Mountains of Ararat

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Mount Ararat (39°42′N, 44°17′E)

Coordinates: 39°42′N, 44°17′E The Mountains of Ararat is the place named in the Book of Genesis where Noah's ark came to rest after the great flood (Genesis 8:4). Abrahamic tradition associates the mountains of Ararat with Mount Ararat in Turkey located 750 miles (1200 kilometers) northeast of Jerusalem. Mount Ararat was, for many centuries, part of the Armenian states, it eventually fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire and later the Persian Empire (Iran). After the Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828 and the Treaty of Turkmenchay it was incorporated into the Russian Empire as part of the Armenian Oblast and later the Erivan Governate. After World War I, it came under the administration of the Democratic Republic of Armenia as part of the Ararat province but was ceded to Turkey by the Soviet Union in the Treaty of Kars.

[edit] Background

Historians have long sought to corroborate the biblical reference to the "mountains of Ararat" with Mount Ararat, or to ascertain the actual location of the mountains mentioned in the account. The Book of Jubilees specifies that the Ark came to rest on one of the peaks of the "Mountains of Ararat" called "Lubar".

Some have sought to connect the name "Ararat" with ancient states in the area such as Urartu, and the even older "Aratta" found in Sumerian records. These cultures were centered around Lake Van in ancient Armenia during Biblical times (currently in Turkey). Mount Ararat has the distinction of holding this tradition among its surrounding cultures for centuries, and is also geographically within ancient Urartu, giving it the most legitimate potential claim as the Biblical Ararat. However, the Biblical account could plausibly have been intended to refer to any of the mountain ranges associated with Urartu.

An obvious problem associated with identifying the resting place of the Ark is that its elevation must be lower than the ultimate depth of the flood water, since the Biblical account indicates that the highest point of land was covered to a depth of about twenty feet. An elevation higher than a certain point would require an impossible rate of rainfall to cover it. In the view of some biblical literalists^[who?], is dubious that a peak of over 16,000 feet would even exist at the time of the Flood; hence the facts imply that the mountains of "Ararat" were much lower than today, even if they were the highest in the world, a position not supported by modern geomorphology.^{[citation needed]}

Other potential Ararat candidates have been proposed over the millennia at locales as widely distributed as Ethiopia, Ireland, and Iran.

The Latin Vulgate says "requievitque arca [...] super montes Armeniae", which means literally "and the ark rested [...] on the mountains of Armenia", which was corrected to "... mountains of Ararat" (montes Ararat) in the Nova Vulgata (New Vulgate).

In the book, Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus wrote:

“

The Ark landed on an Armenian mountain peak. Noah, aware now that the earth was safely through the flood, waited for seven days more. Then he released the animals and went out with his family. He offered a sacrifice to God and then celebrated with a family feast. ^[1]

”