Eve

Eve is the first woman in the second creation story of Genesis. God makes her from Adam's side, and Adam names her Eve because she is "the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20). Her Hebrew name, Hawwah, is connected with the word for life. Persuaded by the serpent, she eats the fruit of the tree of knowledge and gives some to Adam, and both are expelled from Eden. Genesis names three of her sons: Cain, Abel and Seth.

Her story was retold many times. In the Life of Adam and Eve, the devil deceives her a second time while disguised as an angel, and near her death she tells her children to write their parents' history on tablets of stone and clay, so that one set would survive a judgment by water and the other a judgment by fire. Gnostic texts give her and her daughter Norea major roles.

Jewish, Christian and Islamic readings of Eve differ; the Quran, for example, holds Adam and his wife jointly responsible. Scholars read the Eden narrative as theological story rather than a historical record.