According to the bible, Noah’s Ark is the boat through which God spares Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from a global deluge.
The Biblical account shares many details with earlier Mesopotamian stories, which demonstrates the existence of shared culture traits that spanned the ancient Near East both geographically and temporally, and, moreover, suggests that the Flood story originated in southern Mesopotamia. [01]
The version closest to the biblical story of Noah, as well as its most likely source, is that of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh. [02]
The Genesis flood narrative matches that in Gilgamesh so closely that “few doubt” that it derives from a Mesopotamian account. [03] What is particularly noticeable is the way the Genesis flood story follows the Gilgamesh flood tale “point by point and in the same order”, even when the story permits other alternatives. [04]
The most likely assumption is that both Genesis and Gilgamesh drew their material from a common tradition about the flood that existed in Mesopotamia, such as the Sumerian epic of Ziusudra, these stories then diverged in the retelling. Ziusudra, Utnapishtim and Noah are the respective heroes of the Sumerian, Akkadian and biblical flood legends of the ancient Near East. [05]
Sumerian Noah & Dilmun
According to “Eridu Genesis”, Ziusudra, (The Sumerian Noah), was instructed by gods to build an ark, in order to survive a great flood. The resting place of Ziusudra, after the flood, was Dilmun.
The Epic of Ziusudra adds an element at lines 258–261 not found in other versions, that after the flood.. “king Ziusudra … they caused to dwell in the KUR Dilmun, the place where the sun rises”. The Sumerian word “KUR” is an ambiguous word. Samuel Noah Kramer states that “its primary meanings is ‘mountain’ is attested by the fact that the sign used for it is actually a pictograph representing a mountain. Kur also came to mean ‘land’ in general”. The last sentence can be translated as “In the mountain of crossing, the mountain of Dilmun, the place where the sun rises”. (Wikipedia).
“Based on contextual evidence, Dilmun encompassed Bahrain Kuwait and eastern Saudi Arabia. This area is certainly what is meant by references to “Dilmun” among the lands conquered by King Sargon II and his descendants.” ()
“Based on contextual evidence, Dilmun encompassed Bahrain, Kuwait and eastern Saudi Arabia. This area is certainly what is meant by references to {Dilmun} among the lands conquered by King Sargon II and his descendants.” (Dilmun)
The biblical account:
Genesis 8:4 “and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.” (NIV)
The original Hebrew:
.“וַתָּ֤נַח הַתֵּבָה֙ בַּחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֔י בְּשִׁבְעָה־ עָשָׂ֥ר יֹ֖ום לַחֹ֑דֶשׁ עַ֖ל הָרֵ֥י אֲרָרָֽט”
Here, we are told that the Ark came to rest on the mountain range of “Ararat“.
Genesis 11:1-2
The previous chapter (Genesis 10) described all the nations, tribes, and languages that came from Noah’s three sons. Genesis 11 backs up the story to the era before the people groups were divided. Until this point, the families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth remained together as a single people group with a single culture. Genesis 11:1 told us they all shared the same language. In Genesis 11:2, we’re told that this growing extended family migrated, away from the region where the ark settled, towards the land of Shinar. [06]
Genesis 11:2: “As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.” (NIV)
They left the resting place of the Ark and moved eastward to the land of Shinar.
This leads to the conclusion that: Biblical “Ararat” lies to the west of Shinar.
But, where is “the land of Shinar”?
Biblical Shinar
Shinar (שִׁנְעָר ) is the name for the southern region of Mesopotamia used by the Hebrew Bible. [07] The archaeologist Sir Henry Rawlinson suggests that it was the Jewish name for Chaldea. [08]
According to the Jewish encyclopedia:
“Chaldea was the name of a small territory in southern Babylonia extending along the northern and probably also the western shores of the Persian gulf.”
Jubilees 10:20 states that the Tower of Babel was built with bitumen from the Sea of Shinar. This “sea” is believed to be the Persian gulf. [09]
“For they departed from the land of Ararat eastward to Shinar; for in his days they built the city and the tower, saying, ‘Go to, let us ascend thereby into heaven.
And they began to build, and in the fourth week they made brick with fire, and the bricks served them for stone, and the clay with which they cemented them together was asphalt which comes out of the sea, and out of the fountains of water in the land of Shinar.”. (Jubilees 19:20).
Theophilus of Antioch
Theophilus of Antioch (115-185 AD) was among the earliest to write a commentary on the Gospels, if not the first; and he seems to have been the first Christian historian of the era of the Old Testament.
Under the title: “ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE”, Theophilus wrote the following:
“And of the ark, the remains are to this day to be seen in the Arabian mountains.”. [10]
As mentioned earlier, littoral North-Eastern Arabia, lies within historic Chaldea.
CHAP. XIX.–ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE. And neither does he make out that there was a second flood: on the contrary, he said that never again would there be a flood of water on the world; as neither indeed has there been, nor ever shall be. And he says that eight human beings were preserved in the ark, in that which had been prepared by God’s direction, not by Deucalion, but by Noah; which Hebrew word means “rest,” as we have elsewhere shown that Noah, when he announced to the men then alive that there was a flood coming, prophesied to them, saying, Come thither, God calls you to repentance. On this account he was fitly called Deucalion. And this Noah had three sons (as we mentioned in the second book), whose names were Shem, and Ham, and Japhet; and these had three wives, one wife each; each man and his wife. This man some have surnamed Eunuchus. All the eight persons, therefore, who were found in the ark were preserved. And Moses showed that the flood lasted forty days and forty nights, torrents pouring from heaven, and from the fountains of the deep breaking up, so that the water overtopped every high hill 15 cubits. And thus the race of all the men that then were was destroyed, and those only who were protected in the ark were saved; and these, we have already said, were eight. And of the ark, the remains are to this day to be seen in the Arabian mountains. This, then, is in sum the history of the deluge. THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. BOOK III. pp. 116-117
Targumic qardu (קַרְדּוּ)
Targums are Aramaic translations of books of the Hebrew Bible. The targumic genre combines literal renderings of the biblical text with additional material, ranging in size from a word to several paragraphs. The additions provide important insights into ancient Jewish biblical interpretation. The major targums are: Onkelos, Jonathan and Neofiti. [11]
These translation works refer to biblical “Ararat” as “qardu” or “qardun”.
1- Onkelos:
“וְנָחַת תֵּבוֹתָא בְּיַרְחָא שְׁבִיעָאָה בְּשִׁבְעַת עֲשַׂר יוֹמָא לְיַרְחָא עַל טוּרֵי קַרְדּוּ”.
“טוּרֵי קַרְדּוּ” = (and the Ark rested on) “ṭūri qardu”.
Aramaic “טוּר/ṭūr” means: “rock” or “hill” and by extension: “mountain”.
2- Jonathan:
וּנְחַת תֵּיבוּתָא בְּיַרְחָא שְׁבִיעָאָה הוּא יַרְחָא דְנִיסָן בְּשֶׁבְסְרֵי יוֹמִין לְיַרְחָא עַל טַוְורֵי דְקַדְרוֹן שׁוּם טַוְורָא חַד קַרְדַנְיָא וְשׁוּם טַוְורָא חַד אַרְמִינְיָא וְתַּמָן מִתְבַּנְיָא קַרְתָּא דְאַרְמַנְיָא בְּאַרְעָא מַדִינְחָא
“טַוְורֵי דְקַדְרוֹן” = (and the Ark rested on) “ṭūri (of) qardun”.
3- Neofiti:
“ושתדכת תיבותה בירחא שביעיא בשבעת עשר יומין לירחא על טורי קרדון”
“טורי קרדון” = (and the Ark rested on) “ṭūri qardun”.
Aramaic: [q] is the emphatic variant of: [k].
In ancient Mesopotamian records there is a geographical region called: “Kardu”.
“Certain scholars have suggested the possibility that Kardu is another name for ‘the land of Chaldea’”. [12]
Talmudic: qardu (קַרְדּוּ)
Talmud: is the textual record of generations of rabbinic debate about biblical interpretation, compiled between the 3rd and 8th centuries.
The Talmudic commentators in (bb 91a), state that Abraham was imprisoned several years in “khuta/כוּתָא” as well as “qardu/קַרְדּוּ” and they consider the former to be ‘Ur of the Chaldeans’:
וְאָמַר רַב חָנָן בַּר רָבָא אָמַר רַב: עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים נֶחְבַּשׁ אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ – שָׁלֹשׁ בְּכוּתָא, וְשֶׁבַע בְּקַרְדּוּ. וְרַב דִּימִי מִנְּהַרְדְּעָא מַתְנִי אִיפְּכָא. אָמַר רַב חִסְדָּא: עִיבְרָא זְעֵירָא דְּכוּתָא – זֶהוּ אוּר כַּשְׂדִּים
This can be translated as: “And Rav Ḥanan bar Rava says that Rav says: Our forefather Abraham was imprisoned for ten years, because he rejected the idol worship that was accepted in his land. He was imprisoned for three years in the city of Khuta, and seven years in qardu. And Rav Dimi of Neharde’a teaches the opposite, (that he was imprisoned seven years in Khuta and three in qardu). Rav Ḥisda said: The narrow passage of Khuta, is the Ur of the Chaldeans”.
Here, we’re told that: “qardu” is close to: “the Ur of the Chaldeans“, and Abraham was imprisoned in this “qardu“.
When Genesis 8:4 records that Noah’s Ark landed at the mountains of Ararat, the Targums (Onkelos, Jonathan, Neofiti) explain that Ararat is: “qardu“.
Syriac: qatraye
Littoral north-eastern Arabia had a distinctive culture in Pre-Islamic Arabia. Few centuries before the advent of Islam, this region was predominantly Christian. Its people adopted Syriac as their written language. The name of this region, in Syriac, was: “ܩܲܛܪ̈ܵܝܹܐ Qăṭrāye”.
“Eastern Arabia was divided into two main ecclesiastical regions: Beth Qatraye (northeastern Arabia) and Beth Mazunaye (southeastern Arabia). Christianity in Eastern Arabia was blunted by the arrival of Islam by 628.” (Wikipedia.org/Eastern_Arabia)
Syriac: “Qatraye” still exist in Arabic as: “Qăṭăr/قطر” or “Giṭăr/گِطر” in colloquial Arabic.
“Qatar” now refers only to the “Qatar Peninsula”.
The phonetic root of “Qaṭraye” and “Qaṭar” is [q-ṭ-r].
[ṭ] is the emphatic variant of [t].
[t] is the voiceless variant of [d].
In place-names, [t] and [d] are “free variants”.
For example: “Baghdad”, pronounced: “Bağdat” in Turkish.
This makes [q-t-r] a byform of [q-d-r].
[q-d-r] can be a metathesised variant of [q-r-d]
In place-names, metathesis is commonplace.
For example: “Alexandria”, pronounced: “Aliskandariya” in Arabic.
[q-r-d] is the phonetic root of the Targumic: “qardu”, the other name of biblical “Ararat”.
[q-r-d] is also the phonetic root of the Talmudic: “qardu”, a place near “Ur Kasdim”.
[k-r-d] is an earlier form of [q-r-d], because [q] is the emphatic variant of [k].
[k-r-d] is the phonetic root of “Kardu”, a Mesopotamian name for “Chaldea”.
kardu, qardu, qaṭraya & qaṭar are variants of the same name.
kardu (Akkadian) > qardu (Aramaic/Hebrew) > qaṭraya (Syriac) > qaṭar (Arabic).
Accordingly, Qaṭraya (or Qardu) was just another name for Chaldea, or “Coastal Chaldea”. The latter includes Dilmun, the final resting place of Ziusudra.
[01] – Woods, Ch. (2010), The Mesopotamian Origins of the Biblical Flood Story.
Associate Professor of Sumerology, University of Chicago.
[02] – Nigosian, S.A. (2004), From Ancient Writings to Sacred Texts: The Old Testament and Apocrypha, JHU Press.
[03] – George, Andrew R. (2003). The Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic: Introduction, Critical Edition and Cuneiform Texts. Oxford University Press. p. 70.
[04] – Rendsburg, Gary. “The Biblical flood story in the light of the Gilgamesh flood account,” in Gilgamesh and the world of Assyria, eds Azize, J & Weeks, N. Peters, 2007, p. 117
[05] – Wexler, Robert (2001). Ancient Near Eastern Mythology.
[06] – https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/11/Genesis-11-2.html
[07] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinar
[08] – The Pulpit Commentaries https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tpc/genesis-11.html
[09] – https://fathersheartministry.net/morning-light-genesis-11-video/
[10] – The Apology to Autolycus:
CHAPTER XVIII.—ERRORS OF THE GREEKS ABOUT THE DELUGE.
CHAPTER XIX.—ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE
[11] – Oxford Bibliographies: Targum
[12] – Raymond Philip Dougherty, The Sealand of Ancient Arabia, Yale University Press, 1932, 66ff.
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