Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0302Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of two boys sitting on a hill, below them is a large field that's been plowed, further back are palm trees, buildings and a river. Above the image "T507 (Star)" is printed, below the image "V27702T Where Tradition Locates the Garden of Edne - valley of the Euphrates, 250 Miles N. W. of Babylon, Iraq." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted, Underwood & Underwood, Inc. Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
V27702
WHERE TRADITION LOCATES GARDEN OF EDEN
We are on the right bank of the Euphrates, facing east. Persia and Afghanistan and norhtern India lie beyond that distant horizon. These waters have come down from a mountainous district far off to our left in Armenia and Asia Minor. They are bound for the Persian Gulf, far off at our right. Behind us the broad Arabian desert stretches its barren expanse between here and Palestine.
Here the summer heat is intense and rain very seldom falls; but climatic conditons may have been different in ancient times. At all events the Euphrates waters never fail, and men are able to get a living in the lands alongside this strea. Right here where we stand, the river valley is praticularyl productive. These date-palms produce great quantities of fruit without any expenditure of labor. Fig trees bear big crops. Grain, beans, melons and other vegetables can be raised with very little work other than irrigation. We can plainly see preparatios for irrigating the fields before us.
Very ancient traditions say that somewhere in this part of the great Mesopotamian valley was the Garden of Eden of which we read in the Hebrew book of Genesis. It is certain that this district was inhabited thousands of years before the beginning of the Christian era. The ruins of the ancient city of Babylon have been found about 250 miles farther down the river, off at our right, and ancient monuments prove by their inscriptions that Babylonia was, even as far back as 2250 B.B., a land with an elaborate code of laws and fairly advanced social customs.
The dwellers in this riverside village are of mixed ancestry, partly Semitic. They are Mohammedans, formerly subjects of the Turkish government, but now under British mandate.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection