Of the three hypotheses which we have last stated, that given by Hartmann is the most simple. Sickler's supposes a conception on the part of the ancient writer which is entirely too inconsistent with itself. That of Buttmann rests upon too many separate suppositions, improbable enough in themselves; and assumes, besides, the existence of southern Asiatic traditions among the Hebrews before the Captivity ; a view that finds no support but in the hypothesis itself, which places Para- dise in India. But Hartmann's view also is sufficiently met by the fact, which, however, has only recently be- come known, that the vale of Cashmere is, in climate and productions, very far from resembling a paradise (see Ritter, Erdkunde, ii, 1083 sq.; vii, 70 sq.). Thus, even if we should adopt this mythical view, there would be just as much difficulty in determining the regions which the author of Genesis intended, as more literal interpreters have found in placing them, on the supposi- tion that the description is truly geographical. There appears no proof in this view that the writer thought at all of South Asia (although Pishon may be the Oxus) ; at least, it is going too far to extend his views to India, and identify Pishon with the Indus or the Ganges. Ewald {Isr. Gesch. i, 331) thinks that the names were changed in the passage of the tradition to the Hebrews; that they substituted the better known names of the Eu- phrates and Tigris for those of the unknown Indus and Ganges. Tuch {Gen. p. 72 sq.) would look only at the easily intelligible part of the account, the fellow-streams Euphrates and Tigris ; and would look for Paradise among the heights of Armenia, which would accord well with Noah's liistorN' (see Gen. viii). But it is ob- jected that it is uncritical to cut off half of the de- scription given, and destroy the conception, in order to join certain historical features. It is no part of our purpose here to examine the results of historical inves- tigation, apart from the Mosaic records, respecting the lirst scat of the human race.
All that is related in Genesis as having occurred from the creation of man, and his location in the garden of Eden, up to the time of his guilt and expulsion, has in like manner been viewed as a philosophical speculation, set forth in a historical form, on the origin of physical and moral evil, and the destruction of that golden age wiiich the fancy of all nations has seen in remote an- ti(iiiity (see especially Ammon, in the Neues theol. Jour, iii, 1 sq. ; Bihl. Theol. ii, 300 sq. ; Bauer, Ilehr. Mythol. i, 85 sii. ; Buttmann. in the Eerl. Monatsschrij't.[\&0^'\ 2<!1 sq., and Mythol. i, 122 sq. ; Vater, Comment, iib. Peri-
PARADISE
656
PARADISE
tat. i, l-i sq. ; Gesenius, in the Ilnll. EncyU. i, 358 sq. ; Eichhorn, i'lr/eschich. ; Hartmanii, Ihh. Pvntat. p. 373 sq. ; Colin, Bibl. Tlieol. i, 224 sq.). But more literal and historical interpreters of the passage have also appeared (as Hengstenberg, Christol. I, i, 2G sq. ; Tiele and Baum- garten, Comment.). Others are but half literal in their exposition, and seek to distinguish the essential facts from the mere dress of ornament (e. g. Less, Cramer, Lii- derwald, Eifert, Werner, in his Geschichtl. Auffas, der 3 ersten Cap. il. Gen. [Tubing. 1829]). Von Gerstenberg defends the allegorical exposition, Kosenmiiller and Gam- borg the hieroglyphical view, that the account is but a translation into words of old hieroglyphic sketches (see Tuch, Gen. p. 5G sq. ; and comp. Bellerman, Handh. i, 37 sq. ; Beck, Comment. Eel. Chr. Hist. p. 393 sq.). It seems scarcely necessary to refer to the views of Hullman, in his Theoffonie, and of Ballenstedt, in Die neiie v.jefz- i(/e Welt, p. 222 sq., as they do not rest on the ]\Iosaic his- tory. The anonymous ^vork, Urspriingl. Eniwiclcelungs- gawj der reli'j. u. sittl. Bildan<j (Greifsw. 1829), is sim- ply childish.
3. Parallel Traditions. — The idea of a terrestrial par- adise, the abode of purit\' and happiness, has thus formed an element in the religious beliefs of all nations. The image of '• Eden, the garden of God," retained its hold upon the minds of the poets and prophets of Israel as a thing of beauty whose joys had departed (Ezek. xxviii, 13 ; Joel ii, 3), and before whose gate the cherubim still stood to guard it from the guilt\-. For interesting par- allels from the philosophical speculations of other na- tions, see Bruns, in Gahler^s Jour. f. aiiserl. theol. Lit. V, 50 sq. ; Bauer, 3/ythol. i, 96 sq. ; Pustkuchen, Urgesch. der Menschh. i, 186 sq.
(1.) Classical. — Descriptions of the early golden age with which man's existence on earth began, in general, are given by Hesiod, [Vorks and Days, p. 95 sq. ; Dicte- archus, in Porphyr. Ahstinen. iv, 2; Virgil, Georg. i, 128 sq. ; Ovid, Met. i, 89 ; Lucretius, v, 923 sq. ; Plato, Polit. p. 271. Comp. Lactant. Instit. v, 5 ; S. G. Friderici Diss, de A urea cetat. quam poetce finxerunt (Leips. 1736) ; Tiedemann, in the Berl. Monatsschr. (Dec. 1796), p. 505 sq. ; Cams, Werke,\i, 157 sq.
(2.) Oriental. — Arab legends tell of a garden in the East, on the summit of a mountain of jacinth, inaccessi- ble to man ; a garden of rich soil and equable tempera- ture, well watered, and abounding with trees and flow- ers of rare colors and fragrance. So among the Hin- dus, in the centre of Jambu-dwipa, the middle of the seven continents of the Puranas, is the golden moun- tain Meru, which stands like the seed-cup of the lotus of the earth. On its summit is the vast citj' of Brah- ma, renowned in heaven, and encircled by the Ganges, which, issuing from the foot of Vishnu, washes the lunar orb, and, falling thither from the skies, is divided into four streams, that flow to the four corners of the earth. These rivers are the Bhadra, or Oby of Sibe- ria ; the Sita, or Hoang Ho, the great river of China ; the Alakananda, a main branch of the Ganges ; and the Chakshu, or Oxus. In this abode of divinity is the Nandana, or grove of Indra ; there too is the Jambu-tree, from whose fruit are fed the waters of the Janihu river, which give life and immortality to all who drink thereof ( F«s/<«(< Purimff, trans. Wilson, p. 166-171). The enchanted gardens of tlie Chinese are placed in the midst of the summits of Ilouanlun, a high chain of mountains farther north than the Himalaya, and forther east than Hindu-Cush. The fountain of immortality which waters these gardens is divided into four streams, the fountains of the su- preme si)irit, Tychin. Amont; the Medo-Persians the gods' mountain Alborj is the dwelling of Ormuzd, and i\\z good spirits, and is called ''the navel of the ■waters." The Zend books mention a region called Heden, and the place of Zoroaster's birth is called Hedenesh, or, according to another passage, Airjana Vidjo (Knobcl, Genesis).