Explaining evil in early Judaism: Cain, Cainites and antediluvian sin

I compare the discursive functions of Cain and his descendants in Josephus, Pseudo-Philo, the Animal Apocalypse and Wisdom of Solomon. Each of these allots a prominent place to Cainites as originators and propagators of antediluvian sin and evil, often far beyond their role in Genesis and in many other early Jewish texts. I conclude that Cainites held a certain utility for early Jewish writers who wished to emphasize a connection between sin and violence or sin as a choice made by free human agents apart from outside influence or coercion.