Ararat

ARARAT, a famous Mountain in Armenia, on which the Ark is said to have Gen. xiii. 4.rested after the deluge. It is affirmed, but without any good proof, that some remains of Noah’s Ark are still to be seen upon the top of this Mountain. John Struis in his Voyages assures us, that he went up to the highest part of it, and that an Hermit who abode there, declared to him, that some broken pieces of the Ark were to be seen there; and at the same time presented him with a Cross made out of the wood belonging to this famous Vessel. But M. de Tournefort, who was upon the spot, has assured me that there was nothing like it; that the top of Mount Ararat is inaccessible, both by reason of its great height, and of the snow which perpetually covers it. Mount Ararat is twelve leagues from Erivan, Eastward, and is situated in a vast plain in the midst whereof it rises, and has nothing contiguous to it on any side. See our Comment upon Gen. viii. 4.

Josephus¹ says that the remains of Noah’s Ark were still to be seen in his time, in the Canton of Adiabene, called Cæron, which is a country that produces Cinnamon very plentifully.

The Eastern people call Mount Ararat, upon which the Ark settled, Ar-dag, or Parmak-dagh², the finger Mountain; because it is strait, and stands by it self, like a finger when held up. It is so high as to be seen at the distance of ten days journey, according to the stages of the Caravans. The City of Tauris is not far from it. Tavernier says that there are many Monasteries upon Mount Ararat³; that the Armenians call it Meresoussar, because the Ark stop’d there. It is as it were taken off from the other Mountains of Armenia, which make a long chain; and from the middle to the top of it is often covered with snow for three or four months of the year. He adds⁴, that the City of Nekgivan, or Nakschivan, which is built at three leagues distance from Mount Ararat, is the most ancient in the world; that Noah settled there when he came out of the Ark; that the word Nak-schivan is derived from Nak, which signifies ship, and schivan, stopt or settled; in memory of the Ark’s resting on Mount Ararat. Others⁵ call this Mountain Gioud, or Giouda, in the Country of Moussal, or Diar-rabiah, in Mesopotamia, at the foot whereof there is still a Village which goes by the name of Thamanin and Corda; by Thamanin is meant eight, in memory of the eight persons who came out of the Ark; and Corda denotes the Gordian Mountains so well known among the Ancients. We have before taken notice of their opinion who affirm that the Ark rested on a Mountain near Aramea in Phrygia⁶.

The Persians call Ararat Mount Asis; as if they should say, the happy or fortunate Mountain, by reason of the choice which God made of it to serve as a port for Noah’s Ark. The Armenians maintain, by tradition, that since Noah no one has been able to climb this Mountain, because it is perpetually covered with snow which never melts, but to make room for some newly fallen; that Noah, when he left the Ark, settled at Erivan, twelve leagues from Ararat, and that at a league from this City, in a very happy aspect, this Patriarch planted the vine, in a place where at present there is excellent wine made.

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