A discourse of the terrestrial paradise aiming at a more probable discovery of the true situation of that happy place of our first parents habitation / by Marmaduke Carver ...

CHAP. XV.

An Enquiry where the Region of Eden lies.

HAving thus finished the Description of the River with its four Heads, it re∣maineth now that we turn our eyes back again, to see if we can discover any thing

more perfectly concerning the Region of Eden, and the Situation of Paradise in it. And though we well know how obnoxi∣ous to exceptions such particularizing is; yet having ingaged our selves thus far, and already discovered some marks in Moses to guide us in this search, we shall not refuse to doe our best endeavour to finish that also. As for the Limits of Eden, I think it lies not in the wit of any man at this day to set us out punctually and exactly how large or narrow the compass of that Countrey was in Moses's Chorography: yet seeing himself hath told us that the Spring of this River was in Eden, he hath left us assured that it was either the same, or at least a part of that Countrey which Secular Geogra∣phers call Sophane, lying betwixt the Moun∣tains Masius and Anti-Taurus, which did so overshadow it on both sides, (though it self also were full of lesser Hills) that from thence it seems to have taken its denomina∣tion: for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (for Eustath. Comment. in Dionys. Perieg. calls it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) is as much as obtegere vel obum∣brare; and so this name was therefore gi∣ven it, eò quòd verticibus Taurinis umbra∣tur, as Ammianus speaks in the description of Amida a famous City of this Province,

lib. 18. And it is not unlikely but we shall find the place we seek for in these parts, if we call to mind in what manner and with what words Cl. Marius Victor hath for∣merly described unto us the nature and quality of that part of this Region where we have already discovered the Fountain of this River, calling it Armeniae Saltus ac Medica Tempe: which is so exact a Para∣phrase of Eden, and so fully consonant to the words of Moses, that no Poet could have given us a better. Besides, the name An∣themusia given to this Region, if we pursue it to its first Original, hath much pregnan∣cy in it to evince this. For if we translate 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 out of Greek into Hebrew, (which was very near the vulgar language of the Natives of those parts) what other word could we chuse to render it by but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉? Truly their significations differ no more then a flowery and fragrant place doth from a place of pleasure. And that this name was anciently appropriated to the Re∣gion of Sophene, as it is easie to gather out of Strabo, so it is observed to our hand by D. Marius Niger, who limits it out with the very same Bounds, Geog. Asiae Com. 3. Sub Basilisena, inter Anti-Taurum & Ma∣sium Montes, jacet Sophena in convalle

quadam, Regio felix. And the very same was the situation of Anthemusia: Idem, Com. 4. Praeterea Regiones in Provincia sunt Anthemusia, inter Casium (al. Masi∣um) & Taurum Montes ad Armeniam, &c. Yet in Ptolemy's time and after (as we may gather from Ammianus) it may seem to have stretched its name so far South into Mesopotamia, as to reach the places about Edessa; for Batne municipium (so highly extolled for the admirable delightfulness of the place by the pen of Julian the Apostate) is by Ammianus seated in Anthemusia. And that the Grecians (after they had con∣quered the East) did in this manner change the old name of this Countrey into another of their own language, (yet the same in sig∣nification) we may be assured from Corne∣lius Tacitus, who, mentioning some of the Cities within this Province, (and a∣mongst the rest Anthemusias, remembred also by Pliny under the name of Anthemu∣sia, lib. 5. c. 25. and Anthemus, lib. 2. c. 26. which we may well suppose was the same City with that which Ezek. 27. 23. is cal∣led Eden) observes by the way, that they had formerly other names, till the Greeks changed them. Annal. lib. 6. At Tirida∣tes volentibus Parthis Nicephorium & An∣themusiada,

caeterásque Urbes, quae, Mace∣donibus sitae, Graeca vocabula usurpant, Ha∣lúm que & Artemitam Parthica Oppida re∣cepit. However, there can be no doubt but that the children of Eden which dwelt in Thelasar, 2 Kings 19. 12. were true and native Inhabitants of this Region: for not onely other circumstances of the Text do persuade it, but the names of the places re∣membred with it do assure it, viz. Gozan, Haran, and Reseph; all which Cities are placed by Ptolemy in the North parts of Mesopotamia, and some of them (if I be not deceived) within the compass of Anthe∣musia largely taken. And though it be not easie to design the very place where Telasar was seated, nor indeed what it was, whether a Castle, a City, or a Coun∣trey, (or perhaps all;) for Eusebius, and af∣ter him Hierom, give us no more notice of it then that it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Regio Sy∣riae, by which no doubt they meant Assyria, and understood it in no other sense, then that it was conquered and after possessed by the Assyrians: yet even that is sufficient to satisfie us that it stood not near Aden in Arabia Felix, where Benjamin dreamed that he had found it. Nor is there any great probability in the opinion of Junius,

that it was Thilutha, a Castle seated in an Island of Euphrates not far from the borders of Babylonia: for beside the difference of the names, the removing of it at so far a distance from the forementioned Cities as the South Bounds of Mesopotamia are from the North, renders it very improbable. Nor can I subscribe to the Hierosolymitan Paraphrast, who affirms Resen (built by Nimrod in Assyria, Gen. 10. 12.) to be Telasar; adding this farther for the better designation of the place, that it was situate betwixt Ninive and Harjath, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Telasar inter Niniven & Harjath. For this affords small help to us that know not what that Harjath was, whe∣ther Charchathiocerta, (the Metropolis of Sophane) as Junius supposeth, or rather that Harra or Arra, whose Territory is remem∣bred by Geog. Nub. to lie within Assyria; betwixt which and Ninive if Telasar stood, in all likelihood it was no other in the Para∣phrast's meaning then some place of strength in the Island of Eden, (famous among the Eastern Christians to this day) lying but twelve miles above Mosal: whereto the Opinion of Epiphanius may be accommo∣dated, who calls Resen 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, by which (I suppose) he meant Labbana, which Pto∣lemy

placeth upon the banks of Tigris, at or near about this Island. But though I will not deny that Telasar in after-times might be called Resen, yet surely Resen in Assyria was none of the places which Sennacherib boasts of in his Conquests; for they were belonging to other Nati∣ons that had other Gods, whereas this was in his own native Countrey, and near his Royal City: and if it should be supposed that he might re-conquer it after some Re∣volt, yet if Telasar had been Resen in Assy∣ria, it should in reason have challenged the first mention in the Catalogue of his Vi∣ctories in that order wherein they are set down, and not after Gozan, Haran, and Reseph. More likely therefore it is that Resen, which was Thelasar, was that men∣tioned by Geog. Nubiensis amongst the Ci∣ties of Diar-Rabiaa, and placed betwixt Amed and Majafarecquin; Part. 6. Clim. 4. De Provinciis Diar-Rabiaa sunt Nisibin, Azun, Amed, Rasaain, Majafarecquin, &c. Nor yet doth he mean thereby the Rhisina mentioned in Ptolemy, as appears not one∣ly by the situation of it, but also because he afterward remembreth that Rhisina by the name of Ras-alain, ibid. though it is true, the signification in them both is the

same, viz. Caput, seu Fons aquae. And as that Rhisina or Ras-alain took that name because it stood near the Fountain of the River Cobar; so might this haply take the same appellation because it stood near the last Spring of Tigris; for so it must needs doe if it stood South of Majafarecquin, and North of Amida, which, as Ammianus notes lib. 18. è latere quidem Australi ge∣niculato Tigridis meatu subluitur propiùs emergentis. And if this Resen were Te∣lasar, we may well conjecture that the children of Rasses, Judith 2. 23. conque∣red by Nabuchodonosor, were the same with the children of Eden that were in Telasar, formerly subdued by some of the Assyrian Kings: for that that Rasses was either this Ras-aain, (or some place near it) the circumstances of the history plainly prove. Or if we imagine it to have been some strong Hold or Castle, it might in likelihood be seated upon that Hill out of which Tigris last riseth, and where the strong Hold of Amida after stood, re∣membred by Ammianus, and in Geog. Nub. called Tur-aamdin, and Propugnacula A∣med, which stood a considerable distance to the North of the City, as appears by the ci∣ted Authors, and more plainly in Not. Prov.

Or if we rather suppose it to have been a City, it is as likely to have been Thalima∣sus as any other, which Procop. De Bel. Persico lib. 1. sets 40. stad. distant from Amida: for the Letter (M) with its fore∣going Vowel being rejected, (which in forein words often proves Epentheticall) it will become Thalasus, which might easi∣ly be corrupted from Thalasar. Howso∣ever, it is certain that the Children of Eden possessed the Confines of Armenia and Me∣sopotamia, and their Countrey took up part of both. So much we learn from Aethi∣cus, who twice makes mention of it under the name of Adonis, (by the like change of the word as the Garden of Eden was by the Poets fictitiously represented under the Gardens of Adonis.) Once he names it among the Provinces of the East, (where his Com∣mentator Simlerus knows not how to ex∣pound it otherwise then by Eden in Moses;) and afterward among the Rivers: For spea∣king of a River which he calls Armodius, he describes it thus Fluvius Armodius nascitur in Aethiopia, inlustrans Regionē Adonis & Mesopotamiam; currit mill. 724, & accipitur Sinu Persico. Here it is evident that Adonis and Mesopotamia are neighbour Regions, and that Adonis lay more to the North, through

which this River flowing, that it should find its Head in Aethiopia will not seem strange, if we remember what hath been noted before, and that Aethicus a little af∣ter finds Tigris also rising in the same Ae∣thiopia: and in that it is said after so long a Course to empty it self into the Persian Gulf, it is apparent that it falls in by the way either with Tigris or Euphrates, but rather Euphrates, which we have before observed to pass under a name so near to this, that we may well suppose them to be the same: For as by most it is called Arsanias, so by Tacitus it is called Arsametes, which so cor∣rupt an Author as Aethicus is might easily change into Armodius. Or if this Con∣jecture please not, then supposing Ar to be the contract of Nahar, i. e. Fluvius, (as in Pliny Armalchar is Nahar-malca) then the remaining part Modius is very little different from the old name of Euphrates, which (as Plutarch tells us) was Medus: for so he, Lib. De Flu. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Euphrates Parthiae Fluvius est juxta Babylonem urbem, qui antea dictus est Medus. So that Armo∣dius is no other then the primitive and original Stream of Euphrates, or else some

Rivolet running into it. And as this Te∣stimony of Aethicus gives us a true and ex∣act intelligence of the Region of Eden, both in its name and situation: so no less clear is the Testimony of Sextus Rufus, who remembreth it under the same name, and in the same place, among the Conquests of Lucullus. His words are these: Tigra∣nocertam, maximam Armeniae Civitatem, expugnavit; Adenam, optimam Armeni∣orum Regionem, obtinuit; per Melitenam ad Mesopotamiam descendit; Nisibin cum Fraate Rege capit, &c. This Adena, that lay in the way of Lucullus returning from Tigranocerta to Melitene, and from thence passing into Mesopotamia to Nisibis, could be no other then this Region of Eden. In∣deed in some Copies it is Madenam; but in the Impression of Jansonius (which is the latest and best corrected) it is, as we have written it, Adenam: and we may sup∣pose that in the original Manuscript it was Hadenam (with an aspirate,) which by chan∣ging H into M was made Madenam; though even that reading will not offend those that remember how Marius Victor hath called the places hereabout Medica Tempe; and Q. Curtius, nothing the Decourse of Tigris betwixt the Cordiaci (i. e. the Carduchi)

and this Region, calls it Mediam, l. 5. As for the title of optimam Armeniorum regio∣nem, it is the same Encomium that this Author afterwards in the Life of Trajan gives to Anthemusia, calling it in like man∣ner optimam Persidis regionem: which as it may argue (what we have noted) that Adena and Anthemusia were the same Re∣gion; so it gives us farther to note how fully it did make good the signification of both these names, being a place of that de∣lightfulness, that no Region of the East was able to hold compare with it. And we may well believe it was so, not onely from the temperature of the Climate in which it was seated, (viz. betwixt the Latitude of 37 and 40 Deg.) but also by the many rare and precious things that Geographers and Historians report to be found here. For not onely was it a most fruitful Soil, yielding increase at almost an incredible proportion; but it yielded precious Stones also and Gold mines, (as after will appear.) It was stored with all sorts of Trees both for use and ornament, emulating a perpe∣tual Spring, yielding many rare and delicious Fruits; besides many medicinable Herbs, Plants and Druggs, not elsewhere to be

found of like virtue or worth. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Nam Regio pa∣scuis laeta est ac germinibus; adeóque etiam fert quae semper virent, & de aromatibus Amomum. Est etiam leontopodifera, & gig∣nit Naphtham, & Gagatem lapidem, qui ser∣pentes fugat; Strabo Geog. l. 16. From which plenty of choice Commodities we may learn the reason why, amongst those that traffick∣ed at Tyre, three Cities of this Region are remembred by Ezekiel, ch. 27. 23. Charan, Channe, and Heden. Of Heden there can be no doubt, and something may be intima∣ted of the situation of it afterward. Chan∣ne, or Canne, was either Caini, which in Notit. Provinc. is placed a little below Amida; or rather that City which gave name to the Countrey where Tigris had its last rise, which in some Copies of Strabo is read Chalonitis, but by Casaubon Chaoni∣tis, and Strabo himself acknowledgeth a Region of that name adjoyning to Assyria. And for Charan or Haran, it was not that which lay so far to the South in Mesopota∣mia, where Abraham dwelt; but the City

Corra in Ptolemy, whence the Region Cor∣rinaea, which Pliny (rejecting the aspirati∣on) calleth Arrhene, and lay about the place where the River of Eden first divides its Streams: and the same (I think) was that Haran, before mentioned, which adjoyned upon the Children of Eden which were in Telasar. And hereof the Amomum men∣tioned by Strabo may give us assurance, which grew within the territories of this City: So much I learn from Josephus, An∣tiq. Jud. l. 20. c. 2. Accersitum igitur silium maximo affectu excepit, eique dona∣vit Regionem quae dicitur Caeron, Amomi feracissimam. In ea servantur Arcae reli∣quiae, quâ Noe fertur evasisse Diluvium; ostenditúrque ibi hodie quoque videre vo∣lentibus. But that is generally believed to have been about Gordiaea; adjoyning to which was this Region of Chaeron or Cha∣ran, which being for the most part under the dominion of the Kings of Assyria or Adi∣abene, (as Josephus there testifies) hence it was that Virgil called it Assyrium amo∣mum, though growing indeed in Armenia, (as Dioscorides testifies) Eclog. 4. Assyri∣um vulgò nascetur amomum. And seeing it cannot be doubted, but such Aromati∣call

plants and herbs must needs perfume this Countrey with such an odoriferous and fragrant smell, as might well enough reach those parts of Mesopotamia and Assy∣ria through which Alexander's Army mar∣ched; I am inclinable to believe that this Countrey was it which Q. Curtius calleth by the name of Arabia, lying on their left hand in their journey to Babylon. Eunti∣bus aperit se laeva Arabia, odorum fertilita∣te nobilis Regio. Campestre iter est, in∣ter Tigrim & Euphratem, tam uber & pin∣guis soli, ut à pastu repelli pecora dicantur, nè satietas perimat. And here by the way we may correct an error in the former Book of the same Historian, who having told us of Alexander's passing his Army over Eu∣phrates, and thereupon refreshing them for a few daies, adds, Igitur quarto die praeter Arbella penetrat ad Tigrim. It is not easie to conceive what this Arbella should be, that Alexander marched by in his pas∣sage through Mesopotamia unto Tigris; for it is certain that Arbella where he gave Darius his last defeat was not onely beyond Tigris, but the River Lycus also. There∣fore I fear not to affirm that, in stead of praeter Arbella, it ought to be read praete∣ritâ

Arabiâ: and so Pliny frequently calls the Inhabitants of Mesopotamia (especially that part which lay about the Mountains, and adjoyned upon Armenia) by the name of Arabes; and at this day it is called Azemia, or Ayaman, the same name which they give to Arabia Felix. I might here adde something farther out of Strabo, con∣cerning the strange plenty of Hony dropping down from the leaves of the trees, (like that 1 Sam. 14. 26.) the huge clusters of Grapes, and excellency of the Wines in the adjoyning parts of Mesopotamia and Armenia: but (not to insist upon particu∣lars) if we desire the exact 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of such a place as in every respect fully de∣serves the name of Eden, let us take that description which Dionysius Afer hath made of this Countrey about the Lake Thonitis, and the distance betwixt the Streams of Tigris and Euphrates.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

Which Rhamnius Fannius the Grammarian hath translated in Latin thus:

Hoc tamen omne solum fluvius quod cingit uterque Indigenae populi pro re dixere Medam∣nem, Quòd medias amnes has terras flumine cin∣gunt; Agricolis pariter, pastoribus atque fera∣cem: Ubere tam laeto florenti semina cuncta Herbarúmque thoris & gramina laeta vi∣rescunt, Et variis rami complentur fructibus alti. Gens quoque praefulget claris in laudibus illa: Nam peperit multos celsâ virtute poten∣tes, Atque adeò similes Diis immortalibus illos.

Which Description suits so well to Adam's

Paradise, both in regard of the excellent Pasturage, the plenty of all manner of Fruit-Trees, the admirable Fertility of the Soil, and the flowry Meadows, that by that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Hominum stirpem pulcherrimam & immortalibus similem, we might suppose the Poet had a mind to represent before our eyes our First Parents inhabiting this happy place, while yet in their Innocency, created after the image and similitude of God. So that all this being laid together, we may well believe Ab. Ortelius had good reason for what he did, when he set the Countrey of Eden just in this place, Tab. 1. Geograph. Sac.