The account of the deluge in the Genesis is the echoed in the memory of all of mankind in Asia, Europe, and both North and South America. But where is the Ark?
In answer, one of the great scholars of ancient near-eastern texts who translated many of the original clay tablets recording the parallel account of the flood was Prof. Alexander Heidel (1907–1955) who was an Assyriologist and Biblical scholar, and a Member of the Research Staff of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He writes this:
‘The Genesis account is quite indefinite on the point under consideration [where the Ark landed], stating merely that the ark grounded “on (one of) the mountains of Ararat.” The name Ararat is identical with the Assyrian Urartu, which, broadly speaking, embraced the territory of Armenia. In three of the four Old Testament passages where the word Ararat occurs, the Septuagint has simply transliterated it (Genesis 8:4; II Kings 19:37; Jeremiah 51:27 (28:27 In the Septuagint)), while in the remaining passage the translators have rendered it with “Armenia” (Isa. 37:38). Since it is believed that the ark rested on the highest peak in the country it has long been customary to Identify the landing-place with Mount Massis (or Agridagh), situated a little northeast of Lake Van and rising to approximately 17,000 feet above sea-level. Evidently through a misunderstanding of Genesis 8:4, this elevation has traditionally been called Mt. Ararat.’
This site in Armenia was identified by the church in the 400s A.D. and has been considered the resting place of the Ark to the present day. However, identifying the resting place with the highest peak in Armenia was not where traditions more than 1,000 years earlier had placed the Ark. Again continuing from Heidel:
“The place on which … [the] boat came to rest is given in the Gilgamesh Epic as Mount Nisir, which signifies the "Mount of Salvation," if our reading is correct and if the name is of Semitic origin. Such a mountain, or mountain range, is recorded in the annals of King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria (883-859 B.C.), according to which it was situated to the south of the Lower Zab and Is probably to be Identified with Pir Omar Gudrun, having an altitude of about 9,000 feet….These mountains, corresponding to Jebel Jûdî, where also Syriac and Arabic traditions localize the landing-place, are in the southwestern part of Armenia.”
It would seem reasonable that the present day Mt. Nisir the 9,000 elevation in what anciently was known as Armenia (“Ararat”) was the Ark’s final resting place. However, anywhere within the entire land of Armenia might be the resting place for the Ark and would answer to Genesis 11:2, “And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar [Babylon]; and they dwelt there.”
Heidel, Alexander, The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels, University of Chicago Press (1949; 1963 ed) p250.
