# Cain in Kabul **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589 "2002-09-09T00:39:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589/1 "2002-09-09T00:39:11Z")
I just finished reading (Angels in America author) Tony Kushner’s play KABUL/HOMEBODY. (It’s not as good as ANGELS, but it definitely has its moments, plus the afterwards is better than the play.) A major component of the play is the existing legend that Cain (of Genesis and fratricide fame) is the founder of and is buried in Kabul. Are there any places which claim to be the burial place of Adam and Eve? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589/2 "2002-09-09T01:59:42Z")
In the Travels of Marco Polo, he relates the tale that a certain mountain in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was believed to be alternately the burial place of Siddharta or Adam. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589/3 "2002-09-09T02:05:22Z")
The grave of Eve (wife of Adam, mother of humanity) is in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. (Jiddah means ‘grandmother’.) I mean, it used to be there. It was described by Richard Francis Burton in the 1850s. But in the 20th century, the Wahhabis demolished and obliterated it. Assholes. There is an alleged tomb of Jesus Christ in Srinagar, Kashmir, but no one takes it seriously except certain sectarians. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589/4 "2002-09-09T02:34:56Z")
Jomo, you mention the Eve grave as if you believe it to be undisputed fact, and not myth. Do you really feel that way, or did I misunderstand (or maybe get “whoooshed”)? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589/5 "2002-09-09T03:29:43Z")
I’m just relating what they say, without passing judgment on it one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589/6 "2002-09-09T13:19:41Z")
Jewish tradition teaches that Adam and Eve are buried in Hebron, in the tomb of the Patriarchs. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2002, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cain-in-kabul/127589/7 "2002-09-12T06:44:56Z")
You got me there, **zev\_steinhardt**. Who can say for sure? Beats me. All I can do is quote the old saying “Allah knows best.” ;j Jiddah is a very ancient city on the shores of the Red Sea which has been there, like, almost forever. It got its name from its association with Eve, and that goes way, way, waaaayyyy back into prehistory, nobody can say how old it is. The earliest I was aware of the Cave of Machpelah being used as a tomb for patriarchs (and matriarchs) was that it began with Abraham, correct me if I missed something.