Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark is the famous boat from an ancient story found in the book of Genesis flood narrative. In this story, God told a man named Noah to build a huge boat to save his family and pairs of every animal from a giant flood that would cover the whole Earth.

The tale of a big flood that wiped out all life first appeared in stories from Mesopotamian cultures long before the Bible. One of the closest stories comes from a character named Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Though the stories share many ideas, they have different reasons for why the flood happened.

Many religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and others, have their own meanings and lessons from the story of Noah's Ark. People have searched for the real Ark for centuries, but no proof that it actually existed has ever been found. Some experts think the story might have come from a real but smaller flood that happened in West Asia long ago.

Description

The Bible tells the story of Noah's Ark, a special boat built to save Noah, his family, and pairs of animals from a big flood. God told Noah to build the Ark exactly 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Some believe these sizes are linked to the number 60, which was important in ancient Babylonian culture.

The Ark had three levels, representing the ancient Israelite idea of the world having heaven, earth, and an underworld. Each level was as tall as the Temple in Jerusalem and three times the size of a special outdoor area used for worship. The Ark had a door on its side and something called a tsohar, which might have been a roof or a window. It was made from a special kind of wood called gopher wood and coated with pitch or bitumen to make it waterproof.

Origins

Mesopotamian precursors

Main article: Flood myth

The Bible's story of Noah's Ark is based on older stories from Mesopotamia. These flood stories talk about events that happened long ago and make it seem like the myths come from very old times. But the idea of a big flood that destroys all life first appears in the Old Babylonian period, between the 20th and 16th centuries BCE.

There are nine known versions of the Mesopotamian flood story, each one changing a little from the one before it. The oldest version, written in the Sumerian city of Nippur around 1600 BCE, is about a king named Ziusudra. He builds a boat to save lives when the gods decide to destroy everything. This same idea shows up in many later stories, including the one about Noah.

The story most like Noah's is about a man named Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh. We have a full copy of this story from a tablet from the seventh century BCE, but pieces of it have been found from as early as the 19th century BCE. The last known version was written in Greek in the third century BCE by a priest named Berossus.

The arks in these stories look a bit different. Atrahasis's ark was round, like a big basket. Utnapishtim's ark was a square box with many levels. Noah's Ark was rectangular with three levels. Even though they look different, the space on each ark is almost the same.

Main article: Genesis flood narrative § Composition

Most scholars think the Torah — the first five books of the Bible — came together over a long time and was finished after the Babylonian exile. Since the 1700s, people have studied the flood story as a good example of two different versions being mixed into one story. One way to tell the versions apart is that they use different names for God: “Elohim” and “Yahweh.”

Religious views

Rabbinic Judaism

Main article: Noah in rabbinic literature

The Talmudic writings tell us that when Noah was building the Ark, he tried to warn his neighbors about the flood coming, but they ignored him or laughed. God sent lions and fierce animals to protect Noah and his family from others who wanted to stop them from getting on the Ark. Some stories say God or angels brought the animals and food to the Ark. The clean animals were said to have bowed to Noah when they entered.

Noah took care of all the animals on the Ark for a whole year and never slept. The animals were well-behaved and didn’t have babies, so the same number of animals got off the Ark as got on. The raven that Noah sent out stayed away and complained, but God still wanted to save it because its descendants would later feed a prophet.

Christianity

The First Epistle of Peter compared Noah’s saving through water to how Christians believe baptism saves people. Early Christian thinkers saw the Ark as a symbol of Jesus Christ who was expected to come. They said the Ark’s door faced east, the direction from which Jesus would return. Early artists showed Noah in a small box on the water, standing for how God saved the early Christian church during hard times.

Augustine of Hippo said the Ark’s size matched the human body, which Christians believe is the body of Christ and the church. The dove that returned with an olive branch became a lasting symbol of hope, peace, and the Holy Spirit.

Gnosticism

According to an ancient Gnostic writing, Noah was chosen to be saved when evil beings tried to destroy everyone with a flood. He was told to build the ark but tried not to let a woman named Norea join him. She used her powers to set the ark on fire, so Noah had to rebuild it.

Mandaeism

In Mandaean writings, Noah and his family were saved from the Great Flood because they built an ark.

Islam

Main article: Noah in Islam

The Quran describes the Ark as an ordinary ship made of wood. An early Muslim writer said Noah wasn’t sure what shape to make the Ark until God told him to shape it like a bird’s belly out of teak wood.

A medieval writer said God made the Earth absorb most of the flood water, and the water that remained became the seas. He said the Ark started its journey in Kufa in Iraq, sailed to Mecca, and finally rested on Mount Judi near a town in northern Iraq.

Baháʼí Faith

The Baháʼí Faith sees the Ark and the Flood as symbols. Baháʼí beliefs say only Noah’s followers were spiritually alive, saved in the “ark” of his teachings. Baháʼí writings say Noah had many companions on the Ark and taught for many years before the flood.

Ancient accounts

Many ancient writers told stories about Noah’s Ark. A Jewish historian said people in Armenia believed the remains of the Ark were still there, on a mountain they called the Place of Descent. Other writers from ancient times also mentioned the flood and the Ark in Armenia. In the fourth century, a Christian writer said people could still see parts of the Ark there to teach lessons.

Historicity

The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica from 1771 described the Ark as a real boat. It tried to explain how the Ark could hold all the animals by saying there were fewer types of animals than people thought.

Later editions suggested the flood might have been local rather than covering the whole world. This change happened as scientists learned more about how animals and plants developed.

Ark's geometry

During the Renaissance in Europe, people thought a lot about what the Ark might have looked like. Some writers tried to figure out how the boat could work in a practical way. One person from the 1400s described how the Ark might have handled things like waste and air. A mathematician in the 1500s calculated the size of the Ark and said there was enough space for Noah’s tools.

A curator at the British Museum found a very old tablet that told a version of the flood story. He translated it and helped make a TV show and a book about it. A small copy of the boat described on the tablet was built and tested in India.

Searches for Noah's Ark

Main article: Searches for Noah's Ark

People have looked for Noah’s Ark for a long time. A Jewish historian from the 1st century said pieces of the Ark were found in Armenia. Today, looking for the Ark is seen as a kind of guesswork rather than real science. Different places have been suggested, but nothing has been proven. Places like the Durupınar site on Mount Tendürek and Mount Ararat in eastern Anatolia have been checked, but what was found looks like natural rock formations.

Cultural legacy

Today, many people and groups have tried to rebuild Noah's ark using the size details from the Bible. One example is Johan's Ark, which was finished in 2012. Another is the Ark Encounter, completed in 2016.