| Mount Judi | |
|---|---|
| ٱلْجُودِيّ (Arabic) Çiyayê Cûdîyê (Kurdish) Cudi Dağı (Turkish) | |
 The mountain range, as seen fromŞırnak ineastern Turkey | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,089 m (6,854 ft) |
| Coordinates | 37°22′10″N42°20′39″E / 37.36944°N 42.34417°E /37.36944; 42.34417 |
| Geography | |
  Mount Judi Location in the Near East Show map of Middle East Mount Judi Location in Asia Show map of West and Central Asia | |
| Location | Şırnak,Turkey |
| Parent range | Armenian /Taurus /Zagros Mountains |
Mount Judi (Turkish:Cudi Dağı;Arabic:ٱلْجُودِيّ,romanized: Al-Jūdiyy;[1]Armenian:Արարադ;Kurdish:Çiyayê Cûdîyê) is a mountain in Turkey. It was considered in antiquity to beNoah'sapobaterion or "Place of Descent", the location where theArk came to rest after theGreat Flood, according to very early Christian andIslamic traditions (the latter based on theQuran,11:44).[1] The Quranic tradition is part of theJudeo-Christian-Islamic belief. The identification of biblical Ararat with Mount Judi as the landing site of the ark persisted inSyriac andArmenian tradition throughoutLate Antiquity. Only during the Middle Ages was this identification abandoned in favour of another mountain, which had not until then been referred to by any of the native peoples asMount Ararat (a double-peaked massif, today the highest mountain inTurkey and now generally known by that name).
Mount Judi is situated in Turkey'sŞırnak Province, near the villages of Derebaşı and Boyunyaka, at latitude: 37°22'28.21" and longitude: 42°28'16.03".[2]
It is a peak northeast of the town ofCizre in south-east Turkey, at the headwaters of theTigris River, near themodern border withSyria andthat ofIraq. A 10th-century historian placed it c. 32 miles (51 km)) from the Tigris.[3]
The mountainous area that Mount Judi is part of, was known asQardū (Syriac:ܩܪܕܘ) in Syriac texts,Gordyene by Greek and Roman writers, andKordukh in Armenian.[4]
Syriac, Islamic, and early Christian traditions identify Mount Judi orQardu as a peak near or northeast of the town of Jazirat ibn 'Umar in (modernCizre)Upper Mesopotamia, at the headwaters of theTigris River.Arab historianAl-Masudi (d. 956), reported that the spot where the ark came to rest could be seen in his time, and that it was located at 80parasangs (approximately 32 miles (51 km)) from the Tigris. The mountain was historically located in the province ofCorduene, south ofLake Van.[3]
The Arabic wordal-Jūdiyy (ٱلْجُودِيّ), originates from the Syriac wordGudo (ܓܘܕܐ) meaning "Mounds" or "Elevations".[5] The relation of some of the spellings is clear. The origin ofJudi is less clear. It is usually interpreted as a corrupted version of the same name, viaAl-Gurdi (Reynolds 2004). Since at least 697BC, it was often held that after the ark came to rest on the mountain, Noah and the survivors of the flood (who were thought to have numbered 80) came down from it, and built this town to the south of the mountain, hence the name ofThamānīn (Arabic:ثَمَانِيْن,lit. 'Eighty').[6] The proposal that the two names are ultimately the same was first advanced by theEnglishOrientalistGeorge Sale. In his commentary about theQuran (11:4; the verse that mentions the landing of Noah's ark uponAl-Judiy), theEnglishOrientalistGeorge Sale said:[6]
This mountain [al-Judi] is one of those that divideArmenia on the south, fromMesopotamia, and that part ofAssyria which is inhabited by theKurds, from whom the mountains took the nameCardu, or Gardu, by theGreeks turned intoGordyae, and other names. ... Mount Al-Judi (which seems to be a corruption, though it be constantly so written by theArabs, for Jordi, or Giordi) is also called Thamanin (Geogr. Nub. p. 202), probably from a town at the foot of it (D'Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 404 and 676, and Agathiam, 1. 14, p. 135), so named from the number of persons saved in the ark, the wordthamanin signifying eighty, and overlooks the country of Diyar Rab ah, near the cities ofMawsel, Forda, andJazirat Ebn Omar, which last place one affirms to be but four miles from the place of the ark, and says that a Mohammedan temple was built there with the remains of the vessel by theKhalifOmarEbnAbd'alaziz, whom he by mistake callsOmar EbnKhattab (Benjamin. Itiner. p. 61). ... The relics of the ark were also to be seen here in the time of Epiphanius, if we may believe him (Epiph. Haeres. 18); and we are told theemperorHeraclius went from the town of Thamanin up to the mountainAl-Judi, and saw the place of the ark (Elmacin. 1. 1. c. 1 ).
— George Sale, 1734; p. 214-215
Thamanin [tr] (37°19′47.36″N42°28′6.91″E / 37.3298222°N 42.4685861°E /37.3298222; 42.4685861) was known to theAssyrians asTumurri orTumurru,[7][8] to theRomans as (Latin:Tamonitis orTamoritis), and to theArmenians as (Armenian:Թմորիկ‘,romanized: Tmorik‘).[9] Sale goes on to say that there was once a famous Christianmonastery on the mountain, but that this was destroyed by lightning in the year 776 AD, following which:[6]
the credit of this tradition hath declined, and given place to another, which obtains at present, and according to which the ark rested onMount Masis, in Armenia, called by the TurksAgri Dagi.
— Sale, 1734; p. 214-215
The Arabic name of the mountain,Judi, has also been proposed to be a corruption of theClassical Syriac:ܩܪܕܘ,romanized: Qardō written in Arabic with the Arabic letterswaw (و) andraa (ر) being confused in early Islamic manuscripts due to their early resemblance, and then making its way into the Qur’an and Islamic tradition. This is supported by the fact that only in theSyriac Bible is the mountain which Noah's ark rested on calledQardō, as opposed toArarat in other Bibles.[10]
TheAssyrians east of the River Tigris had a legend of the ark resting on mountDjûdi in the land of Kard. This legend may in origin have been independent of theGenesis account ofNoah's flood, rooted in the more generalNear Eastern flood legends, but following the Christianization of the Syrians from about the second century AD, it became associated with theMountains of Ararat, where Noah landed according to Genesis, and fromSyria this legend also spread to theArmenians. The Armenians did not traditionally associate Noah's landing site withMount Ararat, known natively asMasis, and continued to associate Noah's ark with Mount Judi, until the11th century.[11]
The biblicalArarat is thought to be a variation ofUrartu, an ancient term for the region north of ancientAssyria, which encompasses theArmenian plateau. According toJosephus, the Armenians in the first century showed the remains of Noah's ark at a place called αποβατηριον "Place of Descent" (Armenian:Նախիջեւան,Nakhichevan,Ptolemy's Ναξουανα), about 60 miles (97 km) southeast of the summit ofMount Ararat (c.39°04′N45°05′E / 39.07°N 45.08°E /39.07; 45.08).[12] The "mountains of Ararat" in Genesis have become identified in later (medieval) Christian tradition with the peak now known as "Mount Ararat" itself, a volcanic massif now in modern Turkey and known in Turkish as "Agri Dagh" (Ağrı Dağı).
According to the Qur'an (11:44),[1] the final resting place of the vessel was called "Judi", without the word "mountain".
Then the word went forth: "O earth! swallow up thy water, and O sky! Withhold (thy rain)!" and the water abated, and the matter was ended. The Ark rested onAl-Judi, and the word went forth: "Away with those who do wrong!
— Quran, 11:44[1]
The ninth centuryPersian geographerIbn Khordadbeh identified the location of mount Judi as being in theland of Kurds (Al-Akrad), and theAbbasid historianAl-Mas'udi (c. 896–956) recorded that the spot where it came to rest could be seen in his time. Al-Mas'udi also said that the Ark began its voyage atKufa in central Iraq, and sailed toMecca, where it circled theKaaba, before finally travelling to Judi.Yaqut al-Hamawi, also known as Al-Rumi, placed the mountain "above Jazirat ibn Umar, to the east of the Tigris," and mentioned amosque built by Noah that could be seen in his day, and the travellerIbn Battuta passed by the mountain in the 14th century.[3]
| International | |
|---|---|
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
