The Cosmography of Paradise: The Other World from Ancient Mesopotamia to Medieval Europe, Warburg Institute Colloquia 27, 2016 * Author’s Note: This article is based on the presentation given at the conference Mondes clos: Cultures et jardins; Université de Genève, Genève, April 20–21, 2011. I am grateful to the organizers of this conference, Prof. Philippe Borgeaud and Daniel Barbu, for their hospitality. I would like also to express my gratitude to Prof. Sebastian Brock for his comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Abbreviations used in this essay: CSCO = Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. MT = Masoretic. Syr. = Scriptores Syri. Subs. = Subsidia. 1 Literature on this subject is immense. See, for example, J. Delumeau, History of Paradise: The Garden of Eden in Myth and Tradition, transl. M. O’Connell, New York, 1995; J. Daniélou, ‘Terre et Paradis chez les Pères de l’Église’, Eranos-Jahrbuch, 22, 1953, pp. 433–72; G. G. Stroumsa, ‘In Illo Loco: Paradise Lost in Early Christian Mythology’, in Genesis and Regeneration: Essays on Conceptions of Origins, ed. Sh. Shaked, Jerusalem, 2005, pp. 110–26. 2 For a general introduction into Syriac Christianity during this epoch, see L. van Rompay, ‘The East (3): Syria and Mesopotamia’, in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, eds S. A. Harvey and D. G. Hunter, Oxford, 2008, pp. 365–86; W. S. McCullough, A Short History of Syriac Christianity to the Rise of Islam, Chico CA, 1982; R. Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition, Cambridge, 1975. 3 On various aspects of paradise in Syriac Christian tradition, see G. A. Anderson, The Genesis of Perfection: Adam and Eve in Jewish and Christian Imagination, Louisville KY, 2001; P. Bettiolo, ‘Adamo in Eden e la liturgia celeste: temi della meditazione cristiana nella Siria del IV secolo, tra Afraate e il Liber graduum’, Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa, 37/1, 2001, pp. 3–27; R. A. Kitchen, ‘Syriac Additions to Anderson: The Garden of Eden in the Book of Steps and Philoxenus of Mabbug’, Hugoye, 6/1, 2003, §§1–47; T. Kronholm, Motifs from Genesis 1 – 11 in the Genuine Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian, Uppsala, 1978; S. Minov, ‘The Question of Sexuality in Paradise Gazing at the Holy Mountain: Images of Paradise in Syriac Christian Tradition* Sergey Minov Pour qu’une montagne puisse jouer le rôle de Mont Analogue, … il faut que son sommet soit inaccessible, mais sa base accessible aux êtres humains tels que la nature les a faits. Elle doit être unique et elle doit exister géographiquement. La porte de l’invisible doit être visible. René Daumal, Le Mont Analogue The notion of paradise was deeply ingrained in the Christian imagination, beginning from the earliest stages of its development. Rooted in the biblical account of Genesis 2– 3, the image of the Garden of Eden became a key element of Christian thought and allowed its thinkers to address a wide range of issues and themes. 1 In the course of history, the Christian views on paradise underwent profound changes, as they were transformed and adapted to the needs of the moment in different Christian cultures during different epochs. This essay represents a modest attempt to bring together several traditions on the Garden of Eden that were current among the Syriac-speaking Christians during the period of Late Antiquity. 2 Due to the limitations of space, no attempt will be made to offer even a cursory overview of the wide gamut of views on paradise that developed among the Christians of late antique Syria-Mesopotamia. 3 Instead, I shall focus only on 137