A researcher has proposed a hypothesis suggesting that the Garden of Eden may not have been in Mesopotamia, as previously believed, but rather in Egypt, under the shadow of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
In a study published in the journal Archaeological Discovery, Dr. Konstantin Borisov indicated that the famous paradise in which Adam and Eve lived may have flourished in Egyptian lands.
The Bible describes a river flowing from Eden and dividing into four branches: the Gihon, the Phison, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Scholars have long assumed that Eden was in Iraq, the home of the Tigris and Euphrates. But Borisov claims that the ancient rivers could also correspond to the Nile (Gihon), Euphrates, Tigris, and Indus (Phison).
“By examining a map dating back to around 500 BC, it becomes clear that the only four rivers that originate in the Oceanus are the Nile, Tigris, Euphrates, and Indus,” Borisov wrote in his study.
Not stopping there, the scholar claimed that the sacred Tree of Life itself, said to bear fruit that grants eternal life, once stood near the Great Pyramid. He believes the pyramid's internal structure mimics the shape of a tree.
"It cannot be ignored that the charge particles in this simulation are arranged in such a way that they form several parallel branches extending from the center line, creating a tree-like representation," he wrote.
Borisov pointed to a 2012 simulation of the King's Chamber in the pyramid, which showed charged particles gathering at the top of the monument, producing light phenomena resembling a glowing tree.
"When emitted from the pyramid, the charged particles collide with neutral nitrogen and oxygen atoms, ionizing them and resulting in the release of photons, often in purple and green colors," he wrote.
The "tree" in his simulation has five distinct branches, just like the five layers of columns in the pyramid's evacuation chambers.
To support his theory, Borisov turned to ancient texts and medieval maps, including the 13th-century Hereford Mappa Mundi, which depicts the Earth as a circle surrounded by a mythical river called Oceanus. At the top of the map is "paradise," bordering the river's edge.
The ancient historian Titus Flavius Josephus also supports parts of Borisov's vision. In his book Antiquities of the Jews, he states: "Paradise was watered by a single river, which ran around the entire earth and was divided into four parts."
Josephus also identified the four biblical rivers with their real-life equivalents: “Phisson… flows into India, and empties into the sea… the Euphrates also, and also the Tigris, descend into the Red Sea… and the Gihon flows through Egypt,” indicating that the Gihon is the ancient Greek name for the Nile.
"At this point, all the biblical rivers have been identified, and it seems all we need to do is trace the Oceanus's path around the world to locate Eden," Borisov writes, though he admits he still needs to "determine the exact path of Oceanus."
However, if he is right, the Great Pyramid of Egypt may not just be a wonder of the ancient world, but the only surviving monument to the biblical paradise.