Dictionaries :: Ararat

Ararat:

sacred land or high land, the name of a country on one of the mountains of which the ark rested after the Flood subsided (Gen 8:4). The "mountains" mentioned were probably the Kurdish range of South Armenia. In 2Ki 19:37, Isa 37:38, the word is rendered "Armenia" in the Authorized Version, but in the Revised Version, "Land of Ararat." In Jer 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:

the curse of trembling

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 2Ki 19:37 and Isa 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 Jer 51:27 Ararat is associated with Minni and Ashkenaz, which according to the Assyrian monuments lay just to the east of Armenia. In Ge 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 BC.

Written by George Frederick Wright

Ararat: A District of Armenia

Jer 51:27

Ararat: The Ark of Noah Came to Rest in the Mountains Of

Gen 8:4

Ararat: Assassins of Sennacherib Take Refuge In

Isa 37:38

Ararat:

(high or holy ground) a mountainous district of Asia mentioned in the Bible in connection with the following events:-

(1.) As the resting‐place of the Ark after the Deluge (Genesis 8:4):

(2.) As the asylum of the sons of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38; Authorized Version has "the land of Armenia."):

(3.) As the ally, and probably the neighbor, of Minni and Ashchenaz (Jeremiah 51:27). SEE [ARMENIA].

The name Ararat was unknown to the geographers of Greece and Rome, as it still is to the Armenians of the present day [A.D. 1884 ‐ BLB Ed.]; but it was an ancient name for a portion of Armenia. In its biblical sense it is descriptive generally of the Armenian highlands-the lofty plateau which over looks the plain of the Araxes on the north and of Mesopotamia on the south. Various opinions have been put forth as to the spot where the ark rested, as described in Genesis 8:4 (but it is probable that it rested on some of the lower portions of the range than on the lofty peak to which exclusively). Europeans have given the name Ararat, to the mountain which is called Massis by the Armenians, Agri‐Dagh, i.e. Steep Mountain, by the Turks, and Kuh‐i‐Nuh, i.e. Noah's Mountain, by the Persians. It rises immediately out of the plain of the Araxes, and terminates in two conical peaks, named the Great and Less Ararat, about seven miles distant from each other; the former of which attain an elevation of 17,260 feet above the level of the sea and about 14,000 above the plain of the Araxes, while the latter is lower by 4,000 feet. The summit of the higher is covered with eternal snow for about 3,000 feet. Arguri, the only village known to have been built on its slopes, was the spot where, according to tradition, Noah planted his vineyard.

"The mountains of Ararat " are co‐extensive with the Armenian plateau from the base of Ararat in the north to the range of Kurdistan in the south, we notice the following characteristics of that region as illustrating the Bible narrative;

(1). Its elevation. It rises to a height of from 6,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea.

(2). Its geographical position. Viewed with reference to the dispersion of the nations, Armenia is the true centre of the world; and at the present day [A.D. 1884 ‐ BLB Ed.] Ararat is the great boundary‐stone between the empires of Russia, Turkey and Persia.

(3). Its physical character. The plains as well as the mountains supply evidence of volcanic agency.

(4). The climate. Winter lasts from October to May, and is succeeded by a brief spring and a summer of intense heat.

(5). The vegetation. Grass grows luxuriantly on the plateau, and furnishes abundant pasture during the summer months to the flocks of the nomad Kurds. Wheat, barley and vines ripen at far higher altitudes than on the Alps and the Pyrenees.