British Museum comments: “The tree, serpent and figures carved on this greenstone cylinder seal suggested to George Smith, an Assyriologist working in the British Museum between 1840 and 1876, that the scene was related to the Old Testament story of the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. In fact, it is one of a well- known class of banquet scenes.” BM
However, Banquet Scenes are often portrayed as individuals holding goblets facing each other. The serpent is not explained well either in modern views. jgl
However, Banquet Scenes are often portrayed as individuals holding goblets facing each other. The serpent is not explained well either in modern views. jgl
George Smith 1876 The Chaldean Account of Genesis page 90-91
"One striking and important specimen of early type in the British Museum collection has two figures sitting one on each side of a tree, holding out their hands to the fruit, while at the back of one is stretched a serpent. We know well that in these early sculptures none of these figures were chance devises, but all represented events or supposed events, and figures in their legends; thus it is evident that a form of the story of the Fall, similar to that of Genesis, was known in early in Babylonia."
"One striking and important specimen of early type in the British Museum collection has two figures sitting one on each side of a tree, holding out their hands to the fruit, while at the back of one is stretched a serpent. We know well that in these early sculptures none of these figures were chance devises, but all represented events or supposed events, and figures in their legends; thus it is evident that a form of the story of the Fall, similar to that of Genesis, was known in early in Babylonia."
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