Editing Forbidden fruit

{{Short description|Fruit in the Garden of Eden}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Jan Brueghel de Oude en Peter Paul Rubens - Het aards paradijs met de zondeval van Adam en Eva.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man|Depiction]] of the [[original sin]] by [[Jan Brueghel the Elder|Jan Brueghel de Oude]] and [[Peter Paul Rubens]]]]

In [[Abrahamic religions]], '''forbidden fruit''' is a name given to the fruit growing in the [[Garden of Eden]] that [[God]] commands mankind [[Taboo#In religion and mythology|not to eat]]. In the biblical story, [[Adam and Eve]] eat the fruit from the [[tree of the knowledge of good and evil]] and are exiled from Eden:

{{quote|And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:{{pb}}But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.|Genesis 2:16–17, [[King James Version]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|2:16–17|KJV}}</ref>}}

As a metaphor outside of the Abrahamic religions, the phrase typically refers to any indulgence or pleasure that is considered illegal or immoral.

==Biblical story==
{{main|Tree of the knowledge of good and evil|Original sin}}
The story of the [[Book of Genesis]] places the first man and woman, [[Adam and Eve]], in the [[Garden of Eden]], where they may eat the fruit of many trees, but are forbidden by God to eat from the [[tree of knowledge of good and evil]].

In Genesis 3, a [[Serpents in the Bible|serpent]] tempts the woman:
{{quote|And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:{{pb}}For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.|Genesis 3:4–5, KJV<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|3:4–5|KJV}}</ref>}}

Desiring this knowledge, the woman eats the forbidden fruit and gives some to the man, who also eats it. They become aware of their nakedness and make fig-leaf clothes, and hide themselves when God approaches. When confronted, Adam tells God that Eve gave him the fruit to eat, and Eve tells God that the serpent deceived her into eating it. God then curses the serpent, the woman, and the man, and expels the man and woman from the Garden before they eat of the [[Tree of life (biblical)|tree of eternal life]].

==Quranic story==
{{Further|Adam in Islam}}
According to the [[Quran]], Surah [[Al-A'raf]] 7:19 describes Adam and his wife in [[Jannah|Paradise]] where they may eat what is provided, except for one [[Tree of life (Quran)|Tree]] they must not eat from, lest they be considered {{transliteration|ar|Ẓālimūn}} ({{langx|ar|ظالمون}}; 'wrongdoers').<ref>{{qref|7|19|b=y}} ˹Allah said,˺ "O Adam! Live with your wife in Paradise and eat from wherever you please, but do not approach this tree, or else you will be wrongdoers."</ref>

Surah Al-A'raf 7:20–22 describes [[Satan#Islam|{{transliteration|ar|DIN|Shaitan}}]] ({{langx|ar|شيطان}}), who whispers to Adam and his wife and deceives them. When they tasted of the tree, their nakedness was exposed to them, prompting them to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise.<ref>{{qref|7|20-22|b=y}}</ref>

{{quote|Then their Lord called out to them, "Did I not forbid you from that tree and ˹did I not˺ tell you that Satan is your sworn enemy?"|{{qref|7|22|c=y}}}}

==Gnostic story==
A [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] interpretation of the story proposes that it was the [[Archon (Gnosticism)|archons]] who created Adam and attempted to prevent him from eating the forbidden fruit in order to keep him in a state of [[ignorance]], after the spiritual form of Eve entered the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil while leaving a physical version of herself with Adam once she awakened him. However, the forces of the heavenly realm ([[Pleroma#Gnosticism|Pleroma]]) sent the serpent as a representative of the divine sphere to reveal to Adam and Eve the evil intentions of their creators. The serpent succeeded in convincing them to eat the fruit and become like gods, capable of distinguishing between good and evil.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stefan|last=Rossbach|title=Gnostic Wars|orig-date=1999|date=August 7, 2019|publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]]|page=51|isbn=9781474472180}}</ref>

==Identifications and depictions==
The word ''fruit'' appears in Hebrew as {{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|פְּרִי}}|pərî|label=none}}. As to which fruit may have been the forbidden fruit of the [[Garden of Eden]], possibilities include an [[apple]], [[grape]]s, a [[pomegranate]],<ref name="straightdope.com"/> a [[Common fig|fig]],<ref>''The Fig: its History, Culture, and Curing'', Gustavus A. Eisen, Washington, Govt. print. off., 1901</ref> [[Ceratonia siliqua|carob]],<ref name="straightdope.com"/> [[etrog]] or [[citron]],<ref name="straightdope.com"/> [[pear]], [[quince]], [[wheat]], [[banana]], [[coco de mer]], and [[mushrooms]]. The [[pseudepigraphic]] [[Book of Enoch]] describes the tree of knowledge: "It was like a species of the [[Tamarind]] tree, bearing fruit which resembled [[grape]]s extremely fine; and its fragrance extended to a considerable distance. I exclaimed, How beautiful is this tree, and how delightful is its appearance!" ([[1 Enoch]] 31:4).

In Islamic tradition, the fruit is commonly either identified with wheat or with grapevine.<ref>Mahmoud Ayoub ''The Qur'an and Its Interpreters, Volume 1'' SUNY Press, 1984, {{ISBN|9780873957274}}, p. 82.</ref>

===Apple===
{{See also|Apple (symbolism)}}
In [[Western Europe]], the fruit is often depicted as an [[Apple (symbolism)|apple]]. This is frequently explained as resulting from a [[false cognate|misunderstanding]] of – or a pun on – two unrelated words {{lang|la|[[wikt:malum|mālum]]}}, a native [[Latin]] noun which means 'evil' (from the adjective {{lang|la|[[wikt:malus|malus]]}}), and {{lang|la|[[wikt:malus#Latin|mâlum]]}}, another Latin noun, borrowed from Greek {{lang|grc|μῆλον}}, which means 'apple'. In the [[Vulgate]], [[Original sin|Genesis 2:17]] describes the tree as {{lang|la|"de ligno autem scientiae boni et mali"}}: "but of the tree [literally 'wood'] of knowledge of good and evil" ({{lang|la|mali}} here is the [[genitive]] of {{lang|la|malum}}). However, Yadin-Israel argues that [[Latin Christian]] writers from [[Late antiquity|Late Antiquity]] and the [[Middle Ages]] rarely used {{lang|la|[[wikt:malus#Latin|mâlum]]}} to refer to the forbidden fruit.{{sfn|Yadin-Israel|2023|p=17}} 

[[Azzan Yadin|Azzan Yadin-Israel]] argues that the identification of the forbidden fruit with an apple first appears in [[medieval French art]] of the 12th century. According to Yadin-Israel, Latin authors frequently referred to the forbidden fruit as {{lang|la|[[wikt:pomum|pōmum]]}}, a Latin word meaning "fruit". From this term derived the [[Old French]] word ''pom'' (modern [[French language|French]] ''pomme''), which originally also meant "fruit", but in later times the word took on the narrower meaning of "apple", leading medieval artists to represent the fruit as an apple.{{sfn|Yadin-Israel|2023|pp=15, 63–64}}

An additional influence may have been the [[golden apple]] motif in Classical myth - such as the [[Apple of Discord]], described in the ''[[Iliad]].''

Nothing in the Bible indicates that the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was an apple.{{sfn|Yadin-Israel|2023|p=1}}

The [[larynx]], specifically the [[laryngeal prominence]] that joins the [[thyroid cartilage]], in the [[human]] [[throat]] is noticeably more prominent in [[male]]s and was consequently called an [[Adam's apple]], from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden fruit getting stuck in Adam's throat as he swallowed it.<ref>E. Cobham Brewer (1810–1897). Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. "Adam's Apple"</ref>

===Grape===
[[Rabbi Meir]] says that the fruit was a grape, made into wine.<ref name="Berachot 40a; Sanhedrin 70a">Berachot 40a; Sanhedrin 70a.</ref> The [[Zohar]] explains similarly that [[Noah]] attempted (but failed) to rectify the sin of Adam by using grape wine for holy purposes.<ref>Zohar Noah 73a</ref><ref>''The Zohar: The First Ever Unabridged English Translation, with Commentary''; Rabbi Michael Berg, ed., Vol. 2, pp.388-390</ref> The [[midrash]] of [[Genesis Rabbah|Bereishit Rabah]] states that the fruit was grape,<ref>Bereishit Rabah 15:7</ref> or squeezed grapes (perhaps alluding to wine).<ref>Bereishit Rabah 19:5</ref> Chapter 4 of [[3 Baruch]], also known as the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, designates the fruit as the grape. 3 Baruch is a first to third century text that is either Christian or Jewish with Christian interpolations.<ref>3 Baruch, Chapter 4, available at: http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~kazhdan/Shneider/apocr2010/3%20Baruch%20OTP.pdf</ref>

===Fig===
{{see also|Figs in the Bible}}
The Bible states in the book of Genesis that Adam and Eve had made their own fig leaf clothing: "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles".<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|3:7|HE}}</ref> Rabbi [[Nehemiah Hayyun]] supports the idea that the fruit was a [[ficus|fig]], as it was from fig leaves that Adam and Eve made garments for themselves after eating the fruit. "By that with which they were made low were they rectified."<ref name="Berachos 40a; Sanhedrin 70a">Berachos 40a; Sanhedrin 70a</ref> Since the fig is a long-standing symbol of female sexuality, it enjoyed a run as a favorite understudy to the apple as the forbidden fruit during the [[Italian Renaissance]], [[Michelangelo Buonarroti]] depicting it as such in his fresco on the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127752216 |title=High Art: Were Botticelli's Venus And Mars Stoned? |work=[[NPR]] |date=12 June 2010 |access-date=19 June 2019}}</ref>

===Pomegranate===
Proponents of the theory that the Garden of Eden was located somewhere in what is now known as the Middle East suggest that the fruit was actually a [[pomegranate]], as it is one of the earliest domesticated plants on the Eastern Mediterranean.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zohary |first1=Daniel |title=Domestication of plants in the old world: The origin and spread of domesticated plants in south-west Asia (4th ed.) |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 9780199549061 |pages=114–115}}</ref> The association of the pomegranate with knowledge of the underworld as provided in the Ancient Greek legend of Persephone may also have given rise to an association with knowledge of the otherworld, tying-in with knowledge that is forbidden to mortals. It is also believed Hades offered Persephone a pomegranate to force her to stay with him in the underworld. Hades is the Greek god of the underworld and the Bible states that whoever eats the forbidden fruit shall die.

===Wheat===
[[Judah bar Ilai|Rabbi Yehuda]] proposes that the fruit was [[wheat]], because "a baby does not know to call its mother and father until it tastes the taste of grain."<ref name="Berachot 40a; Sanhedrin 70a"/>

In Hebrew, wheat is {{transliteration|he|khitah}}, which has been considered to be a [[pun]] on {{transliteration|he|khet}}, meaning "sin".<ref name="straightdope.com">{{Cite web |date=2006-11-24 |title=Was the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden an apple? |url=https://www.straightdope.com/21343798/was-the-forbidden-fruit-in-the-garden-of-eden-an-apple |access-date=2024-12-30 |website=The Straight Dope |language=en}}</ref>

Although commonly confused with a seed, in the study of [[botany]] a [[wheat berry]] is technically a simple fruit known as a [[caryopsis]], which has the same structure as an apple. Just as an apple is a fleshy fruit that contains seeds, a grain is a dry fruit that absorbs water and contains a seed. The confusion comes from the fact that the fruit of a grass happens to have a form similar to some seeds.<ref name="Mauseth2014">{{cite book|author=James D. Mauseth|title=Botany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BGEs95p5EsC&pg=PA223|year=2014|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|isbn=978-1-4496-4884-8|page=223|quote=Perhaps the simplest of fruits are those of grasses (all cereals such as corn and wheat)...These fruits are caryopses.}}</ref>

===Mushroom===
[[File:Plaincourault fresco, Garden of Eden.jpg|thumb]]
A fresco in the 13th-century [[Plaincourault Abbey]] in France depicts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, flanking a Tree of Knowledge that has the appearance of a gigantic ''[[Amanita muscaria]]'', a [[Mushroom#Psychoactive mushrooms|psychoactive mushroom]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Use of Fungi as Food and in Food Processing, Part 2 |author=William Dudley Gray |publisher=CRC Press |year=1973 |page=182 |isbn=0-8493-0118-1}}</ref>

[[Terence McKenna]] proposed that the forbidden fruit was a reference to [[psychotropic]] plants and [[fungi]], specifically [[psilocybin mushrooms]], which he theorized played a central role in the [[evolution]] of the human brain.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfTYa_suhDk| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/NfTYa_suhDk| archive-date=2021-11-17 | url-status=live|title=Food Of The Gods (Terence McKenna) [FULL]|date=24 July 2011|work=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Earlier, in a well-documented but heavily criticized study,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/23/obituaries/john-allegro-65-aided-deciphering-of-dead-sea-scrolls.html "John Allegro, 65; Aided Deciphering of Dead Sea Scrolls"], obit., NY Times</ref><ref>''John Marco Allegro: The Maverick of the Dead Sea Scrolls'', by Judith Anne Brown, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (1 March 2005), {{ISBN|978-0-8028-6333-1}}, pp. xii-xiii</ref> [[John M. Allegro]] proposed the mushroom as the forbidden fruit.<ref>{{Cite book|year=1970|title=The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross: A study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the ancient Near East|author=Allegro, John M.|publisher=Doubleday|location=Garden City, New York}}, re-released in a new edition by Gnostic Media Research & Publishing in 2009</ref>

===Banana===
Several proponents of the theory that the forbidden fruit was a [[banana]] exist dating from the 13th century.

In Nathan HaMe'ati's 13th-century translation of [[Maimonides]]'s work ''The Medical Aphorisms of Moses'', the banana is called the "apple of Eden".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ari|first=Zivotofsky|date=May 2017|title=What's the Truth About The Apple In The Garden Of Eden?|url=https://issuu.com/orthodoxunion/docs/ja_2017-summer|journal=Jewish Action|volume=77|issue=4|via=Issu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Altschule MD|first=Mark|date=March 1983 |title=The Medical Aphorisms of Moses Maimonides.|url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/581996|journal=Arch Intern Med|volume=624|pages=132|via=JAMA Network}}</ref> In the 16th century, [[Menahem Lonzano]] considered it common knowledge in [[Syria]] and [[Egypt]] that the banana was the apple of Eden.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Lonzano|first1=Menahem|title=Ma'arich (מעריך)|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9A._%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%97%D7%9D_%D7%93%D7%99_%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%96%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95.pdf|access-date=2020-03-10|last2=Book|first2=Start this}}</ref>

===Coco de mer===
[[Charles George Gordon]] identified the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge with the [[Legends of the coco de mer|coco de mer]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brooke-Hitching |first=Edward |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Love_A_Curious_History/hXSqEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Charles+George+Gordon+forbidden+fruit+coco+de+mer&pg=PT195&printsec=frontcover |title=Love; A Curious History |date=2023-10-26 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-3985-2272-5 |language=en}}</ref>

==Parallel concepts==
[[Alcohol in the Bible]] explores the dual role of alcohol, highlighting its positive uses and warnings against excess. In biblical narratives, the fermentation of fruit into wine holds significance, with grapes and wine often linked to both celebration and cautionary tales of sin and temptation, reminiscent of the concept of the forbidden fruit.

===Greek mythology===
The similarities of the story to the story of [[Pandora's box]] were identified by early Christians such as [[Tertullian]], [[Origen]], and [[Gregory of Nazianzus]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hz3bAJ7v_RMC&pg=PA37|title=Reassembling Truth: Twenty-first-century Milton |editor1=Charles W. Durham |editor2=Kristin A. Pruitt |page=37|year=2003 |publisher=Susquehanna University Press |isbn=9781575910628 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Grapefruit]], originally named the "forbidden fruit" of [[Barbados]].<ref name="Forbidden_Fruit">{{cite book |author1=Dowling, Curtis F. |author2=Morton, Julia Frances |author2-link=Julia Morton |title=Fruits of warm climates  |publisher=J.F. Morton |location=Miami, FL |year=1987 |isbn=0-9610184-1-0 |oclc= 16947184| url = http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/grapefruit.html }}</ref>
* [[Medieval popular Bible]]
* [[Ningishzida]]
* [[Lumia (citrus)#Pomum Adami|Pomme d'Adammo]]
* [[Serpent seed]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |title=Temptation Transformed: The Story of How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple |last=Yadin-Israel |first=Azzan |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-226-82212-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LJSbEAAAQBAJ}}

==External links==
*{{Bibleverse||Genesis|2:16–17|HE}} – English–Hebrew comparison at mechon-mamre.org

{{Adam and Eve}}

[[Category:Adam and Eve]]
[[Category:Apples in culture]]
[[Category:Biblical topics]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:English-language idioms]]
[[Category:Garden of Eden]]
[[Category:Jewish mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological food and drink]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to food and drink]]