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The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

The Books of Enoch, Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

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THE BOOK OF WATCHERS 37<br />

towards Beqa', Amanus, Elymais(?), the lands <strong>of</strong> India, in the directions<br />

East, North, East, North-East.<br />

More complex, less clear, more difficult to sort out, are the mythological<br />

journeys <strong>of</strong> <strong>Enoch</strong>. <strong>The</strong> itinerary <strong>of</strong> the second expedition to the lands <strong>of</strong> the<br />

aromatics is relatively simple. In order to reach the mountains where nard,<br />

mastic, cardamom, and pepper grow, the patriarch takes the north-easterly<br />

direction. Following the route towards the East, he flies over the Red Sea,<br />

FIG. 4. <strong>The</strong> environs <strong>of</strong> Jerusalem according to <strong>Enoch</strong> 26<br />

crosses the barrier <strong>of</strong> darkness, and arrives in the Paradise <strong>of</strong> righteousness<br />

(4QEn^ I xxvi 18-21; En. 32: 2-3). This paradise is thus situated exactly<br />

in the North-East <strong>of</strong> the universe; it contains the tree <strong>of</strong> knowledge, ro<br />

SevSpov rrjs povqa€a}s (32: 3-6).<br />

Towards the east <strong>of</strong> the ends <strong>of</strong> the earth, the patriarch notices a region<br />

filled with huge beasts and birds (33: i). This is a striking parallel to<br />

a passage in the text accompanying the Babylonian Mappa Mundi (above,<br />

p. 15), obv. lines 6 to 9, where various beasts, including monkeys and seamonsters,<br />

but especially desert-animals, are enumerated. <strong>The</strong>re is surely an<br />

allusion here to the eastern shores <strong>of</strong> the Arabian peninsula and to Ethiopia.<br />

We shall see presently that five other regions <strong>of</strong> the Seven mentioned

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