Luluwa
Luluwa (also Aclima) according to some religious traditions was the oldest daughter of Adam and Eve, the twin sister of Cain and wife of Abel.[1] According to these traditions, she was the first female human who was born naturally.[2] According to Islamic and rabbinic tradition, a marriage between Luluwa and Abel was proposed and arranged by their father Adam. In order to commence contentment from Luluwa's twin brother, Adam (their father) suggested that a sacrifice be made, yet sacrifice was subsequently rejected by God.[3][4] The reason behind the commotion was that Cain viewed Luluwa as being aesthetically more attractive than Awan. The subsequent friction between Abel and Cain meant to Luluwa was the primary cause of the world's first murder (per Abrahamic traditions).[5]
Luluwa | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Aclima, Kalmana, Calmana |
| Known for | First female born Being the cause of the world's first murder |
| Spouse(s) | Abel, then he died and she married with Caín |
| Parent(s) | Adam and Eve |
| Relatives | Awan (sister) Cain (twin sibling) Azura (sister) Abel (sibling) Seth (sibling) Balbira(sister) |
Kalmana or Calmana; Balbira
Some sources in the Eastern Orthodox traditions state Luluwa's name as Calmana or Calmanna. Alternative transliterations of her name Aclima include Aclimah, Aclimia, Aclimiah, Klimia.[6]
In the Seder Hadorot, Luluwa is called Kalmana.[7][8]
Genesis 4:17 states that after he had killed Abel, "Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch". In an effort to explain where Cain and Abel acquired wives, some traditional sources stated that each child of Adam and Eve was born with a twin who became their mate. According to the Seder HaDorot, the wife and twin sister of Cain was named Kalmana, and the wife and twin of Abel was Balbira.[7]
The sister of Cain was named Kalmana in the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius (first Greek redaction) II.1.,[9] and Calmana in the Golden Legend. The poet Petrus Riga (1140–1209) included Calmana in his famous poem Aurora, and this could have been a source for her appearance in Peter Comestor's Historia Scholastica. Comestor's Biblical narrative text then served as the standard textbook for Biblical education for centuries.
Luluwa
Religious sources also describe Aclima's name as Luluwa. Luluwa, the sister-wife of Abel, is described as the most beautiful of the early daughters of Adam and Eve. However, Cain reportedly hated her whilst in Eve's womb with her. The name Luluwa means "beautiful". This narrative was recorded in the Forgotten Books Of Eden, which itself is a exegesis of earlier apocryphal texts.[10]
References
- Brewer, E. Cobham. "Brewer's dictionary of phrase and fable." (1894).
- Stone, Michael. "The Death of Adam—An Armenian Adam Book." Harvard Theological Review 59.3 (1966): 283-291..
- Brewer, Cobham (2001). Wordsworth Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. p. 197.
- "Cain", Dictionnaire des sciences occultes (Encycloedie Theologique Vol. 48), ed. Jacques Paul Migne, cols. 297–298.
- Gibson, Margaret (2012). Apocrypha Arabica. Cambridge University Press. p. 11.
- Burrington, Gilbert. An Arrangement of the Genealogies in the Old Testament and Apocrypha: To which are Added, from the Same Authorities, a Selection of Single Names, and Chronological Tables of the Kings of Egypt, Syria, and Assyria: with Notes Critical, Philological, and Explanatory; and Copious Indexes, in Two Volumes. Vol. 1. Rivington, 1836.
- Seder Hadorot 8a
- Abarbanel Gen. 4,1 as cited by Codex Judaica
- A.C. Lolos, Die Apokalypse des Ps.-Methodios. Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 83. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1976.
- Platt, Rutherford H. The Forgotten Books Of Eden (Annotated Edition). Jazzybee Verlag, 2012.