Ararat

AR'ARAT (holy land, or high land), a mountainous region of Asia which borders on the plain of the Araxes, and is mentioned (1) as the resting-place of Noah's ark, Gen 8:4; (2) as the refuge of the sons of Sennacherib, 2 Kgs 19:37, margin; Isa 37:38, margin; (3) as a kingdom near to Minni and Ashchenaz, Jer 51:27. Ararat was a name unknown to Greek and Roman geographers, as it is now to the Armenian, but it was known to others in b. c. 1750 as the ancient name for a portion of Armenia. In Scripture it refers to the lofty plateau or mountain-highlands which overlook the plain of the Araxes. Various views have prevailed as to the Ararat on which the ark rested. Tradition identifies it with the mountain known as Ararat to Europeans, called "Steep Mountain" by the Turks, and Kah-i-Nah, or "Noah's Mountain," by the Persians. It has two peaks, about 7 miles apart; the highest is 17,750 feet, the other about 4000 feet lower. The highest peak is covered with perpetual snow, and is a volcano, having had at least two violent eruptions within a century. The village of Arguri, built on its slopes, is said to be on the spot where tradition claims that Noah planted his vineyard. The mountains of Ararat, Gen 8:4, more properly refer to the entire range of elevated table-land in that portion of Armenia, and upon some lower part of this range, rather than upon the high peaks before mentioned, the ark more probably rested. For (1) this plateau or range is about 6000 to 7000 feet high; (2) it is about equally distant from the Euxine and the Caspian Seas, and between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean, and hence a central point for the dispersion of the race; (3) the region is volcanic in its origin; it does not rise into sharp crests, but has broad plains separated by subordinate ranges of mountains; (4) the climate is temperate, grass and grain are abundant, the harvests quick to mature. All these facts illustrate the biblical narrative. George Smith, however, places Ararat in the southern part of the mountains east of Assyria (Chaldean Account of Genesis, p. 289). View of Ararat. (After Parrot. From I'iehm.)