Where was the Garden of Eden? Possibly in the Middle East, but no one knows for sure.
Some Christians theorize that it was destroyed in a massive, worldwide flood (yes, that one with Noah and the Ark) and that it is impossible to confirm one location or another.
However, the Bible offers various hints, tying it to four rivers (Pison, Gihon, Hiddekel, Euphrates) and offering other geographic clues:
“10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. ”
— Genesis 2:10-14
The whereabouts of the Pison (Pishon) River remain unknown, but it may have been the Wadi al Batin. The Hiddekel is the Tigris River. Gihon may have been the Karun or Abay River or the Blue Nile. The locations of the Euphrates is known, but the course of each of these rivers has surely changed as time has passed.
Wikipedia speculates on several regions as locations for the Garden of Eden. The relevance of most of these regions are touched upon in a well-reasoned study by Carol Hill.
- Africa
- Anatolia, Turkey
- Armenia
- Bahrain
- Iran
- Jerusalem
- Northern Mesopotamia
- Southern Mesopotamia (Arabian Peninsula / Persian Gulf)
It is also possible that Eden was not located on Earth. The Garden could be a spiritual place, a reference to paradise, or it could even be a reference to Shehaqim, the third sphere of Heaven.
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