Garden of Eden
From RationalWiki
The Garden of Eden is the mythical birthplace of all humanity, and a metaphorical perfect place of innocence.
According to the second Biblical creation story in Genesis, God made the Garden of Eden and filled it with all kinds of foods, including a tree whose fruit would impart knowledge of good and evil to whomever ate it. God then made humans, with the male coming first and then the female second. A snake then convinced the people to eat the fruit, despite a direct order not to from God. When they did so, they became ashamed of their nakedness, and God threw them out, setting up an angel with a flaming sword to keep them out.
As a mystical story explaining conscience and the hardships people have to endure, it is beautiful and haunting. As a literal account of the early days of humanity it does not make much sense. Much of the exegesis surrounding the story makes even less sense. Plenty of Biblical scholars have tried to suggest that all early animals were herbivores, despite being completely unsuited to it.
Attempts to place the exact location of the mythical Garden have been equally futile.
