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Gihon River

On the Sfera maps, Gion or Gihon is often labeled as an eastern tributary of the Nile River. The Gihon is mentioned in Genesis 2.10–11 as one of four rivers flowing out of the Garden of Eden (along with the Tigris, Euphrates, and Pishon); the Roman historian Josephus’s association of the Gihon with the Nile was widely accepted in later centuries.
This toponym does not appear in the poem, only on the maps accompanying it.

Variant spellings of Gihon River in Sfera manuscripts

Variant Manuscripts
.f. Sion Fo
eroni Pal8
Gion Clas2, He3, Parm2
gion Fn9, He2, Laur3, NB, Ricc15, Yale4
goricom ME2
sion Ashb4
sion .f. To2
Suggested citation
Beneš, Carrie. “Gihon River.” Gregorio Dati’s La sfera = The Globe: A Digital Edition, February 10, 2026. https://la-sfera-staging-a8db029690a6.herokuapp.com/toponyms/gion-an-eastern-branch-of-the-nile/.