10 Irish

In the early Irish Church (600–800 CE) there were apocrypha of Oriental origin and in the tenth-century poem Saltair na Rann (“Psalter of Quatrains”) the account of the Fall of Adam and Eve is recognized as having analogues with rabbinic tradition and also a poem on Adam’s head. This essay first considers Jewish texts that have, or may have, influenced Irish tradition. Jewish influence on Irish traditions is then considered: Latin conjoined treatises on Adam and Eve; Adam created in agro Damasceno, in the field of Damascus; the seven or eight parts from which Adam was made; the four elements from which Adam was made (with rabbinic analogues); the naming of Adam (Slavonic Enoch and Sibylline Oracles 3:24–26); Penance of Adam and Eve; Sunday, Sabbath, respite for the damned; XV Signs before Doomsday; Jewish traditions in Saltair na Rann; the influence of Hebrew Bible traditions on early Irish genealogies and imagined prehistory.