The location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis as the source of four tributaries. Various suggestions have been made for its location:[3] at the head of thePersian Gulf, in southernMesopotamia where theTigris andEuphrates rivers run into the sea;[4] and inArmenia.[5][6][7] Others theorize that Eden was the entireFertile Crescent[8] or a region substantial in size inMesopotamia, where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such asTelassar.[9][10]
The name derives from theAkkadianedinnu, from aSumerian wordedin meaning'plain' or'steppe', closely related to anAramaic root word meaning'fruitful, well-watered'.[2] Another interpretation associates the name with aHebrew word for 'pleasure';[19] thus theVulgate readsparadisum voluptatis in Genesis 2:8, and theDouay–Rheims Bible, following, has the wording "And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure".[20]
The second part of theGenesis creation narrative, Genesis 2:4–3:24, opens withYHWH-Elohim (translated here "the LORD God")[a] creating the first man (Adam), whom he placed in a garden that he planted "eastward in Eden":[21]
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The man was free to eat from any tree in the garden except thetree of the knowledge of good and evil, which wastaboo. Last of all, God made a woman (Eve) from a rib of the man to be a companion for the man. In Genesis 3, the man and the woman were seduced by theserpent into eating theforbidden fruit, and they were expelled from the garden to prevent them from eating of the tree of life, and thus living forever.Cherubim were placed east of the garden, "and aflaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the tree of life".[23]
Genesis 2:10–14[24] lists four rivers in association with the garden of Eden:Pishon,Gihon,Tigris (Hiddekel in Hebrew),[25] and theEuphrates (Perath in Hebrew).[26] It also refers to the land ofCush—translated/interpreted asEthiopia, but thought by some to equate toCossaea, a Greek name for the land of theKassites.[27] These lands lie north ofElam, immediately to the east of ancient Babylon, which, unlike Ethiopia, does lie within the region being described.[28] InAntiquities of the Jews, the first-century Jewish historianJosephus identifies the Pishon as what "the Greeks calledGanges" and the Geon (Gehon) as theNile.[29]
In Ezekiel 28:12–19,[30] the prophetEzekiel the "son of man" sets down God's word against the king of Tyre: the king was the "seal of perfection", adorned with precious stones from the day of his creation, placed by God in the garden of Eden on the holy mountain as a guardian cherub. However, the king sinned through wickedness and violence, and so he was driven out of the garden and thrown to the earth, where now he is consumed by God's fire: "All those who knew you in the nations are appalled at you, you have come to a horrible end and will be no more." (Ezekiel 28:19).
The Tigris and Euphrates riversMap byPierre Mortier captionedMap of the location of the terrestrial paradise, and of the country inhabited by the patriarchs, laid out for the good understanding of sacred history, byPierre Daniel Huet (1700)
The location of Eden is described in Genesis 2:10–14:[31]
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads. The name of the first isPishon; that is it which compasseth the whole land ofHavilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; there isbdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river isGihon; the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river isTigris; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is theEuphrates.
Suggestions for the location of Eden include[3][32] the head of thePersian Gulf, as argued byJuris Zarins, in southern Mesopotamia where theTigris andEuphrates rivers run into the sea;[4] and in the Armenian Highlands or Armenian National Plateau.[5][33][6][7] British archaeologistDavid Rohl locates it inIran, and in the vicinity ofTabriz, but this suggestion has not been adopted by mainstream academia.[34]
Others theorize that Eden was merely a region of "considerable size" inMesopotamia, where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such asTelassar, based on verses such as Isaiah 37:12.[9][10] Or that it encompassed the entire Fertile Crescent.[8]
According to Terje Stordalen, the Book of Ezekiel places Eden in Lebanon.[35] "[I]t appears that the Lebanon is an alternative placement in Phoenician myth (as in Ez 28,13, III.48) of the Garden of Eden",[36] and there are connections between paradise, the Garden of Eden and the forests of Lebanon (possibly used symbolically) within prophetic writings.[37]Edward Lipinski andPeter Kyle McCarter have suggested that thegarden of the gods, the oldestSumerian analog of the Garden of Eden, relates to a mountain sanctuary in the Lebanon andAnti-Lebanon ranges.[38]
Some religious groups have believed the location of the garden to be local to them, outside of the Middle East. Some early leaders ofMormonism held that it was located inJackson County, Missouri.[39] The 20th-centuryPanacea Society believed it was located at the site of their home town ofBedford, England,[40] while preacher Elvy E. Callaway believed it was on theApalachicola River in Florida, near the town ofBristol.[41] Some suggested that the location is inJerusalem.[42]
Following its acceptance ofChristianity in 1491, leaders of theKingdom of Kongo came to believe that the Terrestrial Paradise, and thus the Garden of Eden was in Central Africa. Following logic of medieval European maps, Portuguese cartographers claimed that both theCongo River and theZambezi flowed out from the Paradise, and Kongolese intellectuals, perhaps students inLisbon, accepted that its location in maps drawn in Mediterranean Europe showed Kongo's eastern border of the Paradise. The idea was fully accepted, as Italian missionaryGiovanni Antonio Cavazzi, reported in 1687 that the Kongolese "constantly assert that in the creation of the Universe, God assigned to the angels and his other ministerial confidants the task of putting the rest of the earth in order, reserving for himself alone, according to his sublime idea and his genius, the forming of the countries of Ethiopia, and especially the kingdoms of Congo. All the rest were extracted from nothing in the dark night of shapeless Chaos, and only this one part, with singular privilege received its most perfect form in the serenely bright light of a beautiful afternoon."[44]
In his bookThe Creation, the Garden of Eden and the Origin of the Chinese,Tse Tsan-tai argued that the Garden of Eden was located in modern-dayXinjiang.[45]
Scholars have identified and proposed connections to similar concepts from ancient religions and mythologies, and have studied the post-scriptural evolution of the concept in religion and arts.
A number of parallel concepts to the biblical Garden of Eden exist in various other religions and mythologies.Dilmun in theSumerian story ofEnki and Ninhursag is a paradisaical abode[46] of the immortals, where sickness and death were unknown.[47] Thegarden of the Hesperides inGreek mythology was also somewhat similar to the Jewish concept of the Garden of Eden, and by the 16th century a larger intellectual association was made in theCranach painting.
By studyinglate-13th-century BCE clay tablets fromUgarit, Hebrew Bible scholars M.J.A. Korpel and J.C. de Moor reconstructed closeCanaanite parallels, which they posit as being the origin of the biblicalcreation myth from the first chapters of Genesis including the Garden of Eden and Adam narrative.[48] Their reconstructed texts talk about the creator deityEl, who lived in a vineyard or garden together with his wifeAsherah onMount Ararat.[48] Another god,Horon, tries to depose El and when thrown down from the mountain, he transforms theTree of Life from the garden into a Tree of Death.[48] Horon also spreads around a poisonous fog, Adam is sent from the mountain to restore life on earth, Horon takes the shape of a large serpent and bites him, which leads to Adam and his wife losing their immortality.[48] However,John Day argues that these stories are not explicitly attested in the Ugaritic texts but are reconstructed on the basis of speculative and dubious suppositions.[49]
The word "paradise" entered English from theFrenchparadis, inherited from theLatinparadisus, paradisum, from theGreekparádeisos (παράδεισος). The Greek, in turn, was derived from anOld Iranian form, ultimately fromProto-Iranian*paridayjah, which also derivedOld Persian𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎹𐎭𐎠𐎶 (p-r-d-y-d-a-m,/paradayadām/, andAvestan𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌⸱𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀,pairi.daēza. The literal meaning of this word is 'walled enclosure', from *pari- 'around' (cognate with the Greekπερί and the Englishperi-, of identical meaning), and *dáyjah, "to make, form (a wall), build" (cognate with the Greekτοῖχος, 'wall'). The word's etymology is ultimately derived from theProto-Indo-European root*per- 'around', and the word*dʰóyǵʰos, 'something that is formed'.[50][51][52]
By the 6th/5th century BCE, the Old Iranian word had been borrowed into theAkkadian language aspardesu, 'domain'. It subsequently came to indicate the expansivewalled gardens of theFirst Persian Empire, and was later borrowed into a number of languages: into Greek asπαράδεισος (parádeisos), 'park for animals', cf.Anabasis, the most famous work ofXenophon; intoAramaic aspardaysa, 'royal park'; and intoHebrew (see below).[53]
The idea of a walled enclosure was not preserved in most Iranian usage, and generally came to refer to a plantation or other cultivated area, not necessarily walled. For example, the Old Iranian word survives aspardis in New Persian, as well as its derivativepālīz (orjālīz), which denotes a vegetable patch.[citation needed]
The wordpardes occurs three times in the Hebrew Bible, but always in contexts other than a connection with Eden: in theSong of Solomon4:13: "Thy plants are an orchard (pardes) of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard";Ecclesiastes2:5: "I made me gardens and orchards (pardes), and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits"; and inNehemiah2:8: "And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's orchard (pardes), that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city". In these examples,pardes clearly means 'orchard' or 'park', but in the Jewishapocalyptic literature and in theTalmudparadise gains its associations with the Garden of Eden and its heavenly prototype, a meaning also present in theNew Testament.[citation needed]
Italian historianMario Liverani argues that the Garden of Eden was modeled on Persian royal gardens,[55] while John Day argues that linguistic and other evidence indicates that theyahwistic Eden story was composed before the Persian period.[56] US archaeologistLawrence Stager posits that the biblical Eden narrative drew from aspects ofSolomon's palace and temple compound andJerusalem.[12]
In theSeptuagint (3rd–1st centuries BCE), the Greekπαράδεισος (parádeisos) was used to translate both the Hebrewפרדס (pardes) andגן (gan), meaning 'garden' (e.g.Genesis 2:8,Ezekiel 28:13): it is from this usage that the use ofparadise to refer to the Garden of Eden derives.[19]
In the New Testamentparadise becomes the realm of the blessed (as opposed to the realm of the cursed) among those who have already died,[57] with literaryHellenistic influences.[citation needed]
In theTalmud and the JewishKabbalah,[59] the scholars agree that there are two types of spiritual places called "Garden in Eden". The first is rather terrestrial, of abundant fertility and luxuriant vegetation, known as the "lowerGan Eden" (gan meaning garden). The second is envisioned as being celestial, the habitation of righteous, Jewish and non-Jewish, immortal souls, known as the "higherGan Eden". Therabbis differentiate betweenGan and Eden. Adam is said to have dwelt only in theGan, whereas Eden is said never to be witnessed by any mortal eye.[59]
According toJewish eschatology,[60] the higherGan Eden is called the "Garden of Righteousness". It has been created since the beginning of the world, and will appear gloriously at the end of time. The righteous dwelling there will enjoy the sight of the heavenlychayot carrying the throne of God. Each of the righteous will walk with God, who will lead them in a dance. Its Jewish and non-Jewish inhabitants are "clothed with garments of light and eternal life, and eat of the tree of life" (Enoch 58,3) near to God and his anointed ones.[60] This Jewish rabbinical concept of a higherGan Eden is opposed by the Hebrew termsgehinnom andsheol, figurative names for the place of spiritual purification for the wicked dead in Judaism, a place envisioned as being at the greatest possible distance fromheaven.[citation needed]
Some modern Orthodox Jews believe that history will complete itself and the ultimate destination will be when all mankind returns to the Garden of Eden.[61]
In the 1909 bookLegends of the Jews,Louis Ginzberg compiled Jewish legends found inrabbinic literature. Among the legends are ones about the two Gardens of Eden. Beyond Paradise is the higherGan Eden, where God is enthroned and explains the Torah to its inhabitants. The higherGan Eden contains three hundred and ten worlds and is divided into seven compartments. The compartments are not described, though it is implied that each compartment is greater than the previous one and is joined based on one's merit. The first compartment is for Jewish martyrs, the second for those who drowned, the third for "Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples," the fourth for those whom the cloud of glory carried off, the fifth for penitents, the sixth for youths who have never sinned; and the seventh for the poor who lived decently and studied the Torah.[62]
In chapter two,Legends of the Jews gives a brief description of the lowerGan Eden. The tree of knowledge is a hedge around the tree of life, which is so vast that "it would take a man five hundred years to traverse a distance equal to the diameter of the trunk". From beneath the trees flow all the world's waters in the form of four rivers: Tigris, Nile, Euphrates, and Ganges. After the fall of man, the world was no longer irrigated by this water. While in the garden, though, Adam and Eve were served meat dishes by angels and the animals of the world understood human language, respected mankind as God's image, and feared Adam and Eve. When one dies, one's soul must pass through the lowerGan Eden in order to reach the higherGan Eden. The way to the garden is the Cave of Machpelah that Adam guards. The cave leads to the gate of the garden, guarded by a cherub with a flaming sword. If a soul is unworthy of entering, the sword annihilates it. Within the garden is a pillar of fire and smoke that extends to the higherGan Eden, which the soul must climb in order to reach the higherGan Eden.[62]
For some Christians, especially in theEastern Orthodox tradition, Eden is considered a reality outside of empirical history that affects the entire history of the universe as seen in the idea of anatemporal fall which separates humanity's current reduced form of time from the divine life enjoyed in Eden. This idea of an atemporal separation from Eden has been most recently defended by theologiansDavid Bentley Hart,John Behr, andSergei Bulgakov as well as having roots in the writings of several early church fathers, especiallyOrigen andMaximus the Confessor.[63][64][65][66]
Mozarabic world map from 1109 with Eden in the East (at top)
The term جنات عدنjannāt ʿadn ("Gardens of Eden" or "Gardens of Perpetual Residence") is used in theQuran for the destination of the righteous. There are several mentions of "the Garden" in the Quran,[67] while the Garden of Eden, without the wordʿadn,[68] is commonly the fourth layer of the Islamicheaven and not necessarily thought as the dwelling place ofAdam.[69] The Quran refers frequently over variousSurah about the first abode of Adam and his spouse (told to be Hawwa or Eve, her name is never given in the Quran), including surahSad, which features 18 verses on the subject (38:71–88), surahal-Baqara, surahal-A'raf, and surahal-Hijr although sometimes without mentioning the location. The narrative mainly surrounds the resulting expulsion of Adam and his spouse after they were tempted byIblis (Satan).
Despite the biblical account, the Quran mentions only one tree in Eden, the tree of immortality, from whichGod specifically forbade Adam and his spouse. Someexegesis added an account, aboutSatan, disguised as a serpent to enter the Garden, repeatedly told Adam to eat from the tree, and eventually both Adam and his spouse did so, resulting in disobeying God.[70] These stories are also featured in thehadith collections, includingal-Tabari.[71]
Quranic scripture of story
Quranic verses Q. 2:35–38, are believed to tell the story of Adam disobeying God's command and eating the Forbidden Fruit, and of God ordered him out of the Garden. One translation (the Clear Quran) that indicates that the Garden of Eden was in Heaven goes:
We cautioned, "O Adam! Live with your wife in Paradise (lit. "the Garden") and eat as freely as you please, but do not approach this tree, or else you will be wrongdoers." (2:35)
But Satan deceived them—leading to their fall from the [blissful] state they were in,1 and We said, "Descend from the heavens [to the earth] as enemies to each other.2 You will find in the earth a residence and provision for your appointed stay." (2:36)
Then Adam was inspired with words ˹of prayer˺ by his Lord, so He accepted his repentance. Surely He is the Accepter of Repentance, Most Merciful. (2:37)
We said, "Descend all of you! Then when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows it, there will be no fear for them, nor will they grieve. (2:38)[72]
Location
Quranic verses describe Adam was being expelled fromal-Jannah, "the garden", which is the commonly used word for paradise in Islam. However, according toIbn Kathir (d. 1372) and Ar-Razi (d. 1209), (exegetes of the Quran), four interpretations of the location of the garden prevailed among early Muslims:
that the garden was Paradise itself,
that it was a separate garden created especially for Adam and his spouse,
that it was located on Earth,
that it was best for the Muslims not to be concerned with the location of the garden.[73]
According to T. O. Shanavas however, contextual analysis of Quranic verses suggests the Garden of Eden could not have been in Paradise and must have been on earth. (For example, a sahih hadith reports Muhammad said: "Allah says: I have prepared for my righteous servants that which has neither been seen by eyes, nor heard by ears, nor ever conceived by any man." i.e. no man has ever seen Paradise. Since Adam was a man, he could not have seen paradise, therefore he could not have lived there.)[73]
Doctrine of "The Fall of Man"
Islamic exegesis does not regardAdam and his spouse's expulsion from paradise as punishment for disobedience or a result from abused free will on their part.[74]: 171 Instead,ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350) writes,God's wisdom (ḥikma) destined humanity to leave the garden and settle on earth. This is because God wants to unfold the full range of his attributes.[74]: 171 If humans were not to live on earth, God could not express his love, forgiveness, and power to his creation.[74] Further, if humans were not to experience suffering, they could neither long for paradise nor appreciate its delights.[74]Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006–1088) describes Adam and his spouse's expulsion as ultimately caused by God.[75]: 252 Nonetheless, despite the paradoxical notion that man has no choice but to comply to God's will, this does not mean that humans should not blame themselves for their "sin" of complying.[75]: 252 This is exemplified by Adam and his spouse in the Quran (Q. 7:23 "Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will certainly be losers"), in contrast to Iblis (Satan) who blames God for leading him astray (Q. 15:37).[75]
Numerous early leaders of the Church, includingBrigham Young,Heber C. Kimball, andGeorge Q. Cannon, taught that the Garden of Eden itself was located in nearby Jackson County,[39] but there are no surviving first-hand accounts of that doctrine being taught by Joseph Smith himself. LDS doctrine is unclear as to the exact location of the Garden of Eden, but tradition among Latter-Day Saints places it somewhere in the vicinity of Adam-ondi-Ahman, or in Jackson County.[79][80]
The 2nd-centuryGnostic teacherJustin held that there were three original divinities, a transcendental being called the Good, an intermediate male figure known asElohim and Eden who is anEarth-mother. The world is created from the love of Elohim and Eden, but evil later is brought into the universe when Elohim learns of the existence of the Good above him and ascends trying to reach it.[81]
One of oldest depictions of Garden of Eden is made inByzantine style inRavenna, while the city was still under Byzantine control. A preserved blue mosaic is part of the mausoleum ofGalla Placidia. Circular motifs represent flowers of the garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden motifs most frequently portrayed inilluminated manuscripts and paintings are the "Sleep of Adam" ("Creation of Eve"), the "Temptation of Eve" by the Serpent, the "Fall of Man" where Adam takes the fruit, and the "Expulsion". Theidyll of "Naming Day in Eden" was less often depicted.Michelangelo depicteda scene at the Garden of Eden on theSistine Chapel ceiling.
For many medieval writers, the image of the Garden of Eden also creates a location for humanlove andsexuality, often associated with the classic and medievaltrope of thelocus amoenus.[82]
In theDivine Comedy,Dante Alighieri places the Garden at the top ofMt. Purgatory. Dante, the pilgrim, emerges into the Garden of Eden in Canto 28 ofPurgatorio. Here he is told that God gave the Garden of Eden to man "in earnest, or as a pledge of eternal life," but man was only able to dwell there for a short time because he soon fell from grace. In the poem, the Garden of Eden is both human and divine: while it is located on earth at the top of Mt. Purgatory, it also serves as the gateway to theheavens.[83]
^abZevit, Ziony.What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? 2013. Yale University Press, p. 111.ISBN9780300178692.
^abDuncan, Joseph E.Milton's Earthly Paradise: A Historical Study of Eden. 1972. University Of Minnesota Press, pp. 96, 212.ISBN9780816606337.
^abScafi, Alessandro.Return to the Sources: Paradise in Armenia, in: Mapping Paradise: A History of Heaven on Earth. 2006. London, England and Chicago, Illinois: British Library and University of Chicago Press, pp. 317–322.ISBN9780226735597.
^abMark, Joshua J. (March 28, 2018)."Fertile Crescent".World History Encylcopedia.
^Levenson 2004, p. 13, "The root of Eden denotes fertility. Where the wondrously fertile gard was thought to have been located (if a realistic location was ever conceived) is unclear. The Tigris and Euphrates are the two great rivers of the Mesopotamia (now found in modern Iraq). But the Piston is unidentified, and the only Gihon in the Bible is a spring in Jerusalem (1 Kings 1:33, 38)."
^"The Jewish Quarterly Review".The Jewish Quarterly Review.64–65. University of Pennsylvania Press: 132. 1973.ISSN1553-0604. Retrieved2014-02-19....as Cossaea, the country of the Kassites in Mesopotamia [...]
^John Thornton, "How Jesus Became Black: Kongo's Discovery of its Role in the Creation and Nativity Stories, Journal of Early Modern History, 28 (2024): 305-328
^Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996).Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen. Vol. II. Carl Winter Universitätsverlag. p. 115.ISBN9783825304217.{{cite book}}:Check|isbn= value: checksum (help)
^Liverani, Mario (2007).Israel's History and the History of Israel, Routledge, p. 238. "[R]oyal gardens are the model for the 'garden of Eden' where the biblical story of Adam and Eve is set (Gen. 2.4–3.24). The word paradise (Heb. pardēs, Bab. pardēsu 'park') is of Persian origin (pairidaēza 'enclosure'), and the Persians were responsible for the spread of this kind of enclosed garden Thus, the Eden narrative should be assigned to the Babylonia of the Persian age."
^Behr, John (15 January 2018)."Origen and the Eschatological Creation of the Cosmos".Eclectic Orthodoxy.Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved5 February 2023.Our beginning in this world and its time can only be thought of as a falling away from that eternal and heavenly reality, to which we are called.
^Bulgakov, Sergei (2001). "Evil".The Bride of the Lamb. Translated by Jakim, Boris. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 170.ISBN9780802839152.
^Hart, David Bentley (2020). "The Devil's March: Creatio ex Nihilo, the Problem of Evil, and a Few Dostoyevskian Meditations".Theological Territories: A David Bentley Hart Digest. Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame Press.ISBN9780268107178.
Cohen, Chaim (2011)."Eden". In Berlin, Adele; Grossman, Maxine (eds.).The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion. Oxford University Press.ISBN9780199730049.
Levenson, Jon D. (2004). "Genesis: Introduction and Annotations". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.).The Jewish Study Bible. Oxford University Press.ISBN9780195297515.
Mathews, Kenneth A. (1996).Genesis. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers.ISBN9780805401011.
Tigchelaar, Eibert J. C. (1999). "Eden and Paradise: The Garden Motif in some Early Jewish Texts (1 Enoch and Other Texts Found at Qumran)". InLuttikhuizen, Gerard P. (ed.).Paradise Interpreted. Themes in Biblical narrative. Leiden: Konninklijke Brill.ISBN90-04-11331-2.
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