Was The Biblical Cain The World's First Urban Planner?

In 'Fallen', David Maine's latest novel, he espouses the idea that Cain invented streets and marketplaces before murdering his brother.

1 minute read

September 15, 2005, 5:00 AM PDT

By Brenda Meyer


"Elaborating on a brief reference in Genesis to one of the world's first settlements, Maine writes that 'Henoch the man had not designed Henoch the city. Cain had done so, from his hidden lair. Henoch had merely carried out his instructions. The boulevards and bazaars and palaces and plazas were all Cain's doing.'

The idea is intriguing: Cain, the murderer doomed by God's mark on his face to be shunned by all humanity, as the world's first urban planner."

Thursday, September 15, 2005 in The Miami Herald

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