diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/cataloger.go b/syft/pkg/cataloger/cataloger.go
index ca1ca085877..dbe6c3fbdca 100644
--- a/syft/pkg/cataloger/cataloger.go
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/cataloger.go
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ func DirectoryCatalogers(cfg Config) []pkg.Cataloger {
 		java.NewJavaCataloger(cfg.Java()),
 		java.NewJavaPomCataloger(),
 		java.NewNativeImageCataloger(),
+		java.NewJavaGradleCataloger(),
 		java.NewJavaGradleLockfileCataloger(),
 		apkdb.NewApkdbCataloger(),
 		golang.NewGoModuleBinaryCataloger(cfg.Go()),
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ func AllCatalogers(cfg Config) []pkg.Cataloger {
 		java.NewJavaCataloger(cfg.Java()),
 		java.NewJavaPomCataloger(),
 		java.NewNativeImageCataloger(),
+		java.NewJavaGradleCataloger(),
 		java.NewJavaGradleLockfileCataloger(),
 		apkdb.NewApkdbCataloger(),
 		golang.NewGoModuleBinaryCataloger(cfg.Go()),
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/cataloger.go b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/cataloger.go
index be880a75723..c66416e29b2 100644
--- a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/cataloger.go
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/cataloger.go
@@ -32,6 +32,14 @@ func NewJavaPomCataloger() *generic.Cataloger {
 		WithParserByGlobs(parserPomXML, "**/pom.xml")
 }
 
+// NewJavaGradleCataloger returns a cataloger capable of parsing
+// dependencies from a pom.xml file.
+// Pom files list dependencies that maybe not be locally installed yet.
+func NewJavaGradleCataloger() *generic.Cataloger {
+	return generic.NewCataloger("java-gradle-cataloger").
+		WithParserByGlobs(parseBuildGradle, buildGradleDirGlob)
+}
+
 // NewJavaGradleLockfileCataloger returns a cataloger capable of parsing
 // dependencies from a gradle.lockfile file.
 // older versions of lockfiles aren't supported yet
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/parse_gradle.go b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/parse_gradle.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9765f9b6d2f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/parse_gradle.go
@@ -0,0 +1,273 @@
+package java
+
+import (
+	"bufio"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/artifact"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg/cataloger/generic"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/source"
+)
+
+const buildGradleDirGlob = "**/build.gradle*"
+
+// var propertyMatcherGradle = regexp.MustCompile("[$][{][^}]+[}]")
+
+// Dependency represents a single dependency in the build.gradle file
+type Dependency struct {
+	Group   string
+	Name    string
+	Version string
+}
+
+// Plugin represents a single plugin in the build.gradle file
+type Plugin struct {
+	ID      string
+	Version string
+}
+
+//nolint:funlen
+func parseBuildGradle(_ source.FileResolver, _ *generic.Environment, reader source.LocationReadCloser) ([]pkg.Package, []artifact.Relationship, error) {
+	// Gradle, err := decodeBuildGradle(reader)
+	// if err != nil {
+	// 	return nil, nil, err
+	// }
+
+	var pkgs []pkg.Package
+
+	// Create a new scanner to read the file
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(reader)
+
+	// Create slices to hold the dependencies and plugins
+	dependencies := []Dependency{}
+	plugins := []Plugin{}
+	// Create a map to hold the variables
+	variables := map[string]string{}
+
+	// Keep track of whether we are in the dependencies or plugins section
+	inDependenciesSection := false
+	inPluginsSection := false
+
+	// Loop over all lines in the file
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		line := scanner.Text()
+
+		// Trim leading and trailing whitespace from the line
+		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)
+
+		// Check if the line starts with "dependencies {"
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "dependencies {") {
+			inDependenciesSection = true
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Check if the line starts with "plugins {"
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "plugins {") {
+			inPluginsSection = true
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Check if the line is "}"
+		if line == "}" {
+			inDependenciesSection = false
+			inPluginsSection = false
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Check if we are in the plugins section
+		if inPluginsSection {
+			plugins = extractPlugins(line, plugins)
+		}
+
+		// Check if we are in the dependencies section
+		if inDependenciesSection {
+			dependencies = extractDependencies(line, plugins, dependencies)
+		}
+
+		// Check if the line contains an assignment
+		if strings.Contains(line, "=") {
+			// Split the line on the "=" character to separate the key and value
+			parts := strings.Split(line, "=")
+
+			// Trim any leading and trailing whitespace from the key and value
+			key := strings.TrimSpace(parts[0])
+			value := strings.TrimSpace(parts[1])
+
+			// Add the key and value to the map
+			variables[key] = value
+		}
+	}
+	// map the dependencies
+	for _, dep := range dependencies {
+		mappedPkg := pkg.Package{
+			Name:         dep.Name,
+			Version:      dep.Version,
+			Locations:    source.NewLocationSet(reader.Location),
+			Language:     pkg.Java,
+			Type:         pkg.JavaPkg, // TODO: should we differentiate between packages from jar/war/zip versus packages from a Gradle.xml that were not installed yet?
+			MetadataType: pkg.JavaMetadataType,
+		}
+		pkgs = append(pkgs, mappedPkg)
+	}
+
+	return pkgs, nil, nil
+}
+
+func extractPlugins(line string, plugins []Plugin) []Plugin {
+	// Split the line on whitespace to extract the group, name, and version of the dependency
+	fields := strings.Fields(line)
+	// Check if the line contains at least 3 fields (group, version as a literal string, and version as the version number)
+	if len(fields) >= 3 {
+		start := strings.Index(fields[0], "(") + 1
+		end := strings.Index(fields[0], ")")
+		groupName := fields[0][start:end]
+		groupName = strings.Trim(groupName, `"`)
+		version := strings.Trim(fields[2], `"`)
+		// Create a new Dependency struct and add it to the dependencies slice
+		plugin := Plugin{ID: groupName, Version: version}
+		plugins = append(plugins, plugin)
+	}
+	return plugins
+}
+
+func extractDependencies(line string, plugins []Plugin, dependencies []Dependency) []Dependency {
+	/*
+	 * Extract the group, name, and version from the function call
+	 * there are different strategies for groovy and kotlin in this case
+	 * for kotlin dependencies are enclosed in round brackets
+	 * for groovy they begin and end with quotation marks
+	 * so we first check for the starting line for the groovy or kotlin starting rune
+	 * after that we just check for the kotlin part and if it don't match we can expect to find the last index via the last quotation mark
+	 * we probably could just take the end of the string but it was too dangerous for me as I don't know all features gradle allows when declaring dependencies
+	 */
+	start := strings.IndexFunc(line, func(r rune) bool {
+		return r == '(' || r == ' '
+	}) + 1
+	end := strings.IndexFunc(line, func(r rune) bool {
+		return r == ')'
+	})
+	if end == -1 {
+		end = strings.LastIndexFunc(line, func(r rune) bool {
+			return r == '"'
+		})
+	}
+	// split the dependency string
+	groupNameVersion := line[start:end]
+	groupNameVersion = strings.Trim(groupNameVersion, "\"")
+	parts := strings.Split(groupNameVersion, ":")
+	// if we only have 2 sections the version is probably missing
+	// search for the version in the plugin section
+	// Create a new Dependency struct and add it to the dependencies slice
+	// we have a version directly specified
+	// Create a new Dependency struct and add it to the dependencies slice
+	if len(parts) == 2 {
+		version := searchInPlugins(parts[0], plugins)
+
+		dep := Dependency{Group: parts[0], Name: parts[1], Version: version}
+		dependencies = append(dependencies, dep)
+	}
+
+	if len(parts) == 3 {
+		dep := Dependency{Group: parts[0], Name: parts[1], Version: parts[2]}
+		dependencies = append(dependencies, dep)
+	}
+	return dependencies
+}
+
+func searchInPlugins(groupName string, plugins []Plugin) string {
+	for _, v := range plugins {
+		if v.ID == groupName {
+			return v.Version
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+// func parseBuildGradleProject(path string, reader io.Reader) (*pkg.GradleProject, error) {
+// 	project, err := decodeBuildGradle(reader)
+// 	if err != nil {
+// 		return nil, err
+// 	}
+// 	return newGradleProject(path, project), nil
+// }
+
+// func newGradleProject(path string, p goGradle.Project) *pkg.GradleProject {
+// 	return &pkg.GradleProject{
+// 		Path:        path,
+// 		Parent:      GradleParent(p, p.Parent),
+// 		GroupID:     resolvePropertyGradle(p, p.GroupID),
+// 		ArtifactID:  p.ArtifactID,
+// 		Version:     resolvePropertyGradle(p, p.Version),
+// 		Name:        p.Name,
+// 		Description: formatDescription(p.Description),
+// 		URL:         p.URL,
+// 	}
+// }
+
+// func newPackageFromGradle(Gradle goGradle.Project, dep goGradle.Dependency, locations ...source.Location) pkg.Package {
+// 	m := pkg.JavaMetadata{
+// 		GradleProperties: &pkg.GradleProperties{
+// 			GroupID: resolvePropertyGradle(Gradle, dep.GroupID),
+// 		},
+// 	}
+
+// 	name := dep.ArtifactID
+// 	version := resolvePropertyGradle(Gradle, dep.Version)
+
+// 	p := pkg.Package{
+// 		Name:         name,
+// 		Version:      version,
+// 		Locations:    source.NewLocationSet(locations...),
+// 		PURL:         packageURL(name, version, m),
+// 		Language:     pkg.Java,
+// 		Type:         pkg.JavaPkg, // TODO: should we differentiate between packages from jar/war/zip versus packages from a Gradle.xml that were not installed yet?
+// 		MetadataType: pkg.JavaMetadataType,
+// 		Metadata:     m,
+// 	}
+
+// 	p.SetID()
+
+// 	return p
+// }
+
+// func decodeBuildGradle(content io.Reader) (project goGradle.Project, err error) {
+// 	decoder := xml.NewDecoder(content)
+// 	// prevent against warnings for "xml: encoding "iso-8859-1" declared but Decoder.CharsetReader is nil"
+// 	decoder.CharsetReader = charset.NewReaderLabel
+// 	if err := decoder.Decode(&project); err != nil {
+// 		return project, fmt.Errorf("unable to unmarshal Gradle.xml: %w", err)
+// 	}
+
+// 	return project, nil
+// }
+
+// func GradleParent(Gradle goGradle.Project, parent goGradle.Parent) (result *pkg.GradleParent) {
+// 	if parent.ArtifactID != "" || parent.GroupID != "" || parent.Version != "" {
+// 		result = &pkg.GradleParent{
+// 			GroupID:    resolvePropertyGradle(Gradle, parent.GroupID),
+// 			ArtifactID: parent.ArtifactID,
+// 			Version:    resolvePropertyGradle(Gradle, parent.Version),
+// 		}
+// 	}
+// 	return result
+// }
+
+// func formatDescription(original string) (cleaned string) {
+// 	descriptionLines := strings.Split(original, "\n")
+// 	for _, line := range descriptionLines {
+// 		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)
+// 		if len(line) == 0 {
+// 			continue
+// 		}
+// 		cleaned += line + " "
+// 	}
+// 	return strings.TrimSpace(cleaned)
+// }
+
+// // resolvePropertyGradle emulates some maven property resolution logic by looking in the project's variables
+// // as well as supporting the project expressions like ${project.parent.groupId}.
+// // If no match is found, the entire expression including ${} is returned
+// func resolvePropertyGradle(Gradle goGradle.Project, property string) string {
+// 	return "1.0.0"
+// }
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/parse_gradle_test.go b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/parse_gradle_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..83f6ff3ee21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/parse_gradle_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+package java
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/pkg/cataloger/internal/pkgtest"
+	"github.com/anchore/syft/syft/source"
+)
+
+func Test_parserGradle(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		input    string
+		expected []pkg.Package
+	}{
+		{
+			input: "test-fixtures/gradle/build.gradle",
+			expected: []pkg.Package{
+				{
+					Name:         "joda-time",
+					Version:      "2.2",
+					Language:     pkg.Java,
+					Type:         pkg.JavaPkg,
+					MetadataType: pkg.JavaMetadataType,
+				},
+				{
+					Name:         "junit",
+					Version:      "4.12",
+					Language:     pkg.Java,
+					Type:         pkg.JavaPkg,
+					MetadataType: pkg.JavaMetadataType,
+				},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		t.Run(test.input, func(t *testing.T) {
+			for i := range test.expected {
+				test.expected[i].Locations.Add(source.NewLocation(test.input))
+			}
+			pkgtest.TestFileParser(t, test.input, parseBuildGradle, test.expected, nil)
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/test-fixtures/java-builds/example-java-app/build.gradle b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/test-fixtures/java-builds/example-java-app/build.gradle
index 1d700e273fe..35968b0a448 100644
--- a/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/test-fixtures/java-builds/example-java-app/build.gradle
+++ b/syft/pkg/cataloger/java/test-fixtures/java-builds/example-java-app/build.gradle
@@ -55,4 +55,4 @@ tasks.register('resolveAndLockAll') {
             it.canBeResolved
         }.each { it.resolve() }
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file