Is The Garden Of Eden Actually Underwater?

Discovering the location of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve's refuge until they tangled with a snake, has provided a daunting quest for explorers. The Bible describes the place in the Book of Genesis (2:10-14), including the words, "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads." According to the Chabad website, Genesis even names the four rivers as Pishon, Gihon, Chidekel (Hiddekel) and Phirat (Perat), making it seem like the Garden was found in southern Mesopotamia, now Iraq, according to The Express. 

The Chidekel is typically identified as the Tigris River that flows from Turkey to Iraq, emptying into the Persian Gulf, and Perat as the Euphrates River, which is parallel to the Tigris, according to Answers in Genesis.

No one has pinpointed all four locations with certainty, but finding these waters have occupied the time of many scholars. It's not even certain that the Bible divulged the location correctly. The Bible website Answers in Genesis points out that the rivers with those names today are not the same ones since a worldwide flood decimated the area — and "these rivers were probably named after the original pre-Flood rivers, just as settlers from the British Isles to America and Australia applied familiar names to many places in their 'new world.'"

Did the Great Flood destroy the Garden of Eden? Some say yes. Dr. Juris Zarins believes it lies underwater in the Persian Gulf, and that Adam and Eve's ouster from paradise served as a parable for mankind's metamorphosis from hunter/gather to a true agricultural society, according to Smithsonian. (posted at The Effect). For Zarins, when the Bible talks about Eden's location "in the east," he reads it as east of Israel. The archaeologist used satellite imagery to find the site, claiming that the Garden would be at the Gulf's head and discovered two dry river beds along with the Tigris and Euphrates, hypothesizing these were the fabled "four rivers."

It's hard to know the truth. After all, as Medium points out, there is probably no archaeological evidence of the Garden of Eden "because Scripture did not indicate that Adam built any structure or created any tools while in the garden."

Of course, the Garden could just be a mere legend and a metaphor for the larger story of humankind's beginnings. But if you are a believer, you might want to check out the waters in the Persian Gulf ... maybe make it the site of your next vacation?