Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/268

of the elemental waters are regarded as simultaneous (Di.); but that does not quite meet the difficulty. See, further, p. 155 above.—3b. at the end of the 150 days] (7²⁴). See the footnote.—4. The resting of the ark.—on (one of) the mountains of 'Ărārāṭ] which are probably named as the highest known to the Hebrews at the time of writing; just as one form of the Indian legend names the Himalayas, and the Greek, Parnassus. Araraṭ (Ass. Urarṭu) is the NE part of Armenia; cf. 2 Ki. 19³⁷ = Is. 37³⁸, Jer. 51²⁷. The name Mount Araraṭ, traditionally applied to the highest peak (Massis, Agridagh: c. 17,000 ft.) of the Armenian mountains, rests on a misunderstanding of this passage.

The traditions regarding the landing-place of the ark are fully discussed by Lenorm. Or.² ii. 1 ff.: cf. Tu. 133-136; Nö. Unters. 145 ff.—The district called Araraṭ or Urarṭu is properly that named in Armenian Ayrarat, and is probably identical with the country of the Alarodians of Herod. iii. 94, vii. 79. It is the province of Armenia lying NE of Lake Van, including the fertile plain watered by the Araxes, on the right (SW) side of which river Mt. Massis rises.^[1] Another tradition, represented by Berossus (p. 177 below) and T^O S (Hebrew characters)^[2], locates the mountain in Kurdistan, viz. at Ǧebel Ǧûdî, which is a striking mountain SW of Lake Van, commanding a wide view over the Mesopotamian plain. This view is adopted in the Koran (Sur. xi. 46), and has become traditional among the Moslems.—The 'mountain of Niṣir' of the cuneiform legend lies still further south, probably in one of the ranges between the Lower Zab and the next tributary to the S, the Adhem (Radânu) (Streck, ZA, xv. 272). Tiele and Kosters, however (EB, 289), identify it with Elburz, the sacred mountain of the Iranians (S of the Caspian Sea); and find a trace of this name in the (Greek characters) indicated as the mountain of the ark by Nicolaus Damascenus (Jos. Ant. i. 95).—What the original Heb. tradition was, it is impossible to say. The writers just named conjecture that it was identical with the Bab., Araraṭ being here a corruption of Hara haraiti (the ancient Iranian name of Elburz), which was afterwards confused with the land of Urarṭu. Nö. and Ho. think it probable that T^O and S preserve the oldest name (Ḳardu), and that Araraṭ is a correction made when it was

Jer. 5²⁶, Est. 2¹ 7¹⁰.—3b. (Hebrew characters)] Rd. (Hebrew characters) (Str. Ho. Gk.). [E] (Hebrew characters).—4. For 17th G has 27th (7¹¹).

1. "Ararat regio in Armenia campestris est, per quam Araxes fluit, incredibilis ubertatis, ad radices Tauri montis, qui usque illuc extenditur." Jerome on Is. 37³⁸.
2. T^J has both (Hebrew characters) and (Hebrew characters), as has Berossus.]