Where the biblical Eve is buried: what is known about the tomb of the foremother of mankind

According to the Bible, the foremother of all mankind was a woman named Eve, created by God from the rib of the first man Adam. Despite the fact that this legend dates back to prehistoric times and is considered fiction, there is, or rather was, a grave on Earth in which, according to legend, the woman described in the Bible is buried.

According to Amusing Planet, this grave is located in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Some Muslims suggest that the name of the city comes from the Arabic word "jaddah," which means "grandmother," and this, in turn, refers to Eve, who is "grandmother to all."

The story of Adam and Eve, their fall into sin, and their expulsion from paradise is common to the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran. But the Christian version of the text does not describe where they ended up after leaving the Garden of Eden. Instead, Arabic tradition says that Adam was sent by God to Mecca, where he was ordered to build the Kaaba, the black, cubic structure that all Muslims turn to during their daily prayers. Eve, or as she is called in Islam, Khawwa, ended her days in Jeddah.

The earliest documented mention of Hawwa's grave dates back to the mid-12th century. The Arab historian and cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi wrote about it. A few decades later, Ibn Jubayr wrote about the place where the legendary great-grandmother spent the night. According to him, a building with a high dome was erected there. In the 13th century, the historians Ibn al-Mujawir and Ibn Hallikan directly refer to the tomb of Eve in Jeddah. But the 14th-century traveler Ibn Battuta, who visited Mecca, never mentioned it in his description of his travels to the city. However, historians such as Tabari and Masudi mentioned Eve's tomb in Jeddah. But they did not give any details.

In 1853, the famous British explorer, geographer, and ethnologist Sir Richard Francis Burton visited Eve's supposed grave disguised as a Muslim pilgrim. He described what he saw as a tomb laid out in the shape of a huge body. After measuring its steps, he told his guide: "If our ancestor had one hundred and twenty steps from head to waist and eighty from waist to heel, she must have been very much like a duck."

The fact that the burial site was indeed huge was also reported by the acting British consul S. R. Jordan in early 1926. According to his calculations, it was approximately 180 meters long and 3.5 meters wide and had a small mosque in the middle. The servant of this mosque could, for a small fee, raise a stone slab in the center of the floor to show the visitor the "navel" of the ancestral mother.

It is known that Aun ar-Rafiq, who was the emir and sharif of Mecca from 1882 to 1905, tried to demolish the tomb. Among other things, he did not like the unbelievably gigantic size of the structure. But the people of Jeddah began to protest against it. So in the end he was forced to comply with the will of the townspeople, though he called the belief that Eve was so tall "international stupidity."

Eventually, the tomb was destroyed in 1928 by 19-year-old Amir Faisal, Prince and Governor of Hijaz. He called it a fake that supported superstition and ordered its destruction. However, pilgrims continued to pray at Eve's grave even after the Hajj season, so in 1975 the Saudi authorities concreted the site where the monument was located.

Nowadays, there is nothing to indicate that this place was once a grave that was so popular among believers. But people continue to cherish the memory of Eva's burial place and criticize the Saudi authorities for not caring about the preservation of historical artifacts and monuments. And they are fighting against burials in general, because from the point of view of Wahhabism, which is widespread in the country, worshiping the dead is an incorrect religious practice.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, Kyiv also has a historic necropolis with the graves of legendary figures. Thus, ancient photos of Mount Shchekavytsia, where Prince Oleh, nicknamed the Prophetic, is probably buried, were posted online.