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Abstract
The biblical narrative recalls the name of Cain as a negative personification at the origin of wars and violence. Following the literature of Bruce Chatwin, we can consider how this fratricidal struggle basically alludes to the perennial conflict between nomadic and sedentary populations. The book of Genesis seems to confirm this aspect of Adam’s firstborn who “became the builder of a city, which he called Enoch”; and, in fact, this is the first biblical mention of a city. Greek culture described the origins of civil society and human settlements in the birth of agriculture, linked to the cult of the goddess Demeter, who had her main sanctuary at Eleusis, in Attica. The invention of agriculture, written culture and the development of urban society were then assimilated by Greek and Roman culture as the founding elements of classical Civilization. With the growing success of Christianity, Augustine opposed the City of God to the earthly city, observing how the very birth of Rome was tainted by a fratricidal killing.