The Revelation
of Adam
^ 1 "1
I he Revelation (or Apocalypse) of Adam is a mythic narration poem
I attributed to Adam, who communicated it to his son Seth. Com-
JL. posed as early as the first or second century CE, this Jewish gnostic
apocalypse (with apparently no Christian element in or amended to it) is rec-
ognized as a transition stage from Jewish apocalypse to gnostic apocalypse.^1
In this apocalypse Adam reveals to his son Seth a history of human creation,
before and after the fall, and a way to redemption through secret knowledge. The
revelation occurs as a dream vision passed on by Adam, in his seven hundredth
year, and on his deathbed, to Seth and his seed. It has the form of a historical
testament. It moves from a period when Adam and his consort, Eve, were like
eternal angels, existing above the creator god. Spiritual Eve imparted her knowl-
edge of the eternal god to Adam, but that knowledge and the paradisal condi-
tion were lost when the demiurge took knowledge from them and instructed
them only about "dead things." Then to wake Adam and Eve from dark igno-
rance and slavery, three persons (heavenly messengers) come to Adam and Eve
and say, "Rise, Adam, from the sleep of death." They reveal to Adam hints of the
great race that will come from the heavenly seed of Seth.
i. Some have seen the Revelation's third story of the origin of the illuminator as a story about
Jesus, but Douglas M. Parrott considers the evidence and states, "It is difficult to see any com-
pelling reason to identify this figure with Christ" (in Robinson, ed., Nag Hammadi Library in
English, rev. ed., p. 278).