How the Forbidden Fruit Became an Apple

UCLA Center for the Study of Religion is sponsoring a talk with Azzan Yadin-Israel (Jewish Studies, Rutgers University).

With the exception of the cross, the apple—as the forbidden fruit—may be the most widely-recognized biblical image. Yet the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew original does not name the species of fruit that caused the Fall of Man, nor do any of its many translations. While early Christian and rabbinic commentators identify various species as the forbidden fruit—the fig, the grape, the citron—they never include the apple. How, then, did the forbidden fruit come to be identified as the apple? Examining the history of biblical translation and of the artistic representation of the Fall of Man, the presentation offers a new explanation for the emergence of the apple as a symbol of temptation and forbidden knowledge.

Co-sponsored by UCLA Department of Art History and UCLA CMRS Center for Early Global Studies.

Attend in Kaplan 365 or on Zoom – register at https://religion.ucla.edu/event/how-the-forbidden-fruit-became-an-apple/