ARMENIA, JOSEPHUS, AND THE HISTORY OF NOAH’S ARK ON MOUNT ARARAT

Mount Ararat in easternmost Turkey has long been widely perceived as the resting place of Noah’s Ark.  Modern geological studies have seemingly disproven a world-wide flood.  Yet this has not dissuaded many from remaining fast to a literal interpretation of the Genesis flood story.   There are also flood traditions outside the bible. It’s been said that virtually all Armenians believe Mount Ararat to be the resting place of Noah’s Ark.  But how did this mountain acquire that fame?  After all, the Genesis account simply states in the original Hebrew that the Ark came to rest in the hill country of Urartu.  That name was associated an earlier kingdom that existed where Armenia is today—north of the kingdoms of Nineveh and Assyria. 

Mount Ararat and the Khor Virap Monastery looking southwest from Armenia.

So, if Armenians today believe the Ark landed there, when did they begin to believe this?  A common view is that it was after Armenia acquired Christianity  and the Bible in the year 301 AD.   The flood story pointed to their country for the ark’s landing spot, and the highest mountain by far there was Mount Ararat.  In fact, the mountain acquired its name from the biblical flood legend.   But if we check with Armenian historians, there seems to be a little more to this story.  The most famous one of antiquity was Movses Khorenatsi from the 5th century AD.  He was considered the “father of Armenian history” and wrote a long book entitled “History of Armenia”.   He had been a trained clergyman who had been to and studied at Constantinople and Alexandria. Many of his chapters were on early Armenian legends.  He attempted to tie these into the biblical genealogies of Noah’s descendants.  In his book it’s hard to sort out facts from the legends.  The latter may have been written down early on, but none of those writings have survived.  A central legend was around the figure Hayk, said to be the father of the Armenians, and a descendant from Babylon from one who survived a great flood.  For additional clues, let’s go to other writings that predate the arrival of the Bible in Armenia.  Let’s look at the writings of Josephus—especially his Antiquities of the Jews, which recounts Genesis and the flood.

Cplakidas. (2012, April 26). Map of Armenia, 50 CE. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/565/map-of-armenia-50-ce/

When Flavius Josephus was a teenager, Armenia was a client state of Rome (a sworn ally but not taxed) and much larger in extent than today’s Armenia.  Mount Ararat lay in the center of the kingdom.

Here is a statement from Josephus that he inserted in his Genesis flood account (mostly paraphrasing):

“After this the Ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia . . . However, the Armenians call this place, Ἀποβατήριον, The place of descent: for the Ark being saved in that place, its remains are shewed there by the inhabitants to this day.” 

This is a bold claim by Josephus.  How does he know the remains are shown off by Armenians?  He has never been there.  Importantly here he is writing in the first century, over 200 years before the Armenians read the Old Testament.   Josephus then goes on to tell us how he came by the information of what was going on near the Armenian mountain.

“Now all the writers of Barbarian Histories make mention of this flood, and of this Ark: among whom is Berosus the Chaldean. For when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: “It is said there is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyæans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen: which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets, for the averting of mischiefs.” Hieronymus the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phenician Antiquities; and Mnaseas, and a great many more make mention of the same. Nay Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety sixth Book, hath a particular relation about them: where he speaks thus: “There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris: upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the deluge were saved: and that one who was carried in an Ark, came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved: this might be the man about whom Moses, the Legislator of the Jews, wrote.”

This is classic Josephus style.  He researches what other historians at the time are saying and incorporates their statements into his history book to support the historical accuracy of the Hebrew scriptures. 

Note who is he quoting here—three other historians and their written accounts: Berosus the Chaldean, Hieronymous the Egyptian, and Nicolaus of Damascus.  The first, Berosus, lived in Babylon in about 290 BC.  Hieronymous lived in Egypt at about the same time.  And Nicolaus of Damascus lived in the first century BC and wrote 144 books comprising a universal history of the world.  Josephus would have had access to all of these writings in the Library of Alexandria, which he was known to have visited.   Thus, it is clear that centuries before Josephus and any Hebrew scripture arrived in Armenia, stories of an ark on Mount Ararat were already common in the world’s literature. 

But by far the earliest account of Noah’s Ark outside the bible so far was found on a clay tablet in Mesopotamia, with the final key piece of it only recently found.

Imago Mundi: The Babylonian map of the world dated to circa 700 BC.  From https://armstronginstitute.org/1127-the-imago-mundi-babylonian-directions-to-noahs-ark  Follow this link for the whole fascinating story.

 One of the triangular arms on this circular map points northeast.  On the reverse of the tablet (in cuneiform markings) it states that if one travels seven leagues to the northeast you will arrive at a tall mountain and if you climb it part way and look up you will see perched there against the night sky the remains of the Babylonian ark.  That would be the same one well known from the Babylonian-Flood accounts that parallel the one in Genesis.

These various ancient testaments to an Ark on Ararat inform us that the account of Noah’s Ark and its resting place was not the original imagination of some ancient Hebrew priest inventing a story.  Rather, it was already included in various stories in the literatures of the world.  This is consistent with the Armenian local history which traces their founder to Babylon where he had survived a great flood.  Are the ancient accounts of bitumen and wood high on Mount Ararat evidence of a global flood?  Or is there some other explanation?  Stay tuned.

In the Cry for Jerusalem blog section Ward covers subjects to do with the vast amount of research that went into the Cry for Jerusalem historical novel series, including Ancient Jerusalem, the Roman Empire, Biblical topics, and the writings of Josephus.

To learn more about the novel series click here or for purchasing click here.