Ararat

the curse of trembling

Ararat

The name of a province in the center of Armenia, between the river Araxes and the lakes Van and Ooroomiah. 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38, and sometimes used to denote the whole country, Jeremiah 51:27. On the mountains of Ararat the ark rested, Genesis 8:4. In 1831, Messrs. Smith and Dwight, American missionaries, visited Armenia, and traversed the province of Ararat. Mr. Smith describes the mountains as follows:

"We passed very near the base of that noble mountain, which is called by the Armenians Masis, and by Europeans generally Ararat; and for more than twenty days had it constantly in sight, except when obscured by clouds. It consists of two peaks, one considerably higher than the other, and is connected with a chain of mountains running off to the north-west and west, which, though high, are not of sufficient elevation to detract at all from the lonely dignity of this stupendous mass. From Nakchewan, at the distance of at least 100 miles to the southeast, it appeared like an immense isolated cone, of extreme regularity, rising out of the valley of the Araxes. Its height is said to be 16,000 feet. The eternal snows upon its summit occasionally from vast avalanches, which precipitate themselves down its sides with a sound not unlike that of an earthquake. When we saw it, it was white to its very base with snow. And certainly not among the mountains of Ararat or of Armenia generally, nor those of any part of the world where I have been, have I ever seen one whose majesty could plead half so powerfully its claims to the honor of having once been the stepping-stone between the old world and the new. I gave myself up to the feeling, that on its summit were once congregated all the inhabitants of the earth, and that, while in the valley of the Araxes, I was paying a visit to the second cradle of the human race."

Mount Ararat was visited in 1829 by Prof. Parrot, who after several attempts reached the summit, more than 17,200 feet above the level of the sea. It bears traces of volcanic action, and in 1840 was shaken by a disastrous earthquake.

Sacred land or high land, the name of a country on one of the mountains of which the ark rested after the Flood subsided (Genesis 8:4). The "mountains" mentioned were probably the Kurdish range of South Armenia. In 2 Kings 19:37, Isaiah 37:38, the word is rendered "Armenia" in the Authorized Version, but in the Revised Version, "Land of Ararat." In Jeremiah 51:27, the name denotes the central or southern portion of Armenia. It is, however, generally applied to a high and almost inaccessible mountain which rises majestically from the plain of the Araxes. It has two conical peaks, about 7 miles apart, the one 14,300 feet and the other 10,300 feet above the level of the plain. Three thousand feet of the summit of the higher of these peaks is covered with perpetual snow. It is called Kuh-i-nuh, i.e., "Noah's mountain", by the Persians. This part of Armenia was inhabited by a people who spoke a language unlike any other now known, though it may have been related to the modern Georgian. About B.C. 900 they borrowed the cuneiform characters of Nineveh, and from this time we have inscriptions of a line of kings who at times contended with Assyria. At the close of the seventh century B.C. the kingdom of Ararat came to an end, and the country was occupied by a people who are ancestors of the Armenians of the present day. ARARAT

ar'-a-rat ('araraT): A mountainous plateau in western Asia from which flow in different directions the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Aras and the Choruk rivers. Its general elevation is 6,000 feet above the sea. Lake Van, which like the Dead Sea has no outlet, is nearly in its center. The Babylonian name was Urartu, the consonants being the same in both words. In 2 Kings 19:37 and Isaiah 37:38 the word is translated in the King James Version Armenia, which correctly represents the region designated. It was to Armenia that the sons of Sennacherib fled. In Jeremiah 51:27 Ararat is associated with Minni and Ashkenaz, which according to the Assyrian monuments lay just to the east of Armenia. In Genesis 8:4 the ark is said to have rested "upon the mountains of Ararat," i.e. in the mountainous region of Armenia, the plural showing that the mountain peak known as Ararat was not referred to. This peak is of volcanic origin and lies outside the general region, rising from the lowlands of the Araxes (Aras) River to a height of 17,000 feet, supported by another peak seven miles distant, 13,000 feet high. It is only in comparatively modern times that the present name has been given to it. The Armenians still call it Massis, but believe, however, that Noah was buried at Nachitchevan near its base.

The original name of the kingdom occupying Armenia was Bianias, which Ptolemy transliterated Byana. Later the "B" was modified into "V" and we have the modern Van, the present capital of the province. The "mountains of Ararat" on which the ark rested were probably those of the Kurdish range which separates Armenia from Mesopotamia and Kurdistan. In the Babylonian account the place is called "the mountain of Nizir" which is east of Assyria. Likewise Berosus locates the place "in the mountain of the Kordyaeans" or Kurds (Ant., I, iii, 6), while the Syriac version has Hardu in Gen. 8:4 instead of Ararat. The Kurds still regard Jebel Judi, a mountain on the boundary between Armenia and Kurdistan, as the place where the ark rested.

This elevated plateau of Armenia has still many attractions, and is eminently suited to have been the center from which the human race spread in all directions. Notwithstanding its high elevation the region is fertile, furnishing abundant pasture, and producing good crops of wheat and barley, while the vine is indigenous. Moreover there are unmistakable indications that in early historic times there was a much more abundant rainfall in all that region than there is now, so that the climate was then better adapted to the wants of primitive man. This is shown by the elevated beaches surrounding lakes Van, Urumiah, and, indeed, all the lakes of central Asia. Great quantities of mammoth bones have been found in these bordering lacustrine deposits corresponding to those found in the glacial and postglacial deposits of Europe and America. It should, also, be remembered that the drying up of the waters of the flood is represented to have been very gradual-it being 170 days from the time the waters began to subside before Noah could disembark. It may have been many centuries before the present conditions were established, the climate, meanwhile, being modified to a corresponding degree by the proximity of vast surrounding bodies of water.

Armenia abounds in inscriptions carved on the rocks, altar stones and columns, but they have been only imperfectly translated. The script is cuneiform and each letter has only a single phonetic character attached to it. But there are introduced a good many borrowed ideographs which have assisted in the decipherment. According to Sayce this cuneiform syllabary was introduced from Assyria after the conquest of Shalmaneser II in the 9th century B.C.

George Frederick Wright

780. Ararat -- a district in E. Armenia
... 779, 780. Ararat. 781 . a district in E. Armenia. Transliteration: Ararat
Phonetic Spelling: (ar-aw-rat') Short Definition: Ararat. ...
/hebrew/780.htm - 5k

Chapter viii
... 3b, 4. The waters declined after the expiration of one hundred and fifty days, so
that the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat in the seventh month ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter viii.htm

The Nations of the North-East
... important"at all events in the later Old Testament age"were the inhabitants of a
country called Biainas, but to which its neighbours gave the name of Ararat ...
/.../sayce/early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter iv the nations of.htm

Fragment iv. On the Deluge. ...
... And when the water abated, the ark settled on the mountains of Ararat, which we
know to be in Parthia; [1085] but some say that they are at Cel??n?? [1086] of ...
/.../africanus/the writings of julius africanus/fragment iv on the deluge .htm

Chapter xi
... 2. The region of Ararat (Genesis 8:4) was the centre from which the human race began
to spread abroad upon the earth, all fanciful claims to the contrary ...
//christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter xi.htm

Chapter vii
... Ararat upon which the ark finally rested, we can accept this interpretation
as reasonable. But the objection continues: Mt. Ararat (or Mt. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/leupold/exposition of genesis volume 1/chapter vii.htm

Babylonia and Assyria
... out, and when his successor, Shalmaneser III., mounted the throne in BC781, he found
himself confronted by a new and formidable power, that of Ararat or Van. ...
/.../early israel and the surrounding nations/chapter vi babylonia and assyria.htm

The Doom of the Antichrist
... A serious attack will be made upon his Babylonian headquarters, and during his absence
from there, the kings of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz " no doubt ...
//christianbookshelf.org/pink/the antichrist/the doom of the antichrist.htm

From the Flood to Abraham
... became an husbandman. He had probably settled on the slopes or in the valleys
of Ararat where he planted a vineyard. On one occasion ...
/.../tidwell/the bible period by period/chapter iii from the flood.htm

The Promise.
... The ark first came aground on the mountain of Ararat, in Armenia, a sacred spot
to this day; and here God made His covenant with Noah, renewing His first ...
//christianbookshelf.org/yonge/the chosen people/lesson i the promise.htm

'Clear Shining after Rain'
... were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth
day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/clear shining after rain.htm

Ararat (4 Occurrences)
... In 2 Kings 19:37, Isaiah 37:38, the word is rendered "Armenia" in the Authorized
Version, but in the Revised Version, "Land of Ararat." In Jeremiah 51:27, the ...
/a/ararat.htm - 13k

Ararat's (1 Occurrence)
... Multi-Version Concordance Ararat's (1 Occurrence). Genesis 8:4 The ship rested in
the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat's mountains. ...
/a/ararat's.htm - 6k

Armenia (2 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary High land, occurs only in Authorized Version, 2 Kings
19:37; in Revised Version, "Ararat," which is the Hebrew word. ... (see ARARAT.). ...
/a/armenia.htm - 21k

Ar'arat (4 Occurrences)
Ar'arat. Ararat, Ar'arat. Ararath . ... Genesis 8:4 The ship rested in the seventh
month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on Ararat's mountains. (See RSV). ...
/a/ar'arat.htm - 7k

Ashkenaz (3 Occurrences)
... They are mentioned in connection with Minni and Ararat, and hence their original
seat must have been in Armenia (Jeremiah 51:27), probably near the Black Sea ...
/a/ashkenaz.htm - 8k

Armenian
... MODERN ARMENIAN VERSIONS 1. Ararat-Armenian 2. Constantinopolitan-Armenian III.
ARMENIAN LANGUAGE LITERATURE I. Ancient Armenian. ... Massis (now styled Ararat). ...
/a/armenian.htm - 18k

Versions
... MODERN ARMENIAN VERSIONS 1. Ararat-Armenian 2. Constantinopolitan-Armenian
III. ARMENIAN LANGUAGE LITERATURE I. Ancient Armenian. ...
/v/versions.htm - 81k

Nisroch (2 Occurrences)
... as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer
struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. ...
/n/nisroch.htm - 8k

Euphrates (36 Occurrences)
... su (ie, "the black river"), which rises 25 miles north-east of Erzeroum; and (2)
the Muradchai (ie, "the river of desire"), which rises near Ararat, on the ...
/e/euphrates.htm - 26k

Esar-haddon (3 Occurrences)
... to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech
and Sharezer smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat...
/e/esar-haddon.htm - 7k

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