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