Eden Is Located In …

Map showing the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and perhaps Eden

Eden is described in the Bible's Book first book, Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived perhaps for only a short while (some scholars claim for over 100 years), after they were created by God. Technically, the Bible describes a garden located within Eden (Gen. 2:8).

The Genesis creation narrative further describes the geographical location of both Eden and the garden within the vicinity of four rivers: the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and the Euphrates. The description also gives reference to three general areas or regions: Havilah (thought to be the peninsula where South-west Asia and Africa meet), Assyria (modern day Iraq), and Cush (North-eastern Africa or portions of modern day Egypt and Sudan). It is further described by many biblical scholars as lying in the “East.”

As described in Geneses:  “Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.  The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria.  And the fourth river is the Euphrates.”

The rivers Tigris and Euphrates are well known but the Pishon and Gihon are not known to exist at all in today’s world. However recent satellite images taken by NASSA may have determined the location of these two “missing” rivers. Two fossil rivers have been discovered lying in the South-eastern section of ancient Mesopotamia or modern day Iraq just North-west of the Persian Gulf, that have been dry for thousands of years.  This find certainly fits the missing rivers puzzle nicely.

Although this region has been dry and inhospitable for several hundred years, archeological finds have proven the area was once very nice in deed, teeming with all manner of life.  It was then called Mesopotamia.

As I am sure you are aware, out of the lands of Mesopotamia came one of the earliest civilization known to date; over 5,000 years ago those peoples were called the Sumerians. You probably don’t know that the term Mesopotamia literally means “between the rivers”, no doubt referring to the Tigris and the Euphrates and perhaps even the ancient Gihon and Pishon Rivers as well.  

I expect this fact may be of some significance because those folks had a creation story that is said to be very similar to the one told a thousand years later in the Hebrew Bible (I only mention this because currently it is “quite the rage”) in the Book of Genesis; in fact according to some scholars they are so similar, you might say the names have been changed so as to protect the innocent.

Personally I fail to see that much of a resemblance or likeness between the two creation (Hebrew and Sumerian) stories.  After all, practically every civilization has some sort of creation story of record, including but not limited to China; Egypt; Greece; and Japan. Both the Mayan as well as the Incan Civilizations can also be included as having there own special creation event.

Regardless, this particular region of the world certainly appears to fit the somewhat vague description of Eden, primarily because of the known locations of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates as well as the lands of Cush, Havilah, and Assyria. If the assumption is added that the referenced fossil rivers are in fact the Gihon and Pishon, then it becomes a “no-brainer”.  Plus the weather should have been nice due to it being just north of the Tropic of Cancer.

Yet on the other hand, there have been a lot of claims over the years as to where the actual geographic location of the Garden of Eden is but many of these have little or no connection to the text of Genesis;  most do place Eden somewhere within the Middle East.

The prophet Ezekiel mentions in his name sake book of the Bible that the trees in the Garden of Eden come from Lebanon (Ezekiel 31:15–18). This simple passage has been said by some to prove Eden is somewhere in modern day Lebanon.

A few other theorized locations of Eden include: the ancient Sumerian island of Dilmun, which some say is located somewhere among the islands of the Persian Gulf; quite literally under the Persian Gulf it’s self; or the city of Jerusalem; perhaps the most surprising location to me, is said to be Jackson County, Missouri in the United States of America.   I expect Missouri qualifies as being in the eastern part of the US (just barely) but Jackson County is in the extreme western edge if the state!  But this certainly does not eliminate the location as a possibility as I'm sure its east of somewhere.

Sources …                                                              http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Eden                          

http://scienceandthebible.xanga.com/679729999/item/            
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/iq.htm