Ape

Cultural aspects

The intelligence and humanoid appearance of apes are responsible for legends which attribute human qualities; for example, apes are sometimes said to be able to speak but refuse to do so in order to avoid work. They are also said to be the result of a curse—a Jewish folktale claims that one of the races who built the Tower of Babel became apes as punishment, while Muslim lore says that the Jews of Elath became apes as punishment for fishing on the Sabbath. Christian folklore claims that apes are a symbol of lust and were created by Satan in response to God's creation of humans. It is uncertain whether any of these references is specifically to apes, since all date from a period when the distinction between apes and monkeys was not widely understood, or not understood at all.

Related Topics:
Jewish - Folktale - Tower of Babel - Muslim - Elath - Fishing - Sabbath - Christian - Lust - Satan - God

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