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Briefing: Mount Ararat

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  • Briefing: Mount Ararat

    The Herald (Glasgow)
    April 5, 2004

    Briefing: Mount Ararat

    Noah's Ark finally found dry land on the mountain's summit on this
    day in 2348 BC.

    Q: Says who?

    A: Experts in the field of hermeneutics, the branch of knowledge that
    deals with interpreting the Bible and other works of literature.

    Q: Where is Mount Ararat?

    A: There are actually two: Great Ararat (16,854ft), and Little Ararat
    (12,782ft). They're both products of volcanic eruptions in the
    distant past and are to be found in the extreme east of Turkey. It's
    Great Ararat that's associated with the mountain on which Noah's Ark
    came to rest at the end of the flood.

    Q: Where does the name come from?

    A: As it appears in the Bible, it's the Hebrew equivalent of Urartu,
    a kingdom that flourished between the ninth and seventh centuries BC.
    Ararat is sacred to the Armenians.

    Q: Oh?

    A: They believe they were the first race of humans to appear in the
    world after the Deluge. Persian legend refers to Ararat as the cradle
    of the human race. According to local tradition, Noah, the Old
    Testament hero of the book of Genesis who introduced winemaking to
    the world, planted the first vineyard in a village, since vanished,
    on the slopes of Ararat.

    Q: What happened to the village?

    A: Along with the monastery commemorating St Jacob, who is said to
    have tried repeatedly but unsuccessfully to reach the summit, it was
    destroyed by an avalanche in 1840.

    Q: Who first scaled the mountain?

    A: Johann Jacob von Parrot, a German, made the first recorded
    successful ascent in 1829. Since then, it's been climbed by several
    mountaineers, some of whom claim to have sighted remains of the Ark.
    Locals believe the Ark's still there, but that God decided no-one
    should see it.
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