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15 epithets (Serpent-copper-healing-genetics), it behooves us to recall the biblical tale of the plague that befell the Israelites during their wanderings in the Sinai wilderness: it stopped after Moses has made a "copper serpent" and held it up to summon divine help. It is nothing short of mind-boggling to realize that this second Divine Encounter, when Humankind was given the ability to procreate, was also captured for us by ancient "pho- tographers"—artists who carved the scene in reverse on the small stone cylinders, images that were seen in positive after the seal was rolled on wet clay. But such depictions too, in addition to the ones depicting the creation of The Adam, have been found. One shows "Adam" and "Eve" seated, flanking a tree, and the serpent behind Eve (Fig. 6a). Another shows a great god seated atop a thronelike mound from which two The First Encounters Figures 5a, 5b, 5c, and Sd