10 Facts About Genesis B

Genesis B, known as The Later Genesis, is a passage of Old English poetry describing the Fall of Satan and the Fall of Man, translated from an Old Saxon poem known as the Old Saxon Genesis.

The passage known as Genesis B survives as an interpolation in a much longer Old English poem, the rest of which is known as Genesis A, which gives an otherwise fairly faithful translation of the biblical Book of Genesis.

Genesis B and Genesis A survive in the partially illustrated Junius Manuscript.

Eduard Sievers realised that Genesis B was originally separate from Genesis A in the 1870s: by philological and stylistic analysis, he showed that these lines must have been translated from an Old Saxon original.

Genesis B is a strikingly original and dramatic retelling of the Fall of the Angels and the Fall of Man.

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Genesis B depicts the fall of Lucifer from heaven, at which point he is renamed "Satan" and assumes authority as the ruler of Hell.

Issue of language, the philology, is a concern of Timmer's, a scholar referenced several times throughout other scholars' interpretations of Genesis B He discusses the discrepancies between versions of the fall of Adam and Eve and attributes them to problems with the translation from Old Saxon to Old English, offering reason as to how specific words are construed to have a meaning different than those found in any other Old English manuscript.

Many scholars who translate Genesis B give significant evidence to the reasoning behind their translations, due to the complicated nature of the text.

Genesis B goes on to acknowledge the discrepancies he still encounters, despite his thorough investigation of the text.

Genesis B makes Satan a central character, giving him a monologue which provides an extensive opportunity for character development.