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This stained-glass window from Sacred Heart Basilica, in Paray-le-Monial, France depicts the Biblical story of Adam and Eve and the serpent. Fred De Noyelle/GODONG/Getty Images
Does the following story sound familiar? In the beginning, a divine force created the universe by separating elements from the chaotic void: light and dark, heaven and earth. The first humans were formed from clay and lived in a paradise free of pain, sin and toil. But a clever creature tricked the humans and they fell from their perfect state into the flawed world we know today.
If you think that's the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible, you're right. But it's also a story common to other religions. Nearly every ancient culture told its own set of creation myths and they share a remarkable number of similarities, including key elements of the Adam and Eve story: humans fashioned from clay, a trickster figure who subverts the gods' plans for creation, and a woman taking the blame for sin and pain.