The Garden of Eden

he Garden of Eden was a God-given paradise on earth for Adam and Eve, where the first humans lived innocently in perfect peace and harmony.

It is believed that the name of this place originates from the Persian word pairi-dae’za (paradise) which means an enclosure or garden/park and the Hebrew word “Eden”- “Delight”. From time immemorial the Garden of Eden has symbolized the dream of a natural, peaceful and harmonious way of life, free from care, death, drudgery, poverty, sexual repression and oppressive rule. 

According to other scholars, “Eden” is probably a country named “Edinu”, meaning a steppe or plain and may denote the vast plain watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Numerous extensive linguistic and historical studies have found that the term Eden or Edin appeared first in Sumer and was documented in sumerian cuneiform dated from about the third millenium B.C. In Sumerian the word “Eden” meant “fertile plain”. Other researchers believe that the origin of the word came from an older pre-Sumarian language spoken by the earlier Ubadian civilization. Established in Ubadian mythology, adopted and recorded by the Sumerians, the myth for Eden was included in the Hebrew scriptures.

“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there put the man ahom had formed” (Genesis 2:8). This is the first mention of the garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis. Then the majestic words become quite specific:

“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel (Tigris): that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates” (Genesis 2:10-14) King James’s Version

It is well known that both the Tigris and Euphrates rise in the Turkish Mountains, pass through Syria and join in Iraq where they form the Shatt al – Arb which flows into the Persian Gulf. The “land of Havilah” is thought to be situated on the Persian Gulf, northeast of Saudi Arabia which in ancient days was noted for its gold. This is the area south of Babylon known as Sumer. Thus the territory reached by the headwaters coming from Eden is very large, from Ethiopia to Assyria; from Turkey to Sumer; from the Persian Gulf to Arabia – the whole Middle East and beyond. Perhaps the entire southern portion of the fertile well-watered land between the Tigris ad Euphrates was the lost country called “Edinu”. Other scientists believe that Pison is a “fossil river” which flowed through Northern Arabia and is known by the modern Saudis and Kuwaitis as the Wadi Riniah and the Wadi Batin. Its dry beds were documented geologically by the space project LANDSAT. Recent studies identify the Gihon River as the perennial Karun River which rises in Iran and flows toward the present Gulf.

Did the Garden of Eden really exist? 

Whatever the answer is, the Garden of Eden has been an inexhaustible model and cherished goal for the designers of large gardens throughout the centuries, aspiring to the human ideal of life in Paradise. The GARDEN, in particular, “has always meant structured yearning, a sentimental return to a Golden Age and at the same time a step towards Utopia”, wrote the famous scientists C.F. Schröer - “it represents an attempt to recover a lost paradise on earth, to anticipate the promised kingdom of Heaven. The path to this goal is one of reconciliation with nature. The dream of Paradise encompasses both intimacy and Utopia: day-dream, the escape into the idyllic, a low value placed on reality, and at the same time a new departure, a will for change and a desire for freedom.”