Map of Yemen (Jemen) showing road from Aden to Ibb and Jarim. I make 4 distinctions on the term Eden. 1) It is preserved as Aden the port; 2) Eden is also a country, the Yemen (called Eudaemon Arabia by the Greeks, after the port of Aden also called Eudaemon Arabia); 3) the "Garden of Eden" is near Gerim according to the Talmud, "if" Eden is in Arabia. I identify Gerim with Jerim/Jarim (Yerim) on the road north of Ibb. 4) Aden might also be preserved at wadi Adhana at Marib, the old capital of Sheba. The province of Ibb receives the most rain and is the most fertile area within Arabia, which befits the Garden of Eden's association with abundant flora. Local tradition claims Adam and Eve's sons, CainandAbelareburiedatAden (the Koran calls the garden of Eden, Hebrew: Gan Eden, Jannat Adn) and Yemenite Jews pilgrimaging to Jerusalem in 1470 A.D. claimed this was the land of Eden, but where the garden was they did not know. (Map from Peter Wald. Der Jemen, Antike und Islam- Geschichte, Kultur und Kunst im Sudwesten Arabiens. Koln, Germany. DuMont Bucherverlag. 1980, 1992. ISBN 3-7701-1092-7)
01 Nov. 2007 Update:
Further research reveals that Eden was originally derived from the Sumerian word edin, which describes uncultivated steppeland associated with Upper and Lower Mesopotamia (modern Syria and Iraq). Apparently by Hasmonean times (2d century B.C.) some Jews (cf. the Book of Jubilees written circa 160 BC.) had transposed Eden from Mesopotamia to the Yemen. Please click here for my research on the Mesopotamian edin.
