Editing Garden of Eden (section)

==Proposed locations==
[[File:Tigr-euph.png|thumb|upright=1.5|The Tigris and Euphrates rivers]]
[[File:Mortier, Situation du Paradise Terrestre, 1700 Cornell CUL PJM 1014 01.jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.5|Map by [[Pierre Mortier]] captioned ''Map of the location of the terrestrial paradise, and of the country inhabited by the patriarchs, laid out for the good understanding of sacred history, by [[Pierre Daniel Huet]]'' (1700)]]
The location of Eden is described in Genesis 2:10–14:<ref>{{Bibleverse|Genesis|2:10–14|HE}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|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 is [[Pishon]]; 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 Cush. And the name of the third river is [[Tigris]]; that is it which goeth toward the east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the [[Euphrates]].}}

Suggestions for the location of Eden include<ref name="wilensky2012">{{cite book|last=Wilensky-Lanford|first=Brook|url=https://archive.org/details/paradiselustsear00wile|title=Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden|publisher=Grove Press|year=2012|isbn=9780802145840|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>Carol A. Hill, The Garden of Eden: ''A Modern Landscape' Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith'' 52 [March 2000]: 31–46 https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2000/PSCF3-00Hill.html</ref> the head of the [[Persian Gulf]], as argued by [[Juris Zarins]], in southern Mesopotamia where the [[Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]] rivers run into the sea;<ref name="Hamblin-1987">{{cite journal|last=Hamblin|first=Dora Jane|date=May 1987|title=Has the Garden of Eden been located at last? (Dead Link)|url=http://www.theeffect.org/resources/articles/pdfsetc/Eden.pdf|journal=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|volume=18|issue=2|access-date=8 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109135715/http://www.theeffect.org/resources/articles/pdfsetc/Eden.pdf|archive-date=9 January 2014}}</ref> and in the Armenian Highlands or Armenian National Plateau.<ref name="Zevit">Zevit, Ziony. ''What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden?'' 2013. Yale University Press, p. 111. {{ISBN|9780300178692}}.</ref><ref>Day, John. ''Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan.'' 2002. Sheffield Academic Press, p. 30. {{ISBN|9780826468307}}.</ref><ref name="Duncan">Duncan, Joseph E. ''Milton's Earthly Paradise: A Historical Study of Eden.'' 1972. University Of Minnesota Press, pp. 96, 212. {{ISBN|9780816606337}}.</ref><ref name="Scafi">Scafi, 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. {{ISBN|9780226735597}}.</ref> British archaeologist [[David Rohl]] locates it in [[Iran]], and in the vicinity of [[Tabriz]], but this suggestion has not been adopted by mainstream academia.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |year=2007 |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |publisher=National Geographic |page=10 |isbn=978-1-4262-0084-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJW-zhffwk4C&pg=PA10}}</ref>

Others theorize that Eden was merely a region of "considerable size" in [[Mesopotamia]], where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such as [[Telassar]], based on verses such as Isaiah 37:12.<ref name="Telassar" /><ref name="Biblehub-2023" /> Or that it encompassed the entire Fertile Crescent.<ref name="Mark-2018" />

According to Terje Stordalen, the Book of Ezekiel places Eden in Lebanon.<ref>{{harvnb|Stordalen|2000|p=164}}.</ref> "[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",<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|2001|p=138}}.</ref> and there are connections between paradise, the Garden of Eden and the forests of Lebanon (possibly used symbolically) within prophetic writings.<ref>{{harvnb|Swarup|2006|p=185}}.</ref> [[Edward Lipinski (orientalist)|Edward Lipinski]] and [[Peter Kyle McCarter]] have suggested that the [[Garden of the gods (Sumerian paradise)|garden of the gods]], the oldest [[Sumer]]ian analog of the Garden of Eden, relates to a mountain sanctuary in the Lebanon and [[Anti-Lebanon Mountains|Anti-Lebanon ranges]].<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|2009|p=61}}.</ref>

Some religious groups have believed the location of the garden to be local to them, outside of the Middle East. Some early leaders of [[Mormonism]] held that it was located in [[Jackson County, Missouri]].<ref name="fairlatterdaysaints" /> The 20th-century [[Panacea Society]] believed it was located at the site of their home town of [[Bedford]], England,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Jane |title=Octavia, Daughter of God |date=2012 |publisher=Random House |isbn=9781446484272 |pages=119}}</ref> while preacher Elvy E. Callaway believed it was on the [[Apalachicola River]] in Florida, near the town of [[Bristol, Florida|Bristol]].<ref>Gloria Jahoda, ''The Other Florida'', chap. 4, "The Garden of Eden." ISBN 9780912451046.</ref> Some suggested that the location is in [[Jerusalem]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/26/3/2|title = Jerusalem as Eden|date = 24 August 2015}}</ref>

On [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus#Third voyage|his third voyage]] to the [[Americas]] in 1498, [[Christopher Columbus]] thought he may have reached the Earthly Paradise upon first seeing the [[South America]]n mainland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bergreen|first=Lawrence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Dyhtkk4VQcC|title=Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1493–1504|publisher=Penguin Group US|year=2011|isbn=978-1101544327|page=236|author-link=Laurence Bergreen}}</ref>

In his book ''The Creation, the Garden of Eden and the Origin of the Chinese'', [[Tse Tsan-tai]] argued that the Garden of Eden was located in modern-day [[Xinjiang]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-10-02 |title=The Garden of Eden – in China? |url=https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/583-east-is-eden-adam-and-eves-chinese-garden/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=Big Think |language=en-US}}</ref>