Editing Garden of Eden (section)

==Blissful garden concept==
{{Utopia}}
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.

===Sumeria and ancient Greece; Renaissance===
A number of parallel concepts to the biblical Garden of Eden exist in various other religions and mythologies. [[Dilmun]] in the [[Sumerian religion|Sumerian]] story of ''Enki and Ninhursag'' is a paradisaical abode{{sfn|Mathews|1996|p=96}} of the immortals, where sickness and death were unknown.{{sfn|Cohen|2011|p=229}} The [[garden of the Hesperides]] in [[Greek 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 the [[Lucas Cranach the Elder|Cranach]] painting.

===Canaanite origin theory===
By studying [[Ugaritic texts|late-13th-century BCE clay tablets]] from [[Ugarit]], Hebrew Bible scholars M.J.A. Korpel and J.C. de Moor reconstructed close [[Canaanite religion|Canaanite]] parallels, which they posit as being the origin of the biblical [[creation myth]] from the first chapters of Genesis including the Garden of Eden and Adam narrative.<ref name=MCAK>{{cite book |author1= Korpel, Marjo Christina Annette |author2= Moor, Johannes Cornelis de |title= Adam, Eve, and the Devil: A New Beginning |year= 2014 |publisher=[[Sheffield Phoenix Press]] |series= Hebrew Bible Monographs (65) |isbn= 978-1909697522 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rojtoAEACAAJ}}</ref> Their reconstructed texts talk about the creator deity [[El (deity)|El]], who lived in a vineyard or garden together with his wife [[Asherah]] on [[Mount Ararat]].<ref name=MCAK/> Another god, [[Hauron|Horon]], tries to depose El and when thrown down from the mountain, he transforms the [[Tree of Life]] from the garden into a Tree of Death.<ref name=MCAK/> 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.<ref name=MCAK/> However, [[John Day (biblical scholar)|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.<ref>{{cite book |title=From Creation to Abraham: Further Studies in Genesis 1-11 |last=Day |first=John |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-567-70311-8 |page=50 |chapter=The Serpent in the Garden of Eden: Its Background and Role |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gIpFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA50}}</ref>

===Evolution of Old Iranian "paradise" concept===
The word "paradise" entered English from the [[French language|French]] {{lang|fr|paradis}}, inherited from the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|paradisus, paradisum}}, from the [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] {{transliteration|grc|parádeisos}} ({{lang|grc|παράδεισος}}). The Greek, in turn, was derived from an [[Old Iranian]] form, itself from the [[Proto-Iranian]] ''*parādaiĵah-'', 'walled enclosure', which was derived from the [[Old Persian]] {{lang|peo|𐎱𐎼𐎭𐎹𐎭𐎠𐎶}} (p-r-d-y-d-a-m, {{transliteration|peo|/paridaidam/}}, whence from the [[Avestan]] {{lang|ae|𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌⸱𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀}}, {{transliteration|ae|pairi-daêza-}}. The literal meaning of this word is 'walled (enclosure)', from ''pairi-'' 'around' (cognate with the Greek {{lang|grc|περί}} and the English ''peri-'', of identical meaning), and ''-diz'', "to make, form (a wall), build" (cognate with the Greek {{lang|grc|τεῖχος}}, 'wall'). The word's etymology is ultimately derived from a [[Proto-Indo-European root]], ''{{PIE|*dheigʷ}}'', 'to stick and set up (a wall)', and ''{{PIE|*per}}'', 'around'.{{cn| date= February 2024}}

By the 6th/5th century BCE, the Old Iranian word had been borrowed into the [[Akkadian language]] as {{transliteration|akk|pardesu}}, 'domain'. It subsequently came to indicate the expansive [[Paradise garden|walled gardens]] of the [[First Persian Empire]], and was later borrowed into a number of languages: into Greek as {{lang|grc|παράδεισος}} ({{transliteration|grc|parádeisos}}), 'park for animals', cf. ''[[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]'', the most famous work of [[Xenophon]]; into [[Aramaic]] as {{transliteration|arc|pardaysa}}, 'royal park'; and into [[Hebrew]] (see below).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Encyclopaedia Iranica |title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/garden-i |access-date=2025-01-22 |website=iranicaonline.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

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 as {{transliteration|fa|pardis}} in New Persian, as well as its derivative {{transliteration|fa|pālīz}} (or {{transliteration|fa|jālīz}}), which denotes a vegetable patch.{{cn| date= February 2024}}

====Hebrew Bible and Jewish literature====
The word entered the Hebrew language with the meaning of [[pardes (Jewish exegesis)#Association with paradise|pardes]] ({{lang|he|פַּרְדֵּס}}), 'orchard', appearing thrice in the [[Tanakh]]: in the [[Song of Solomon]] ({{bibleref2-nb |Song |4:13}}), [[Ecclesiastes]] ({{bibleref2-nb |Eccl|2:5}}), and [[Book of Nehemiah|Nehemiah]] ({{bibleref2-nb |Neh|2:8}}).{{sfn|Day|2014|pp=26–27}}

The word {{transliteration|he|pardes}} occurs three times in the Hebrew Bible, but always in contexts other than a connection with Eden: in the [[Song of Solomon]] {{bibleref2-nb |Song|4:13}}: "Thy plants are an orchard ({{transliteration|he|pardes}}) of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard"; [[Ecclesiastes]] {{bibleref2-nb |Eccl|2:5}}: "I made me gardens and orchards ({{transliteration|he|pardes}}), and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits"; and in [[Nehemiah]] {{bibleref2-nb |Neh|2:8}}: "And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's orchard ({{transliteration|he|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, {{transliteration|he|pardes}} clearly means 'orchard' or 'park', but in the Jewish [[apocalyptic literature]] and in the [[Talmud]] ''paradise'' gains its associations with the Garden of Eden and its heavenly prototype, a meaning also present in the [[New Testament]].{{cn|date= February 2024}}

Italian historian [[Mario Liverani]] argues that the Garden of Eden was modeled on Persian royal gardens,<ref>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."</ref> while John Day argues that linguistic and other evidence indicates that the [[Jahwist|yahwistic]] Eden story was composed before the Persian period.{{sfn|Day|2014|p=49}} US archaeologist [[Lawrence Stager]] posits that the biblical Eden narrative drew from aspects of [[Solomon's Temple |Solomon's palace and temple compound]] and [[Jerusalem]].<ref name="Stager">{{cite journal |author=[[Lawrence E. Stager |Stager, Lawrence E.]] |title= Jerusalem and the Garden of Eden |journal=[[Israel Exploration Society#Periodicals and Series|Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies]] |publisher= [[Israel Exploration Society]] |year= 1999 |volume= 26|pages= 183*–194*|jstor= 23629939}}</ref>

====Septuagint and New Testament====
In the [[Septuagint]] (3rd–1st centuries BCE), the Greek {{lang|grc|παράδεισος}} ({{transliteration|grc|parádeisos}}) was used to translate both the Hebrew {{lang|he|פרדס}} ({{transliteration|he|pardes}}) and {{lang|he|גן}} ({{transliteration|he|gan}}), meaning 'garden' (e.g. {{bibleref |Genesis |2:8}}, {{bibleref |Ezekiel|28:13}}): it is from this usage that the use of ''paradise'' to refer to the Garden of Eden derives.{{sfn|Day|2014|p=26}}

In the New Testament ''paradise'' becomes the realm of the blessed (as opposed to the realm of the cursed) among those who have already died,{{sfn|Day|2014|p=27}} with literary [[Hellenistic]] influences.{{cn|date= February 2024}}

====Quran====
The same usage as in the Septuagint also appears in [[Arabic]] and in the [[Quran]] as {{transliteration|ar|[[firdaws]]}} {{lang|ar|فردوس}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tafsir Surah Al-Kahf - 107 |url=https://quran.com/18:107/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=Quran.com |language=en}}</ref>