The Cave of Treasures
The Cave of Treasures is a Syriac history of the world from Creation to the Crucifixion, told as a chain of generations. After leaving Paradise Adam and Eve take refuge in a cave that holds the gold, frankincense and myrrh brought out of Eden, and the book follows that cave and Adam's body through the generations: Seth's holy line on the mountain, the fall of the Sethites to the daughters of Cain, Noah and the Flood, Shem and Melchizedek carrying Adam's body to Golgotha, and the line leading to Christ. Budge's 1927 translation is the text used here; the work was traditionally credited to Ephrem the Syrian.
📘 About This Book
Purpose
To retell sacred history from Adam to Christ as one chain of generations, linking Adam's burial at Golgotha with the Cross.
Audience
Syriac-speaking Christians and readers of early Christian retellings of Genesis.
Did You Know?
- A Syriac Christian history running from the Creation to the resurrection of Christ, translated by E. A. Wallis Budge in 1927.
- It is named for the cave where Adam and the patriarchs after him were laid.
- The author addresses the book to a reader he calls "our brother Nemesius".