Soden: “The imagery of sacred space, the holy mountain, and God's sanctuary raises the question of the relationship of the biblical Eden to physical geography. The traditional view that it was a historical site, with attempts to locate that place, either with reference to modern geography or through assumed changes due to a catastrophic flood, has been challenged by those who would see the description as mythic, symbolic, or utopian. Certainly the geography elicits difficulties, such as how one head water can become four major rivers and how it correlates with modern geography (including the identity of two of the rivers). Though neither the possibility of symbolic language nor an ambiguous context necessarily denies physical existence, it does provoke necessary interaction with the text.”
Futato: Genesis 2:8 and Ezekiel 28:13 indicate that the garden is located within the larger region called Eden. “There has been much speculation on the location of the Garden of Eden, but the meaning (quality) is of greater importance.” Thus, the word itself is probably related to the Hebrew verb 'dn and the noun 'eden meaning “luxuriate, delight” and that is how the translators of the Septuagint understood the word."
D.T. Olson points out, however, that an alternative meaning for Eden comes from the Sumerian word for “wilderness, plain.” That etymology fits the general geography of Mesopotamia better than locating it on a mountain, but does not at all agree with the way the region was referred to metaphorically in other biblical accounts as “not simply a luxurious paradise but a place created by God in which human beings live and eat and work. Eden functioned as a paradigm of the unbroken relationships between God and humans, and between humans and nature, which no longer obtained after the first couple's disobedience.” He adds, “The location of the garden of Eden that the author of Genesis had in mind is difficult to determine. Genesis 2:8 places the garden 'in the east,' which in general indicates Mesopotamia.”
Kline: “The narrative's concern with real earthly history is apparent in the geographical notes, especially the familiar (Tigris and Euphrates) rivers. Pishon ('Gusher') and Gihon ('Bubbler') are not known, and this suggests the possibility of vast changes in the terrain between Adam and Moses.”
Ellison: “...Eden, an unspecified locality – commentators place it with equal confidence in the highlands of Anatolia or Armenia, or at the head of the Persian Gulf.”
T.C. Mitchell: The word may also be derived from Akkadian edinu, meaning a flat region. The word translated as “head” or “beginning” may “mean either the beginning of a branch, as in a delta, going downstream, or the beginning or junction of a tributary, going upstream. Either interpretation is possible, though the latter is perhaps the more probable.” “...the identifications for the Pishon and Gihon are almost as diverse as they are numerous ranging from the Nile and Indus to tributaries of the Tigris in Mesopotamia. Sufficient data are not available to make it possible to identify either of these two rivers with certainty.” “Theories as to the location of the garden of Eden are numerous. That most commonly held...is the view that the garden lay somewhere in southern Mesopotamia, the Pishon and Gihon being either canals connecting the Tigris and Euphrates, tributaries joining these, or in one theory the Pishon being the body of water from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea, compassing the Arabian peninsula...but another group of theories...seeks to locate the garden in the region of Armenia, where both the Tigris and Euphrates taken their rise. The Pishon and Gihon are then identified with various small rivers of Armenia and Trans-Caucasia...”
J. H. Walton: Recent data indicate that “Eden” may derive from an Aramaic word meaning “to enrich, make abundant.” “The picture is of a mighty spring that gushes out from Eden and is channeled through the garden for irrigation purposes. All of these channels then serve as headwaters for the four rivers flowing out in various directions as the waters exit the garden.” “The location of the garden, if the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates are located near it, would immediately evoke in our minds the mountains of Armenia between the Black Sea and Lake Van, where the sources of those rivers are located. But before we jump to that conclusion, a couple of caveats must be considered. This is not a modern geographical text any more than Genesis 1 is a modern scientific text...it should be realized that the geography used here is not a topographical geography but a cosmic geography...Though the four rivers were real bodies of water, their description here concerns their cosmic role. The river of Eden was the place of God's abode and was the source of life-giving water that flowed through the rivers, benefiting all the earth.” This turns out to be exactly the same picture given in the new Eden in Revelation 22.
“It is not impossible that the Pishon and Gihon are major rivers that dried up in antiquity. Analysis of sand patterns in Saudi Arabia and satellite photography have helped identify an old riverbed running north-east through Saudi Arabia from the Hijaz mountains near Medina to the Persian Gulf in Kuwait near the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates. This would correlate with the information given for the Pishon River. The river is believed to have dried up between 3500 and 2000 B.C...A final identification of the Pishon and Gihon is that they are cosmic waters. But until more information is discovered, they must remain mysterious...Its location is not given so that it can be found but so that its strategic role can be appreciated. All fertility emanates from the presence of God. All of this does not imply that Eden is not an actual physical location – only that the geographical details are not necessarily supposed to offer a roadmap.”
Wenham: The fact that the the garden of Eden was located in the east (Genesis 2:8) means in “reference to the author's position” in Israel. That would place it somewhere in Mesopotamia or Arabia. But Wenham also points out that “in the east” sometimes means “in ancient times.” See Isaiah 45:2; 46:10, even though it is unlikely that is the meaning here. Although the description may just be “symbolic of a place where God dwells...the mention of the rivers and their location in vv 10-14 suggests that the final editor of Gen 2 thought of Eden also as a real place, even if it is beyond the wit of modern writers to locate.”
“Its division into four streams may suggest the idea of completeness and the universality of the river..” See my post on The Number Four in the Bible. Wenham says, “The identity of Pishon and Gihon is problematic...There is no consensus about which rivers are meant.” Suggestions concerning Pishon include the Indus, the Ganges, or a river in Mesopotamia or Arabia. He, however, notes that the Land of Havilah in v. 11 and elsewhere in the Bible indicates that it “must either be identified with an Arabian river, or with the Persian Gulf and Red Sea 'which goes round all the land of Havilah.'”
Gihon is the name of the principal spring for Jerusalem (I Kings 1:33,38) but is highly unlikely that this is the identification here since the Gihon is said to water Cush, a term that may refer to the land of Ethiopia or Egypt. “It is this mention of Cush which has lead most ancient and modern commentators to identify this Gihon with the Nile.” Others have suggested on the basis on Genesis 10:8 alone that Cush is located in Mesopotamia instead.
Another approach is that of Speiser, who notes that the Tigris and Euphrates, and possibly the other two rivers, join up near the head of the Persian Gulf. The only problem with this approach, according to Wenham, is that the four rivers were said in Genesis to arise in Eden, not join up there. But see T.C. Mitchell's comments above, which would explain this better.
Hamilton: “...although the reference is to real rivers, two of which are well known, still the section is based on the mythical concept of the four world rivers – Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, and Indus – which surround the entire earth...E.A. Speiser has shown that yasa min in Gen. 2:10 does not mean 'flow from' but rather 'rise in,' and what is pictured here is not a river emerging from the garden and subsequently branching into four separate rivers, but rather a river that is formed just outside the garden by the convergence of four separate branches.”
So you have a number of possibilities to chose between regarding Eden's location. Just don't ask me to pick one.
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