Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Divine birth: Eve, fashioned from Adam’s rib

It was written in the Bible that it is not good for the man to be alone. So the Lord fashioned from Adam’s rib a companion by an innovative birthing method, as documented in the fresco of Michelangelo.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
From Genesis 2:21-23

Creation of Eve
Michelangelo
Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Italy
Creation of Eve
Marble relief on the left pier of the façade of the cathedral Orvieto, Italy

George Dunea, MD, Editor-in-Chief

Highlighted in Frontispiece Fall 2012 – Volume 4, Issue 4

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