Noah's Ark in the context of "Great Flood (Biblical)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: Tevat Noaḥ) is the boat in the Genesis flood narrative through which God spares Noah, his family, and one pair of every animal species in the world from a global deluge.

The story in Genesis is based on earlier Mesopotamian flood myths. The myth of the global flood that destroys all life begins to appear in the Old Babylonian Empire period (20th–16th centuries BCE). 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. Scholars note shared themes, dimensions, and language but different causes for the flood. Scholars also link its structure to the Jewish Temple.

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Noah's Ark in the context of Noah in Islam

Noah, also known as Nuh (Arabic: نُوْحٌ, romanizedNūḥ), is recognized in Islam as a prophet and messenger of God. He is also believed to be the first messenger sent by God. He is one of the Ulul 'azm prophets. Noah's mission was to warn his people, who were plunged in idol worshipping. God charged Noah with the duty of preaching to his people, advising them to abandon idolatry and to worship only God, and to live good and pure lives. Although he preached the Message of God with zeal, his people refused to mend their ways, leading to building the Ark and the Deluge, the Great Flood. In Islamic tradition, it is disputed whether the Great Flood was a global or a local one. Noah's preaching and prophethood spanned 950 years according to the Quran, ahadith and tafsir.

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Noah's Ark in the context of Mount Ararat

Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or officially Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and the Armenian highlands with an elevation of 5,137 m (16,854 ft); Little Ararat's elevation is 3,896 m (12,782 ft). The Ararat massif is about 35 km (22 mi) wide at ground base. The first recorded efforts to reach Ararat's summit were made in the Middle Ages, and Friedrich Parrot, Khachatur Abovian, and four others made the first recorded ascent in 1829.

In Europe, the mountain has been called by the name Ararat since the Middle Ages, as it began to be identified with "mountains of Ararat" described in the Bible as the resting place of Noah's Ark, despite contention that Genesis 8:4 does not refer specifically to a Mount Ararat.

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Noah's Ark in the context of Royal cubit

The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term cubit is found in the Bible regarding Noah's Ark, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, and Solomon's Temple. The common cubit was divided into 6 palms × 4 fingers = 24 digits. Royal cubits added a palm for 7 palms × 4 fingers = 28 digits. These lengths typically ranged from 44.4 to 52.92 cm (1 ft 5+12 in to 1 ft 8+1316 in), with an ancient Roman cubit being as long as 120 cm (3 ft 11 in).

Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in antiquity, during the Middle Ages and as recently as early modern times. The term is still used in hedgelaying, the length of the forearm being frequently used to determine the interval between stakes placed within the hedge.

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Noah's Ark in the context of Divine retribution

Divine retribution (also known as divine punishment or divine abuse) is the supernatural punishment of a single person, a group of people, or everyone, by a deity in response to some action. Mythology and folklore about how a deity imposed punishment on previous inhabitants of their land, causing their doom, can be found in several cultures.

An example of divine retribution is the story found in many religions about a great flood destroying all of humanity, as described in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Hindu Vedas, or the Christian Book of Genesis (6:9–8:22), but leaving one principal 'chosen' survivor. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the survivor is Utnapishtim. In the Hindu Vedas, it is Manu. In the Christian book of Genesis, it is Noah. References in the Old Testament and the Quran to a man named Nuh (Noah), who was commanded by God to build an ark, suggest that one man and his followers were saved in a great flood.

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Noah's Ark in the context of Genesis flood narrative

The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is a Hebrew flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre-creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the microcosm of Noah's Ark.

The Book of Genesis was probably composed around the 5th century BCE; although some scholars believe that primeval history (chapters 1–11), including the flood narrative, may have been composed and added as late as the 3rd century BCE. It draws on two sources, called the Priestly source and the non-Priestly or Yahwist, and although many of its details are contradictory, the story forms a unified whole.

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Noah's Ark in the context of Mountains of Ararat

In the Book of Genesis, the mountains of Ararat (Biblical Hebrew הָרֵי אֲרָרָט‎, Tiberian hārê ’Ǎrārāṭ, Septuagint: τὰ ὄρη τὰ Ἀραράτ) is the term used to designate the region in which Noah's Ark comes to rest after the Great Flood. It corresponds to the ancient Assyrian term Urartu, an exonym for the Armenian Kingdom of Van.

Since the Middle Ages the "mountains of Ararat" began to be identified with a mountain in present Turkey known as Masis or Ağrı Dağı; the mountain became known as Mount Ararat. The Kurdish population is primarily concentrated on the Van plateau, from which numerous tribes radiate over a vast area, including territories extending toward Mount Ararat.

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Noah's Ark in the context of Noah

Noah (/ˈnə/; Hebrew: נֹחַ, romanizedNōaḥ, lit.'rest' or 'consolation', also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baha'i writings, and extracanonically.

The Genesis flood narrative is among the best-known stories of the Bible. In this account, God "regrets" making mankind because they filled the world with evil. Noah then labors faithfully to build the Ark at God's command, ultimately saving not only his own family, but mankind itself and all land animals, from extinction during the Flood. Afterwards, God makes a covenant with Noah and promises never again to destroy the earth with a flood. Noah is also portrayed as a "tiller of the soil" who is the first to cultivate the vine. After the flood, God commands Noah and his sons to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."

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