of knowledge to visualize the fetus and give a tree of recognizable outlines. The works of painting on the theme of the Eden garden helped to fix the apple as a forbidden fetus. In the Renaissance of the Apple was The most common fruit on the territory of Europe, perhaps, therefore, it can be most often seen in the paintings of artists of France, England, Germany, Italy.

Thus, in the view of many, the apple has become a forbidden fruit thanks to the inaccurate translation of the Bible into Latin and European artists, traditionally depicting an apple in their biblical plots. In fact, the Bible does not indicate what kind of fruit Eve tore off in the scene of the fall.

The image on the cover: Michelangelo Buonarroti. Sistine chapel, ceiling painting. Fragment "Rowing and exile from paradise." 1508. Source: Wikimedia Commons

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Read on the topic:

1. Live Science. WAS The 'Forbidden Fruit' in the Garden of Eden Really An Apple?
2. Is it true that in Islam there is a strict ban on the image of living beings?
3. Is it true that the Roman dad in Rafael’s painting “Sistine Madonna” has six fingers on his hand?