The story in Genesis is based on earlierMesopotamianflood myths. The myth of the global flood that destroys all life begins to appear in theOld Babylonian Empire period (20th–16th centuries BCE).[2] The version closest to the biblical story of Noah, as well as its most likely source, is that ofUtnapishtim in theEpic of Gilgamesh.[3] Scholars note shared themes, dimensions, and language but different causes for the flood. Scholars also link its structure to theJewish Temple.
Religious traditions fromJudaism,Christianity,Islam,Gnosticism,Mandaeism, and theBaháʼí Faith each developed distinct interpretations, often assigning spiritual symbolism to the Ark, its construction, or its occupants. Early Christian and Jewish writers, such asFlavius Josephus, believed that Noah's Ark existed. Unsuccessfulsearches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least the time ofEusebius (c. 275–339 CE). The story is repeated, with variations, in theQuran, where the Ark appears asSafinatNūḥ (Arabic:سَفِينَةُ نُوحٍ "Noah's ship") andal-fulk (Arabic: الفُلْك). Its cultural legacy endures in literature, theology, art, and large-scale modern reconstructions.
Believers in the Ark continue to search for it in modern times, but no scientific evidence that the Ark existed has ever been found,[4] nor is there scientific evidence for a global flood.[5] According to Robert Moore, the boat and thenatural disaster as described in the Bible would have been contingent upon physical impossibilities.[6] Some researchers believe that a real (though localized) flood event in theMiddle East could potentially have inspired the oral and later written narratives; a Persian Gulf flood, or aBlack Sea Deluge 7,500 years ago has been proposed as such a historical candidate.[7][8]
The structure of the Ark (and the chronology of the flood) is homologous with the Jewish Temple and with Temple worship.[9] Accordingly, Noah's instructions are given to him by God (Genesis 6:14–16): the ark is to be 300cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high (approximately 134×22×13 m or 440×72×43 ft).[10] These dimensions are based on a numerological preoccupation with the number 60, the same number characterizing the vessel of the Babylonian flood hero.[1]
Its three internal divisions reflect the three-part universe imagined by the ancient Israelites: heaven, the earth, and the underworld.[11] Each deck is the same height as the Temple in Jerusalem, itself a microcosmic model of the universe, and each is three times the area of the court of the tabernacle, leading to the suggestion that the author saw both Ark andtabernacle as serving for the preservation of human life.[12][13] It has a door in the side, and atsohar, which may be either a roof or askylight.[10] It is to be made ofgopher wood "goper", a word which appears nowhere else in the Bible, but thought to be a loan word from theAkkadiangupru[14] – and divided intoqinnim, a word which always refers to birds' nests elsewhere in the Bible, leading some scholars to emend this toqanim, reeds.[15] The finished vessel is to be smeared withkoper, meaningpitch orbitumen; in Hebrew the two words are closely related,kaparta ("smeared") ...bakopper.[15] Bitumen is more likely option as"koper" is thought to be a loanword from the Akkadian "kupru", meaning bitumen.[14]
For well over a century, scholars have said that the Bible's story of Noah's Ark is based on older Mesopotamian models.[16] Because all these flood stories deal with events that allegedly happened at the dawn of history, they give the impression that the myths themselves must come from very primitive origins, but the myth of a global flood that destroys all life does not appear until theOld Babylonian period (20th–16th centuries BCE).[17] The reasons for this emergence of the typical Mesopotamian flood myth may have been bound up with the specific circumstances of the end of theThird Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BCE and the restoration of order by theFirst Dynasty of Isin.[18]
Nine versions of the Mesopotamian flood story are known, each more or less adapted from an earlier version. In the oldest version, inscribed in the Sumerian city ofNippur around 1600 BCE, the hero is KingZiusudra. This story, theSumerian flood myth, probably derives from an earlier version. The Ziusudra version tells how he builds a boat and rescues life when the gods decide to destroy it. This basic plot is common in several subsequent flood stories and heroes, including Noah. Ziusudra's Sumerian name means "he of long life." In Babylonian versions, his name isAtrahasis, but the meaning is the same. In the Atrahasis version, the flood is a river flood.[19]: 20–27
The version closest to the biblical story of Noah is that ofUtnapishtim in theEpic of Gilgamesh.[3] A complete text of Utnapishtim's story is contained on a clay tablet dating from the seventh century BCE, but fragments of the story have been found from as far back as the 19th century BCE.[3] The last known version of the Mesopotamian flood story was written inGreek in the third century BCE by a Babylonian priest namedBerossus. From the fragments that survive, it seems little changed from the versions of 2,000 years before.[20]
The parallels between Noah's Ark and the arks of Babylonian flood heroes Atrahasis and Utnapishtim have often been noted. Atrahasis's Ark was circular, resembling an enormousquffa, with one or two decks.[21] Utnapishtim's ark was acube with six decks of seven compartments, each divided into nine subcompartments (63 subcompartments per deck, 378 total). Noah's Ark was rectangular with three decks. A progression is believed to exist from a circular to a cubic or square to rectangular. The most striking similarity is the near-identical deck areas of the three arks: 14,400 cubits2, 14,400 cubits2, and 15,000 cubits2 for Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah, only 4% different.Irving Finkel concluded, "the iconic story of the Flood, Noah, and the Ark as we know it today certainly originated in the landscape of ancient Mesopotamia, modern Iraq."[22]
Linguistic parallels between Noah's and Atrahasis' arks have also been noted. The word used for "pitch" (sealing tar or resin) in Genesis is not the normal Hebrew word, but is closely related to the word used in the Babylonian story.[23] Likewise, the Hebrew word for "ark" (tēvāh) is nearly identical to the Babylonian word for an oblong boat (ṭubbû), especially given that "v" and "b" are the same letter in Hebrew:bet (ב).[22]
However, the causes for God or the gods sending the flood differ in the various stories. In the Hebrew myth, the flood inflicts God's judgment on wicked humanity. The BabylonianEpic of Gilgamesh gives no reasons, and the flood appears to be the result of divine caprice.[24] In the BabylonianAtrahasis version, the flood is sent to reducehuman overpopulation, and after the flood, other measures were introduced to limit humanity.[25][26][27]
A consensus among scholars indicates that theTorah (the first five books of the Bible, beginning with Genesis) was the product of a long and complicated process that was not completed until after theBabylonian exile.[28] Since the 18th century, the flood narrative has been analysed as a paradigm example of the combination of two different versions of a story into a single text, with one marker for the different versions being a consistent preference for different names "Elohim" and "Yahweh" to denote God.[29]
TheTalmudictractatesSanhedrin,Avodah Zarah, andZevahim relate that, while Noah was building the Ark, he attempted to warn his neighbors of the coming deluge, but was ignored or mocked. God placed lions and other ferocious animals to protect Noah and his family from the wicked who tried to keep them from the Ark. According to oneMidrash, it was God, or theangels, who gathered the animals and their food to the Ark. As no need existed to distinguish between clean and unclean animals before this time, the clean animals made themselves known by kneeling before Noah as they entered the Ark.[citation needed] A differing opinion is that the Ark itself distinguished clean animals from unclean, admitting seven pairs each of the former and one pair each of the latter.[30][non-primary source needed]
According to Sanhedrin 108b, Noah was engaged both day and night in feeding and caring for the animals, and did not sleep for the entire year aboard the Ark.[31] The animals were the best of their kind and behaved with utmost goodness. They did not procreate, so the number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. The raven created problems, refusing to leave the Ark when Noah sent it forth, and accusing the patriarch of wishing to destroy its race, but as the commentators pointed out, God wished to save the raven, for its descendants were destined to feed the prophetElijah.[30][non-primary source needed]
According to one tradition, refuse was stored on the lowest of the Ark's three decks, humans and clean beasts on the second, and the unclean animals and birds on the top. A differing interpretation described the refuse as being stored on the topmost deck, from where it was shoveled into the sea through a trapdoor. Precious stones, as bright as the noon sun, provided light, and God ensured the food remained fresh.[32][33][34] In an unorthodox interpretation, the 12th-century Jewish commentatorAbraham ibn Ezra interpreted the ark as a vessel that remained underwater for 40 days, after which it floated to the surface.[35]
An artist's depiction of the construction of the Ark, from theNuremberg Chronicle (1493)A woodcut of Noah's Ark fromAnton Koberger's German Bible
TheFirst Epistle of Peter (composed around the end of the first century AD[36]) compared Noah's salvation through water to Christian salvation through baptism.[37]Hippolytus of Rome (died 235) sought to demonstrate that "the Ark was a symbol of theChrist who was expected", stating that the vessel had its door on the east side—the direction from which Christ would appear at theSecond Coming—and that the bones ofAdam were brought aboard, together with gold,frankincense, andmyrrh (the symbols of theNativity of Christ). Hippolytus furthermore stated that the Ark floated to and fro in the four directions on the waters, making the sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu "in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; theArmenians call it Ararat".[38] On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the lowest of the three decks was for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top for humans. He says male animals were separated from females by sharp stakes to prevent breeding.[38]
The earlyChurch Father and theologianOrigen (circa 182–251), in response to a critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the world, argued that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up inEgypt and would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit.
He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncatedpyramid, square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side; only in the 12th century did it come to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof.[39]
Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolizing God saving the Christian Church in its turbulent early years.Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in his workCity of God, demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which according to Christian doctrine is the body of Christ and in turn the body of the Church.[40]Jerome (c. 347–420) identified the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, as the "foul bird of wickedness" expelled bybaptism;[41] more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize theHoly Spirit and the hope ofsalvation and eventually, peace.[42] The olive branch remains a secular and religioussymbol of peace today.
According to theHypostasis of the Archons, a 3rd-centuryGnostic text, Noah is chosen to be spared by the evilArchons when they try to destroy the other inhabitants of the Earth with the great flood. He is told to create the ark then board it at a location called Mount Sir, but whenNorea wants to board it as well, Noah attempts to not let her. So she decides to use her divine power to blow upon the ark and set it ablaze, therefore Noah is forced to rebuild it.[43]
In Book 18 of theRight Ginza, aMandaean text, Noah and his family are saved from the Great Flood because they were able to build an ark orkawila (orkauila, aMandaic term; it is cognate with Syriackēʾwilā, which is attested in thePeshitta New Testament, such asMatthew 24:38 andLuke 17:27).[44]
Persian Miniature from Hafiz-i Abru's Majma al-tawarikh.Noah's Ark Iran (Afghanistan), Herat; Timur's son Shah Rukh (1405–1447) ordered the historianHafiz-i Abru to write a continuation ofRashid al-Din's famous history of the world,Jami al-tawarikh. Like theIl-Khanids, theTimurids were concerned with legitimizing their right to rule, and Hafiz-i Abru'sA Collection of Histories covers a period that included the time ofShah Rukh himself.Noah's Ark and the deluge from Zubdat-al Tawarikh
In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term that can be translated as a "box" or "chest" to describe the Ark, surah 29:15 of the Quran refers to it as asafina, an ordinary ship; surah 7:64 usesfulk,[45][46] and surah 54:13 describes the Ark as "a thing of boards and nails".Abd Allah ibn Abbas, a contemporary ofMuhammad, wrote that Noah was in doubt as to what shape to make the Ark and that Allah revealed to him that it was to be shaped like a bird's belly and fashioned ofteak wood.[47]
The medieval scholarAbu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi (died 956) wrote that Allah commanded the Earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying receivedsalt water in punishment and so becamedry and arid. The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist. Masudi says the ark began its voyage atKufa in centralIraq and sailed toMecca, circling theKaaba before finally traveling toMount Judi, which surah 11:44 gives as its final resting place. This mountain is identified by tradition with a hill near the town ofJazirat ibn Umar on the east bank of theTigris in the province ofMosul in northern Iraq, and Masudi says that the spot could be seen in his time.[32][33][better source needed]
The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge (1829), a painting by the American painterThomas Cole
TheBaháʼí Faith regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic.[48] In Baháʼí belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the "ark" of his teachings, as others were spiritually dead.[49][50] The Baháʼí scriptureKitáb-i-Íqán endorses the Islamic belief that Noah had numerous companions on the ark, either 40 or 72, as well as his family, and that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood.[51] The Baháʼí Faith was founded in 19th century Persia, and it recognizes divine messengers from both the Abrahamic and the Indian traditions.
Multiple Jewish and Christian writers in the ancient world wrote about the ark. The first-century historianJosephus reports that the Armenians believed that the remains of the Ark lay "in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans", in a location they called the Place of Descent (Ancient Greek:αποβατηριον). He goes on to say that many other writers of "barbarian histories", includingNicolaus of Damascus,Berossus, andMnaseas mention the flood and the Ark.[52]
In the fourth century,Epiphanius of Salamis wrote about Noah's Ark in hisPanarion, saying "Thus even today the remains of Noah's ark are still shown in Cardyaei."[53] Other translations render "Cardyaei" as "the country of the Kurds".[54]
John Chrysostom mentioned Noah's Ark in one of his sermons in the fourth century, saying ""Do not the mountains of Armenia testify to it, where the Ark rested? And are not the remains of the Ark preserved there to this very day for our admonition?[55]
The first edition of theEncyclopædia Britannica from 1771 describes the Ark as factual. It also attempts to explain how the Ark could house all living animal types: "... Buteo andKircher have proved geometrically, that, taking the commoncubit as a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it ... the number of species of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species ofquadrupeds."[56] It also endorses a supernatural explanation for the flood, stating that "many attempts have been made to account for the deluge by means of natural causes: but these attempts have only tended to discredit philosophy, and to render their authors ridiculous."[57]
The 1860 edition attempts to solve the problem of the Ark being unable to house all animal types by suggesting a local flood, which is described in the 1910 edition as part of a "gradual surrender of attempts to square scientific facts with a literal interpretation of the Bible" that resulted in "the 'higher criticism' and the rise of the modern scientific views as to the origin of species" leading to "scientific comparative mythology" as the frame in which Noah's Ark was interpreted by 1875.[56]
This engraving features a line of animals on the gangway to Noah's ark. It is based on a woodcut by the French illustratorBernard Salomon.[58] From theWalters Art Museum.
In Europe, theRenaissance saw much speculation on the nature of the Ark that might have seemed familiar to early theologians such asOrigen andAugustine. At the same time, however, a new class of scholarship arose, one which, while never questioning the literal truth of the ark story, began to speculate on the practical workings of Noah's vessel from within a purely naturalistic framework. In the 15th century, Alfonso Tostada gave a detailed account of the logistics of the Ark, down to arrangements for the disposal of dung and the circulation of fresh air. The 16th-centurygeometerJohannes Buteo calculated the Ark's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators.[42]: 40–41
Irving Finkel, a curator at the British Museum, came into the possession of acuneiform tablet. He translated it and discovered an hitherto unknown Babylonian version of the story of the great flood. This version gave specific measurements for an unusually largequffa (a type ofcoracle). His discovery led to the production of a television documentary and a book summarizing the finding. A scale replica of the boat described by the tablet was built and floated in Kerala, India.[59][page needed]
Searches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least the time ofEusebius (c. 275 – 339 CE) to the present day.[60] In the 1st century, Jewish historianFlavius Josephus claimed the remaining pieces of Noah's Ark had been found in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans, which is understood to be Mount Ararat inTurkey.[61] Today, the practice of seeking the remains of the Ark is widely regarded aspseudoarchaeology.[60][4][62] Various locations for the ark have been suggested but have never been confirmed.[63][64] Search sites have included theDurupınar site, a site onMount Tendürek, andMount Ararat, both ineastern Turkey, but geological investigation of possible remains of the ark has only shown natural sedimentary formations.[65] While biblical literalists often maintain the Ark's existence in archaeological history, its scientific feasibility, along with that of the deluge, has been rejected.[66][67]
In the modern era, individuals and organizations have sought toreconstruct Noah's ark using the dimensions specified in the Bible.[68]Johan's Ark was completed in 2012 to this end, while theArk Encounter was finished in 2016.[69]
^The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old Englishaerca, meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel,teva, occurs twice in theTorah, in the flood narrative (Book of Genesis 6–9) and in theBook of Exodus, where it refers to the basket in whichJochebed places the infantMoses. (The word for theArk of the Covenant,aron, is quite different.) The Ark is built to save Noah, his family, and representatives of all animals from a divinely-sent flood intended to wipe out all life, and in both cases, theteva has a connection withsalvation from waters. (See Levenson 2014, p.21)
^abLongman, Tremper; Walton, John H. (2018).The lost world of the flood: mythology, theology, and the deluge debate. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press.ISBN978-0-8308-8782-8.
^Jerome (1892) [c. 347–420]."Letter LXIX. To Oceanus.". In Schaff, P (ed.).Niocene and Post-Niocene Fathers: The Principal Works of St. Jerome. 2. Vol. 6. The Christian Literature Publishing Company.
^Christys, Ann (2018). "Educating the Christian Elite in Umayyad Córdoba".Die Interaktion von Herrschern und Eliten in imperialen Ordnungen des Mittelalters. Wolfram Drews. Berlin:Walter de Gruyter GmbH. pp. 114–124.ISBN978-3-11-057267-4.OCLC1053611250.
^Baring-Gould, Sabine (1884)."Noah".Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets and Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources. James B. Millar and Co., New York. p. 113.
^From a letter written on behalf ofShoghi Effendi, 28 October 1949:Baháʼí News, No. 228, February 1950, p. 4. Republished inCompilation 1983, p. 508
^From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 25 November 1950. Published inCompilation 1983, p. 494
^Josephus, Flavius."3" .The Antiquities of the Jews, Book I – viaWikisource.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 ark in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; 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 Phoenician 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.
^Williams, Frank (2009).The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis. BRILL. p. 48.ISBN978-90-04-17017-9.
^Montgomery, John Warwick (1974).The Quest For Noahs Ark. Bethany Fellowship. p. 77.ISBN0-87123-477-7.
^Montgomery, John Warwick (1974).The Quest For Noahs Ark. Bethany Fellowship. p. 78.ISBN0-87123-477-7.
^Thomas, Paul (16 April 2020).Storytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and Museum of the Bible. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 23.ISBN978-0-567-68714-2.
Cresswell, Julia (2010)."Ark".Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0199547937.
Dalrymple, G. Brent (1991).The Age of the Earth. Stanford University Press.ISBN978-0-8047-2331-2.
Emerton, J. A. (1988). Joosten, J. (ed.). "An Examination of Some Attempts to Defend the Unity of the Flood Narrative in Genesis: Part II".Vetus Testamentum.XXXVIII (1).
Knight, Douglas A. (1990)."Cosmology". In Watson E. Mills (ed.).Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press.ISBN978-0-86554-402-4.
Wenham, Gordon (1994). "The Coherence of the Flood Narrative". In Hess, Richard S.; Tsumura, David Toshio (eds.).I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood(Google Books). Sources for Biblical and Theological Study. Vol. 4. Eisenbrauns. p. 480.ISBN978-0-931464-88-1.
Young, Davis A. (March 1995).The Biblical Flood: A Case Study of the Church's Response to Extrabiblical Evidence. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Pub Co. p. 340.ISBN978-0-8028-0719-9.
Young, Davis A.; Stearley, Ralph F. (2008).The Bible, Rocks, and Time: Geological Evidence for the Age of the Earth. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic.ISBN978-0-8308-2876-0.
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