The Search for Eden

BAR has reprinted an excerpt from Edgar James Banks Bismya: The Lost City of Adab (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1912). This is a traveler's diary in which Banks recounts his search for the Garden of Eden (which he failed to find).

Edgar James Banks (1866–1945) served as an American consul to the Ottoman empire and explored throughout the Middle East as an archaeologist and collector of antiquities. Banks became the first American to climb Mt. Ararat, searching for Noah's ark (which he failed to find).

BAR writes about Banks: "As an antiquities dealer, he imported between 11,000 and 175,000 artifacts to the United States, including hundreds of cuneiform tablets. After returning to the U.S., he became a consultant for the legendary film maker Cecil B. DeMille. Banks is considered to be one of the inspirations for Indiana Jones."

Read the Banks' excerpt here.


This represents another failed attempt to locate Eden and Noah's ark. If we pay attention to what Genesis actually tells us, we should search for Eden and Noah's ark in Africa, not Mesopotamia. The African word for garden or virgin forest is "egan" which is the etiology of the Hebrew 'Eden'. According to Genesis, the garden would have been west of Lake Chad, the homeland of Noah. It may be Eredo on the coast of Nigeria, and Noah's ark would have landed on Mount Meni in modern day Niger.



Related reading:  Finding Noah's Ark; Where Did Noah's Ark Land?