A painting by the American Edward Hicks (1780–1849), showing the animals boarding Noah's Ark two by two. Edward Hicks ( April 14, 1780 – August 23, 1849) was an American Folk painter, a distinguished minister of

Noah's Ark was, according to Abrahamic religions, a large vessel built at God's command to save Noah, his family, and a core stock of the world's animals from the Great Flood. A ship /ʃɪp/ is a large vessel that floats on water Ships are generally distinguished from Boats based on size God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Noah (or Noe, Noach;; Nūḥ; Arabic: نوح; "Rest") was according to the Bible, the tenth and last of The story of a Great Flood (also known as the Deluge) sent by a Deity or deities to destroy Civilization as an act of Divine retribution is a The story is told in chapters 6-12 of the book of Genesis, with later variations in the Qur'an and a number of other sources. The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran

According to Genesis 6-9 God decided to destroy the world due to the wickedness of mankind, selecting Noah, a man "righteous in his generation", instructing him to build an ark and take on board his family and representatives of all the animals and birds. God's flood then destroys all life on earth, but at the height of the deluge "God remembered Noah", and the waters abate and the dry land reappears. The story ends with God entering into a covenant with Noah and his descendants.

The story has been subject to extensive elaborations in the various Abrahamic traditions, theoretical solutions to practical problems (e. g. how Noah might have disposed of animal waste) with allegorical interpretations (e. g. the Ark as the precursor of the Church, offering salvation to mankind). ^[1] From the 1st century AD to the 19th century various details of the Ark and the Flood narrative were examined, questioned, and even doubted by both Jewish and Christian commentators and scholars. By the 19th century, the growth of geology and biogeography as sciences meant that few natural historians or Christian commentators felt able to justify a literal interpretation of the Ark story,^[2] and biblical critics were turning their attention to its secular origins and purposes. Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit Biogeography is the study of the distribution of Biodiversity over Space and Time. Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods Historical criticism or higher criticism is a branch of literary analysis that investigates the origins of a text as applied in Biblical studies it naturally Nevertheless, biblical literalists today continue to take the Ark as test-case for their understanding of the Bible, and to explore the region of the mountains of Ararat in northeast Turkey where Genesis says Noah's Ark came to rest. Biblical literalism (also called Biblicism) is a primarily pejorative term referring to the adherence to an explicit and literal sense of the Bible. The Mountains of Ararat is the place named in the Book of Genesis where Noah's ark came to rest after the great flood (Genesis 84 Turkey (Türkiye known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( is a Eurasian Country that stretches

Narrative

Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Deluge, Sistine Chapel, the Vatican. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime One of them by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina is the best-known Chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in Vatican City. Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory

The story of Noah's Ark, according to chapters 6 to 9 in the Book of Genesis,^[3] begins with God observing mankind's evil behaviour and deciding to flood the earth and destroy all life. However, God found one good man, Noah, "a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time", and decided that he would carry forth the lineage of man. God told Noah to make an ark, and to bring with him his wife, and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. The Table of Nations or Sons of Noah is an extensive list of descendants of Noah appearing within the Torah at Genesis 10 representing Shem (; Greek: Σημ, Sēm; Arabic: ar سام; Ge'ez: ሴም Sēm; "renown prosperity name" Ham (; Greek Χαμ, Cham; Arabic: ar حام, xam, "hot" according to the Table of Nations in Genesis, was a Japheth (ˈdʒeɪfɪθ Hebrew. יפת Greek Ιάφεθ, Iapheth, Latin Iafeth or Iapetus Arabic يافث Additionally, he was told to bring examples of all animals and birds, male and female. In order to provide sustenance, he was told to bring and store food.

Noah and his family and the animals entered the Ark, and "the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights". The flood covered even the highest mountains to a depth of more than 6 metres (20 ft), and all creatures died; only Noah and those with him on the Ark were left alive. The Flood story is considered by many modern scholars to consist of two slightly different interwoven accounts, hence the apparent uncertainty regarding the duration of the flood (40 or 150 days) and the number of animals taken on board Noah's Ark (2 of each kind, or 7 pairs of some kinds). ^[4]

Eventually, the Ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. The Mountains of Ararat is the place named in the Book of Genesis where Noah's ark came to rest after the great flood (Genesis 84 The waters continued to recede, and the hilltops emerged. Noah sent out a raven which "went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth". Raven is the common name given to the largest species of Passerine Birds in the Genus Corvus. Next, Noah sent a dove out, but it returned having found nowhere to land. After a further seven days, Noah again sent out the dove, and it returned with an olive leaf in its beak, and he knew that the waters had subsided. The Olive ( Olea europaea) is a Species of small Tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Noah waited seven days more and sent out the dove once more, and this time it did not return. Then he and his family and all the animals left the Ark, and Noah made a sacrifice to God, and God resolved that he would never again curse the ground because of man, nor destroy all life on it in this manner.

In order to remember this promise, God put a rainbow in the clouds, saying, "Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth". A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of Light to appear in the Sky when the Sun Covenant, meaning a solemn contract oath or bond is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith ( ברית,

The Ark in later traditions

In Rabbinic tradition

Noah descending from the mountains of Ararat. The Mountains of Ararat is the place named in the Book of Genesis where Noah's ark came to rest after the great flood (Genesis 84 Painting by Hovhannes Ayvazovsky. Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Иван Константинович Айвазовский Հովհաննես Այվազովսկի - Hovhannes Aivazovsky July 29,

The story of Noah and the Ark was subject to much discussion in later Jewish rabbinic literature. Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense can mean the entire spectrum of Rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history Noah's failure to warn others of the coming flood was widely seen as casting doubt on his righteousness—was he perhaps only righteous by the lights of his own evil generation? According to one tradition, he had in fact passed on God's warning, planting cedars one hundred and twenty years before the Deluge so that the sinful could see and be urged to amend their ways. In order to protect Noah and his family, God placed lions and other ferocious animals to guard them from the wicked who mocked them and offered them violence. According to one midrash, it was God, or the angels, who gathered the animals to the Ark, together with their food. Midrash ( Hebrew: מדרש plural midrashim, lit "to repeat" is a Hebrew term referring to the not exact but comparative ( homiletic An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition As there had been no need 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. A differing opinion said that the Ark itself distinguished clean from unclean, admitting seven of the first and two of the second.

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. The animals were the best of their species, and so behaved with utmost goodness. They abstained from procreation, so that the number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. The raven created problems, refusing to go out of 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 prophet Elijah. Elijah or Elias ( was a Prophet in Israel in the 9th century BC

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 opinion placed the refuse in the utmost story, from where it was shovelled into the sea through a trapdoor. Precious stones, bright as midday, provided light, and God ensured that food was kept fresh. The giant Og, king of Bashan, was among those saved, but owing to his size had to remain outside, Noah passing him food through a hole cut into the wall of the Ark. According to several books of the Old Testament, Og (ɒg or /ɔːg/ meaning "gigantic" עוג - /ʕog/ was an ancient Amorite king of Bashan Bashan ( Hebrew הבשן ha-Bashan, meaning "the light Soil " is a biblical place first mentioned in, where it is said that Chedorlaomer ^[5][6][7]

In Christian tradition

Construction of the Ark. Nuremberg Chronicle (1493). The Nuremberg Chronicle, written in Latin by Hartmann Schedel, with a version in German translation by Georg Alt is one of the best documented early printed books

Early Christian writers discovered elaborate allegorical meanings for Noah and the Ark. In the First Epistle of Peter those saved by the Ark from the waters of the Flood are said to prefigure the salvation of Christians through baptism,^[8] and the Anglican rite of baptism still asks God, "who of thy great mercy didst save Noah", to receive into the Church the infant about to be baptised. The First Epistle of Peter is a book of the New Testament. It has traditionally been held to have been written by Saint Peter the apostle during his time as Bishop Anglicanism is a tradition of Christian faith Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs In Christianity, baptism ( Greek, "immersing" "performing Ablutions " is the ritual act with the use of water by which one is admitted Early Christian artists frequently depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolising God saving the Church as it persevered through turmoil, and St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), in City of God, demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which is the body of Christ, which is the Church. ^[9] St. Jerome (c. Jerome (c 347 – September 30, 420) ( Latin: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος 347–420) called the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, the "foul bird of wickedness" expelled by baptism;^[10] more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize the Holy Spirit and the hope of salvation and, eventually, peace. In mainstream Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is one of the three entities of the Holy Trinity which make up the single substance In Theology, salvation can mean three related things being saved from or Liberation from something such as Suffering or the punishment of

St. Hippolytus of Rome, (d. For places named after the saint see Saint-Hippolyte Saint Hippolytus of Rome (c 235), seeking to demonstrate that "the ark was a symbol of the Christ who was expected", stated that the vessel had its door on the east side,^[11] that the bones of Adam were brought aboard together with gold, frankincense and myrrh, and 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; the Arabians and Persians call it Ararat". ^[12]

On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the ark was built in three stories, the lowest for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top level for humans, and that the male animals were separated from the females by sharp stakes to help maintain the prohibition against cohabitation aboard the vessel. ^[13] Similarly dwelling on practical matters, Origen (c. Origen ( Greek: Ōrigénēs, or Origen Adamantius, ca 185–ca 182–251), responding to a critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the world, countered with a learned argument about cubits, holding that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up in Egypt and would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit. Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated pyramid, rectangular rather than square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side; it was not until the 12th century that it came to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof. ^[14]

In Islamic tradition

Ibn Battuta, 1304–77, the Moroccan world-traveller who passed by the mountain of al-Judi, near Mosul, resting place of the Ark in Islamic tradition. Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta (أبو عبد الله محمد ابن عبد الله اللواتي الطنجي بن بطوطة (born February For the village in Azerbaijan see Mosul Azerbaijan. Mosul (الموصل Al Mūṣul, Kurdish: Mosul/Ninawa, Musul

Noah (Nuh) is one of the five principal prophets of Islam, generally mentioned in connection with the fate of those who refuse to listen to the Word. Nuh is a prophet in the Qur'an. References to نوح Nūḥ, the Arabic form of Noah, are scattered throughout the Qur'an and there Muslims regard as Prophets of Islam ( Arabic: نبي) those non-divine humans chosen by Allah as Prophets References are scattered through the Qur'an, with the fullest account at surah 11:27–51, entitled "Hud". The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Sura (sometimes spelt "Surah" ar سورة, plural "Suwar" ar سور is an Arabic term literally meaning "something enclosed or surrounded

In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term which can be translated as a "box" or "chest" to describe the Ark, surah 29:14 refers to it as a safina, an ordinary ship, and surah 54:13 as "a thing of boards and nails". Surah 11:44 says it settled on Mount Judi, identified by tradition with a hill near the town of Jazirat ibn Umar on the east bank of the Tigris in the province of Mosul in northern Iraq. Mount Judi (جودي Arabic or Mount Cudi (Turkish according to the Qur'an ( Sura 1144 is the resting place of the Ark built The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great Rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of southeastern For the village in Azerbaijan see Mosul Azerbaijan. Mosul (الموصل Al Mūṣul, Kurdish: Mosul/Ninawa, Musul For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics.

`Abd Allah ibn `Abbas, a contemporary of Muhammad, 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 modeled after a bird's belly and fashioned of teak wood. Abd-Allah ibn Abbas (عبد الله ابن عباس) was a cousin of Muhammad. Teak ( Tectona) is a genus of tropical Hardwood Trees in the family Verbenaceae, native to the south and southeast of Asia Noah then planted a tree, which in 20 years had grown enough to provide him all the wood he needed^[15].

The Persian historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings (c. Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (838-923 أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير الطبري was one of the earliest most prominent and famous Persian Historians The History of the Prophets and Kings (Persian تاریخ طبری, Arabic تاريخ الرسل والملوك Tarikh al-Rusul wa al-Muluk, popularly known Tarikh al-Tabari 915) includes numerous details about Noah's Ark found nowhere else; for instance, he says that the first creature aboard was the ant, and the last was the donkey, by means of whom Satan came aboard. Ants are social Insects of the family Formicidae and along with the related families of Wasps and Bees belong to the order The donkey or ass, Equus asinus, is a member of the Equidae or horse family and an odd-toed ungulate. He also relates that when Jesus' apostles expressed a desire to learn about the Ark from an eye-witness, he responded by temporarily resurrecting Noah's son Ham from the dead, who told them more: to deal with the excessive dung, Noah had miraculously caused a pair of hogs to come out of the elephant's tail, and to deal with a stowaway rat, Noah caused a pair of cats to come from the lion's nose^[16]. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE)

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi (d. TemplateInfobox Muslim scholars --> Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn íbn Ali al-Mas'udi (transl) (born c 956) says that the spot where it came to rest could be seen in his time. Masudi also says that the Ark began its voyage at Kufa in central Iraq and sailed to Mekka, where it circled the Kaaba, before finally travelling to Judi. Kufa ( Arabic, ar الكوفة) is a city in modern Iraq, about 170 km south of Baghdad, and 10 km northeast of Najaf. Mecca ˈmɛkə also spelled Makkah ˈmækə (in full Makkah Al-Mukarramah (Arabic mækːæ(t ælmʊkarˑamæ مكّة المكرمة, literally Honored The Kaaba ( Arabic: ar الكعبة; 'kɑʕbɑ or 'kæʕbæ "Cube" is a Cuboidal building in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is the Sura 11:41 says: "And he said, 'Ride ye in it; in the Name of God it moves and stays!'" Abdallah ibn 'Umar al-Baidawi, writing in the 13th century, takes this to mean that Noah said, "In the Name of God!" when he wished the Ark to move, and the same when he wished it to stand still. Baidawi (' Abdallah ibn 'Umar al-Baidawi Arabic: عبدالله بن عمر البيدوي was a Muslim scholar was born in Fars, where his

The flood was sent by Allah in answer to Noah's prayer that this evil generation should be destroyed; yet as Noah was righteous he continued to preach, and seventy idolaters were converted and entered the Ark with him, bringing the total aboard to 78 humans (these seventy plus the eight members of Noah's own family). Allah ( Arabic: الله, ʔalˤːɑːh) is the standard Arabic word for ' Idolatry is usually defined as Worship of any Cult image, Idea, or object, as opposed to the worship of a monotheistic God. The seventy had no offspring, and all of post-flood humanity is descended from Noah's three sons. A fourth son (or a grandson, according to some) named Canaan was among the idolaters, and was drowned.

Baidawi gives the length of the Ark as 300 cubits (157 m, 515 ft) by 50 (26. For the multi-touch interface see CUBIT (multi-touch. For the unit of information see Qubit. 2 m, 86 ft) in width, 30 (15. 7 m, 52 ft) in height, and explains that in the first of the three levels wild and domesticated animals were lodged, in the second the human beings, and in the third the birds. On every plank was the name of a prophet. Three missing planks, symbolising three prophets, were brought from Egypt by Og, son of Anak, the only one of the giants permitted to survive the Flood. The body of Adam was carried in the middle to divide the men from the women. See also Adam and Eve Adam ( Hebrew: אָדָם was according to a literal interpretation of Genesis, the first man created by

Noah spent five or six months aboard the Ark, at the end of which he sent out a raven. But the raven stopped to feast on carrion, and so Noah cursed it and sent out the dove, which has been known ever since as the friend of mankind. Masudi writes that God commanded the earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying received salt water in punishment and so became dry and arid. The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist.

Noah left the Ark on the tenth day of Muharram, and he and his family and companions built a town at the foot of Mount Judi named Thamanin ("eighty"), from their number. Muharram ( Arabic: ar محرم is the first month of the Islamic calendar. Noah then locked the Ark and entrusted the keys to Shem. Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229) mentions a mosque built by Noah which could be seen in his day, and Ibn Batutta passed the mountain on his travels in the 14th century. Yaqut ibn-'Abdullah al-Rumi al-Hamawi) (1179-1229 (ياقوت الحموي الرومي was a Syrian Biographer and Geographer. A "mosque" in English refers to all types of buildings dedicated for Islamic worship although there is a distinction in Arabic between the smaller privately owned mosque and the larger Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta (أبو عبد الله محمد ابن عبد الله اللواتي الطنجي بن بطوطة (born February Modern Muslims, although not generally active in searching for the Ark, believe that it still exists on the high slopes of the mountain. ^[6][5]

In other traditions

The Mandaeans of the southern Iraqi marshes practice a unique religion, possibly influenced in part by early followers of John the Baptist. Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly Saint John the Baptist ( heb. Jochanan ben Sacharja, arab. يحيى Yaḥyā or يوحنا Yūḥanna, aram. They regard Noah as a prophet, while rejecting Abraham (and Jesus) as false prophets. In the version given in their scriptures, the ark was built of sandalwood from Jebel Harun and was cubic in shape, with a length, width and height of 30 gama (the length of an arm); its final resting place is said to be Egypt. for the film industry in India see Cinema of Karnataka Sandalwood is the name for several fragrant Woods and their Essential Mount Hor ( Hebrew: הֹר הָהָר Hor Ha-Har) is the name given in the Old Testament to two distinct mountains This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics.

The religion of the Yazidi of the Sinjar mountains of northern Iraq blends indigenous and Islamic beliefs. The Yazidi (also Yezidi, Kurdish: ئزیدی or Êzidî, Arabic: يزيدي or ايزدي Assyrian/Syriac: ܓ̰ܠܟܝܐ is a Sinjar ( Kurdish: Şingar) is the name of a region and a town in northwestern Iraq 's Ninawa Governorate near the Syrian border According to their Mishefa Reş, the Deluge occurred not once, but twice. The Yazidi Black Book ( Mishefa Reş) is one of the two Holy books of the Yazidi religion the other being the Book of Revelation The original Deluge is said to have been survived by a certain Na'umi, father of Ham, whose ark landed at a place called Ain Sifni, in the region of Mosul. For the village in Azerbaijan see Mosul Azerbaijan. Mosul (الموصل Al Mūṣul, Kurdish: Mosul/Ninawa, Musul Some time after this came the second flood, upon the Yezidis only, which was survived by Noah, whose ship was pierced by a rock as it floated above Mount Sinjar, then went on to land on Mount Judi as described in Islamic tradition. Sinjar ( Kurdish: Şingar) is the name of a region and a town in northwestern Iraq 's Ninawa Governorate near the Syrian border

According to Irish mythology, Noah had a son named Bith who was not allowed aboard the Ark, and who instead attempted to colonise Ireland with 54 persons, all of whom were then wiped out in the Deluge. The Mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved shorn of its religious meanings In Irish mythology, Bith was a son of the Biblical Noah. His wife was Birren.

The Bahá'í Faith, a blend of Islam, Christianity and Judaism created in the 19th century, regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic. The Bahá'í Faith is a Religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind ^[17] In Bahá'í belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the ark of his teachings, as others were spiritually dead. ^[18][19] The Bahá'í scripture Kitáb-i-Íqán endorses the Islamic belief that Noah had a large number of companions, either 40 or 72, besides his family on the Ark, and that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood. The Kitáb-i-Íqán ( "The Book of Certitude" is one of many books held sacred by followers of the Bahá'í Faith; it is their primary theologicial ^[20]

The Ark in scientific and critical scholarship

The Ark under scrutiny

Paradisaea apoda, so named by naturalists because the first specimens to reach Europe were prepared as skins without the feet, with consequences for 17th century theories of exotic animals aboard the Ark.

The Renaissance saw a continued speculation that might have seemed familiar to Origen and Augustine. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Yet at the same time, 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. Thus 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, and the noted 16th-century geometrician Johannes Buteo calculated the ship's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators. Geometry ( Greek γεωμετρία; geo = earth metria = measure is a part of Mathematics concerned with questions of size shape and relative position ^[14]

By the 17th century, it was becoming necessary to reconcile the exploration of the New World and increased awareness of the global distribution of species with the older belief that all life had sprung from a single point of origin on the slopes of Mount Ararat. The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. The obvious answer was that man had spread over the continents following the destruction of the Tower of Babel and taken animals with him, yet some of the results seemed peculiar: why had the natives of North America taken rattlesnakes, but not horses, wondered Sir Thomas Browne in 1646? "How America abounded with Beasts of prey and noxious Animals, yet contained not in that necessary Creature, a Horse, is very strange". The Tower of Babel (מגדל בבל Migdal Bavel برج بابل Burj Babil) is a structure featured in chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis, an enormous Sir Thomas Browne ( October 19, 1605 &ndash October 19, 1682) was an English author of varied works which disclose his wide learning ^[14]

Browne, who was among the first to question the notion of spontaneous generation, was a medical doctor and amateur scientist making this observation in passing. In the Natural sciences, Abiogenesis, or origin of life, is the study of how Life on Earth emerged from Inanimate Organic Biblical scholars of the time such as Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) and Athanasius Kircher (c. Justus Lipsius, Joost Lips or Josse Lips ( 18 October 1547 — 23 March 1606) was a Flemish Philologist Athanasius Kircher (sometimes erroneously spelled Kirchner) was a 17th century German Jesuit Scholar who published around 40 works most 1601–80) were also beginning to subject the Ark story to rigorous scrutiny as they attempted to harmonise the biblical account with natural historical knowledge. Natural history is the Scientific research of Plants or Animals leaning more towards the Observational than Experimental methods The resulting hypotheses were an important impetus to the study of the geographical distribution of plants and animals, and indirectly spurred the emergence of biogeography in the 18th century. Biogeography is the study of the distribution of Biodiversity over Space and Time. Natural historians began to draw connections between climates and the animals and plants adapted to them. One influential theory held that the biblical Ararat was striped with varying climatic zones, and as climate changed, the associated animals moved as well, eventually spreading to repopulate the globe. There was also the problem of an ever-expanding number of known species: for Kircher and earlier natural historians, there was little problem finding room for all known animal species in the Ark, but by the time John Ray (1627–1705) was working, just several decades after Kircher, their number had expanded beyond biblical proportions. John Ray ( November 29, 1627 &ndash January 17, 1705) was an English naturalist, sometimes referred to as the Incorporating the full range of animal diversity into the Ark story was becoming increasingly difficult, and by 1700 few natural historians could justify a literal interpretation of the Noah's Ark narrative. ^[2]

The Documentary Hypothesis

See also: documentary hypothesis

Torah scroll, open to the Song of the sea in Exodus 15: British Library Add. The Song of the Sea (שירת הים also known as Az Yashir Moshe is a Poem which appears in Exodus at Exodus 151b-18 Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. MS. 4,707.

The Biblical flood narrative in which Noah's Ark appears has been subjected to considerable literary analysis. The Flood narrative is often held up as a test-case for the Documentary Hypothesis, which proposes that the flood narrative was composed by combining two independent stories on the same subject. This hypothesis still has many adherents in academic circles, but can no longer be called a consensus view. Alternative theories on Pentateuchal origins hold that the flood narrative was the product of the slow accretion of blocks of material over time, or the result of extensive editing and additions to an original text. There is general agreement that the Ark story is embedded within a context suggestive of parallel editorial influences which (though unprovenanced), continue to be called the Yahwist and the Priestly. Disagreement continues as to which passages in the flood narrative belong to each source.

Biblical scholarship and the Ark in the 20th century

The documentary hypothesis still has many adherents in academic circles, but can no longer be called a consensus view. Alternative theories on Pentateuchal origins hold that the Torah, and the Ark narrative, were the product of the slow accretion of blocks of material over time, or the result of extensive editing and additions to an original text; but there is general agreement that two distinct narrative strands exist in the Ark story, which, whether understood as distinct documents or as a sequence of redactional (editorial) layers or authorial additions, continue to be called the Yahwist and the Priestly. ^[21]

A good deal of scholarly attention has been paid to theological significance of the Ark story for the ancient authors. The respected evangelical scholar Gordon Wenham has pointed out the presence of an elaborate palistrophe within the story: the narrative forms two halves, each mirroring the other, with the sentence "And God remembered Noah" at their centre: this, according to Wenham, identifies its defining central theological core. Gordon Wenham (born 1943 is an Old Testament scholar and author of several books about the Bible. Chiastic structure (also called chiastic pattern or ring structure) is a literary Structure used in the Torah, the Bible, as well ^[22] Martin Noth has identified the Ark story as the central element of a narrative unit which he called the Primal History: this takes up all of Genesis 1-11, and tells the story of God's creation of the world, the growth of sin, and God's decision to destroy his first creation and start again with Noah. Martin Noth ( August 3, 1902 – May 30, 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic (The remainder of the Primal History tells of the growth of sin yet again after Noah, culminating in the Tower of Babel). The Tower of Babel (מגדל בבל Migdal Bavel برج بابل Burj Babil) is a structure featured in chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis, an enormous

The insights of Wenham and Noth are widely accepted among contemporary biblical scholars, as is the presence of a strong strand of Mesopotamian myth in Genesis 1-11 (the creation stories, the Tower of Babel, and many individual elements within these stories). This article is about the academic treatment of the bible as a historical document Creation according to Genesis refers to the Hebrew narrative of the creation of the heavens and the earth as told in chapters 1 and 2 of Genesis The Tower of Babel (מגדל בבל Migdal Bavel برج بابل Burj Babil) is a structure featured in chapter 11 of the Book of Genesis, an enormous The exiled priests of the Jerusalem Temple, faced with Babylonian stories about Babylonian gods creating and controlling the world (including Atrahasis, the Babylonian flood and ark myth), rewrote the myths of their conquerors to give primacy to Yahweh, effectively denying the power both of the Babylonians and of their divinities. The 18th century BCE Akkadian Atra-Hasis epic, named after its human hero As for the Ark itself, the vessels of both Atrahasis and Noah are modeled on the temples of their respective cultures, Atrahasis's four-sided, seven-story vessel on the square Mesopotamian ziggurat and the seven heavens of Babylonian belief, Noah's three-decked rectangular Ark on the idealised Temple of Solomon and the three heavens of Hebrew belief. ^[23]

Literalist Interpretation

According to a telephone poll conducted by ABCNEWS/Primetime in 2004, 60% of US residents believe the story of Noah's Ark is literally true. ^[24] Literalist websites such as Answers in Genesis discuss such questions as the identity of gopher wood, how the Ark could have accommodated representatives of all the species of animals, birds and insects on earth, and the ship's general seaworthiness. Answers in Genesis ( AiG) is a Non-profit Christian Apologetics ministry with a particular focus on Young Earth creationism and Gopher wood or gopherwood is a term used once in the Bible, for the substance whose identity is unknown from which Noah's ark was built (Old Earth Creationists, believing that a world-wide flood is an impossibility, reconcile their faith with science by suggesting that the flood was merely local, and that the Ark was therefore a barge rather than a ship).

The reasons which lead to literalism have been expressed by John Morris, a leading Creationist, as follows: "If the flood of Noah indeed wiped out the entire human race and its civilization, as the Bible teaches, then the Ark constitutes the one remaining major link to the pre-flood World. John Morris could refer to John Morris (actor, actor most famous for voice roles in the Toy Story films John Morris (composer, film No significant artifact could ever be of greater antiquity or importance. . . . [with] tremendous potential impact on the creation-evolution (including theistic evolution) controversy". ^[25] Searches for Noah's Ark therefore continue in the mountains of Ararat, although so far without success. From at least the time of Eusebius (c 275 – 339 AD to the present day the search for the physical remains of Noah's Ark has held a fascination for Christians

See also

• Deluge (mythology)
• Deluge (prehistoric)
• Searches for Noah's Ark
• Wives aboard the Ark
• List of world's largest wooden ships

Notes

References

• Bailey, Lloyd R. (1989). Noah, the Person and the Story. South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 0-87249-637-6.  
• Best, Robert M. (1999). Noah's Ark and the Ziusudra Epic. Fort Myers, Florida: Enlil Press. ISBN 0-9667840-1-4.  
• Brenton, Sir Lancelot C. L. [1851] (1986). The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English (reprint). Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 0-913573-44-2.  
• Tigay, Jeffrey H. , (1982). The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. ISBN 0-8122-7805-4.  
• Woodmorappe, John (1996). Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study. El Cajon, CA: Institute for Creation Research. ISBN 0-932766-41-2.  
• Young, Davis A. (1995). The Biblical Flood. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co. . ISBN 0-8028-0719-4.  

External links

• S. Najm & Ph. Guillaume, Jubilee Calendar Rescued from the Flood Narrative, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (2004) The calendar(s) used in the flood narrative
• World Wide Flood's Naval Architects Professional ship designers consider Noah's Ark design.
• Depictions of Noah's Ark through history at World Wide Flood
• Problems with a Global Flood at TalkOrigins Archive
• Problems with a Global Flood? Response to the above
• Some Jewish Opinions on the Ark at Chabad.org
• Parallels between flood myths Comparison of equivalent lines in six ancient versions of the flood story
• Noah's Ark and Creation Science
• Noah's Flood Questions and Answers at Answers in Genesis
• History of the Collapse of "Flood Geology" and a Young Earth, adapted from the book The Biblical Flood by Davis A. The TalkOrigins Archive is a Website that presents mainstream science perspectives on the antievolution claims of young-earth old-earth and Chabadorg is the flagship Website of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement Answers in Genesis ( AiG) is a Non-profit Christian Apologetics ministry with a particular focus on Young Earth creationism and Young
• Noah's Ark at Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, CA