Editing Noah's Ark

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{{Short description|Vessel in the Genesis flood narrative}}<!--Before modifying, check the discussion in the talk page titled, "Fictional? [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Noah%27s_Ark&oldid=1171572183]-->
[[File:Edward Hicks, American - Noah's Ark - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|''Noah's Ark'' (1846), by the American folk painter [[Edward Hicks]]]]

'''Noah's Ark''' ({{langx|he|תיבת נח}}; [[Biblical Hebrew]]: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')<ref group="Notes" name="Ark">The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in the [[Torah]], in the flood narrative ([[Book of Genesis]] 6–9) and in the [[Book of Exodus]], where it refers to the basket in which [[Jochebed]] places the infant [[Moses]]. (The word for the [[Ark of the Covenant]], ''aron'', is quite different.) The Ark is built to save Noah, his family, and representatives of all animals from a divinely-sent flood intended to wipe out all life, and in both cases, the ''teva'' has a connection with [[salvation]] from waters. (See Levenson 2014, p.21)</ref> is the boat in the [[Genesis flood narrative]] through which [[God in Abrahamic religions|God]] spares [[Noah]], his family, and one pair of every animal species in the world from a global deluge.{{sfn|Bailey|1990|p=63}} The story in Genesis is based on earlier [[flood myth]]s originating in [[Mesopotamia]], and is repeated, with variations, in the [[Quran]], where the Ark appears as ''Safinat [[Noah in Islam|Nūḥ]]'' ({{langx|ar|سَفِينَةُ نُوحٍ}} "Noah's ship") and ''al-fulk'' (Arabic: الفُلْك). The myth of the global flood that destroys all life begins to appear in the [[Old Babylonian Empire]] period (20th–16th centuries BCE).<ref name="t984">{{cite book | last=Chen | first=Y. S. | title=The Primeval Flood Catastrophe | publisher=Oxford University Press, USA | publication-place=Oxford, United Kingdom | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-19-967620-0 | oclc=839396707 | page=2}}</ref> 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]].{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=40}}

Early Christian and Jewish writers, such as [[Flavius Josephus]], believed that Noah's Ark existed. Unsuccessful [[searches for Noah's Ark]] have been made from at least the time of [[Eusebius]] (c. 275–339&nbsp;CE). Believers in the Ark continue to search for it in modern times, but no scientific evidence that the Ark existed has ever been found,<ref name="Cline 2009" /> nor is there scientific evidence for a global flood.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Lorence G. Collins |date=2009 |title=Yes, Noah's Flood May Have Happened, But Not Over the Whole Earth |language=en |work=NCSE |url=https://ncse.com/library-resource/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth |url-status=live |access-date=22 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626054743/https://ncse.com/library-resource/yes-noahs-flood-may-have-happened-not-over-whole-earth |archive-date=26 June 2018}}</ref> According to Robert Moore, the boat and the natural disaster as described in the Bible would have been contingent upon physical impossibilities.<ref name="Moore1983">{{cite journal |last=Moore |first=Robert A. |year=1983 |title=The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark |url=https://ncse.com/cej/4/1/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark |url-status=live |journal=Creation Evolution Journal |volume=4 |pages=1–43 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160717074346/https://ncse.com/cej/4/1/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark |archive-date=17 July 2016 |access-date=10 July 2016 |number=1}}</ref> Some researchers believe that a real (though localized) flood event in the [[Middle East]] could potentially have inspired the oral and later written narratives; a Persian Gulf flood, or a [[Black Sea deluge hypothesis|Black Sea Deluge]] 7,500 years ago has been proposed as such a historical candidate.<ref name="RyanOthers1997a">{{Cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=W. B. F. |last2=Pitman|first2=W. C.|last3=Major|first3=C. O. |last4=Shimkus |first4=K. |last5=Moskalenko |first5=V. |last6=Jones|first6=G. A. |last7=Dimitrov |first7=P. |last8=Gorür |first8=N. |last9=Sakinç |first9=M. |date=1997 |title=An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf |url=http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~billr/BlackSea/Ryan_et_al_MG_1997.pdf |journal=Marine Geology |volume=138|issue=1–2|pages=119–126|doi=10.1016/s0025-3227(97)00007-8|access-date=23 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104301/http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~billr/BlackSea/Ryan_et_al_MG_1997.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead|citeseerx=10.1.1.598.2866 |bibcode=1997MGeol.138..119R |s2cid=129316719  | issn=0025-3227 }}</ref><ref name="RyanOthers2003a">{{cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=W. B. |last2=Major |first2=C. O. |last3=Lericolais |first3=G. |last4=Goldstein |first4=S. L. |year=2003 |title=Catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea |journal=Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=525–554 |doi= 10.1146/annurev.earth.31.100901.141249|bibcode=2003AREPS..31..525R }}</ref>

==Description==
The structure of the Ark (and the chronology of the flood) is homologous with the Jewish Temple and with Temple worship.{{sfn|Blenkinsopp|2011|p=139}} Accordingly, Noah's instructions are given to him by God (Genesis 6:14–16): the ark is to be 300 [[cubit]]s long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high (approximately {{convert|134|*|22|*|13|m|ft|abbr=on|disp=or}}).{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=280–281}} These dimensions are based on a numerological preoccupation with the number 60, the same number characterizing the vessel of the Babylonian flood hero.{{sfn|Bailey|1990|p=63}} 

Its three internal divisions reflect the three-part universe imagined by the ancient Israelites: heaven, the earth, and the underworld.{{sfn|Kessler|Deurloo|2004|p=81}} Each deck is the same height as the Temple in Jerusalem, itself a microcosmic model of the universe, and each is three times the area of the court of the tabernacle, leading to the suggestion that the author saw both Ark and [[tabernacle]] as serving for the preservation of human life.{{sfn|Wenham|2003|p=44}}{{sfn|Batto|1992|p=95}} It has a door in the side, and a ''tsohar'', which may be either a roof or a [[skylight]].{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=280–281}} It is to be made of [[gopher wood]] "''goper''", a word which appears nowhere else in the Bible, but thought to be a loan word from the [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] ''gupru''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Longman |first1=Tremper |title=The lost world of the flood: mythology, theology, and the deluge debate |last2=Walton |first2=John H. |date=2018 |publisher=IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press |isbn=978-0-8308-8782-8 |location=Downers Grove, IL}}</ref> – and divided into ''qinnim'', a word which always refers to birds' nests elsewhere in the Bible, leading some scholars to emend this to ''qanim'', reeds.{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=281}} The finished vessel is to be smeared with ''koper'', meaning [[pitch (resin)|pitch]] or [[bitumen]]; in Hebrew the two words are closely related, ''kaparta'' ("smeared") ... ''bakopper''.{{sfn|Hamilton|1990|pp=281}} Bitumen is more likely option as ''"koper"'' is thought to be a loanword from the Akkadian "''kupru''", meaning bitumen.<ref name=":0" />

==Origins==
===Mesopotamian precursors===
{{Main|Flood myth}}
For well over a century, scholars have said that the Bible's story of Noah's Ark is based on older Mesopotamian models.{{sfn|Kvanvig|2011|p=210}} Because all these flood stories deal with events that allegedly happened at the dawn of history, they give the impression that the myths themselves must come from very primitive origins, but the myth of the global flood that destroys all life only begins to appear in the [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian period]] (20th–16th centuries BCE).{{sfn|Chen|2013|pp=3–4}} The reasons for this emergence of the typical Mesopotamian flood myth may have been bound up with the specific circumstances of the end of the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]] around 2004 BCE and the restoration of order by the [[First Dynasty of Isin]].{{sfn|Chen|2013|p=253}}

Nine versions of the Mesopotamian flood story are known, each more or less adapted from an earlier version. In the oldest version, inscribed in the Sumerian city of [[Nippur]] around 1600 BCE, the hero is King [[Ziusudra]]. This story, the [[Ziusudra#Sumerian flood myth|Sumerian flood myth]], probably derives from an earlier version. The Ziusudra version tells how he builds a boat and rescues life when the gods decide to destroy it. This basic plot is common in several subsequent flood stories and heroes, including Noah. Ziusudra's Sumerian name means "he of long life." In Babylonian versions, his name is [[Atra-Hasis|Atrahasis]], but the meaning is the same. In the Atrahasis version, the flood is a river flood.<ref name="Cline">{{cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric H. |year=2007 |title=From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible |publisher=National Geographic |isbn=978-1-4262-0084-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJW-zhffwk4C&q=From+Eden+to+Exile%3A+Unraveling+Mysteries+of+the+Bible}}</ref>{{rp|20–27}}

The version closest to the biblical story of Noah is that of [[Utnapishtim]] in the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]''.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=40}} A complete text of Utnapishtim's story is contained on a clay tablet dating from the seventh century BCE, but fragments of the story have been found from as far back as the 19th century BCE.{{sfn|Nigosian|2004|p=40}} The last known version of the Mesopotamian flood story was written in [[Greek language|Greek]] in the third century BCE by a Babylonian priest named [[Berossus]]. From the fragments that survive, it seems little changed from the versions of 2,000 years before.{{sfn|Finkel|2014|pp=89–101}}

The parallels between Noah's Ark and the arks of Babylonian flood heroes Atrahasis and Utnapishtim have often been noted. Atrahasis's Ark was circular, resembling an enormous ''[[Kuphar|quffa]]'', with one or two decks.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nova: Secrets of Noah's Ark|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/secrets-of-noahs-ark/|date=7 October 2015|website=www.pbs.org|language=en-US|access-date=17 May 2020}}</ref> Utnapishtim's ark was a [[cube]] with six decks of seven compartments, each divided into nine subcompartments (63 subcompartments per deck, 378 total). Noah's Ark was rectangular with three decks. A progression is believed to exist from a circular to a cubic or square to rectangular. The most striking similarity is the near-identical deck areas of the three arks: 14,400 cubits<sup>2</sup>, 14,400 cubits<sup>2</sup>, and 15,000 cubits<sup>2</sup> for Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah, only 4% different. [[Irving Finkel]] concluded, "the iconic story of the Flood, Noah, and the Ark as we know it today certainly originated in the landscape of ancient Mesopotamia, modern Iraq."{{sfn|Finkel|2014|loc=chpt.14}}

Linguistic parallels between Noah's and Atrahasis' arks have also been noted. The word used for "pitch" (sealing tar or resin) in Genesis is not the normal Hebrew word, but is closely related to the word used in the Babylonian story.{{sfn|McKeown|2008|p=55}} Likewise, the Hebrew word for "ark" (''tēvāh'') is nearly identical to the Babylonian word for an oblong boat (''ṭubbû''), especially given that "v" and "b" are the same letter in Hebrew: [[bet (letter)|bet]] (ב).{{sfn|Finkel|2014|loc=chpt.14}}

However, the causes for God or the gods sending the flood differ in the various stories. In the Hebrew myth, the flood inflicts God's judgment on wicked humanity. The Babylonian ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' gives no reasons, and the flood appears the result of divine caprice.<ref name="May Metzger">May, Herbert G., and Bruce M. Metzger. ''The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha''. 1977.</ref> In the Babylonian [[Atra-Hasis|Atrahasis]] version, the flood is sent to reduce [[human overpopulation]], and after the flood, other measures were introduced to limit humanity.<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Stephanie Dalley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YHfiCz4BRwC&q=flood|title=Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others| date=2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424054145/https://books.google.com/books?id=0YHfiCz4BRwC#v=onepage&q=flood&f=false |archive-date=24 April 2016 |pages= 5–8| publisher=OUP Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-953836-2 }}</ref><ref>Alan Dundes, ed., [https://books.google.com/books?id=E__dnnQwGDwC&q=Gilgamesh%2C+flood&pg=PA62 ''The Flood Myth''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514162849/https://books.google.com/books?id=E__dnnQwGDwC&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q=Gilgamesh%2C%20flood&f=false |date=14 May 2016 }}, pp. 61–71.</ref><ref>J. David Pleins, [https://books.google.com/books?id=PX0fIE5IU8gC&q=ziusudra+flood+story&pg=PA102 ''When the Great Abyss Opened: Classic and Contemporary Readings of Noah's Flood''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624184753/https://books.google.com/books?id=PX0fIE5IU8gC&pg=PA102#v=onepage&q=ziusudra%20flood%20story&f=false |date=24 June 2016 }}, pp. 102–103.</ref>

===Composition===
{{main|Genesis flood narrative#Composition}}
A consensus among scholars indicates that the [[Torah]] (the first five books of the Bible, beginning with Genesis) was the product of a long and complicated process that was not completed until after the [[Babylonian exile]].{{sfn|Enns|2012|p=23}} Since the 18th century, the flood narrative has been analysed as a paradigm example of the combination of two different versions of a story into a single text, with one marker for the different versions being a consistent preference for different names "Elohim" and "Yahweh" to denote God.<ref>Richard Elliot Friedman (1997 ed.), ''Who Wrote the Bible'', p. 51.</ref>

==Religious views==
===Rabbinic Judaism===
{{Main|Noah in rabbinic literature}}
The [[Talmud]]ic [[Mishnah|tractates]] [[Sanhedrin (tractate)|Sanhedrin]], [[Avodah Zarah]], and [[Zevahim]] relate that, while Noah was building the Ark, he attempted to warn his neighbors of the coming deluge, but was ignored or mocked. God placed lions and other ferocious animals to protect Noah and his family from the wicked who tried to keep them from the Ark. According to one [[Midrash]], it was God, or the [[angel]]s, who gathered the animals and their food to the Ark. As no need existed to distinguish between clean and unclean animals before this time, the clean animals made themselves known by kneeling before Noah as they entered the Ark.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}} A differing opinion is that the Ark itself distinguished clean animals from unclean, admitting seven pairs each of the former and one pair each of the latter.<ref name="Sefaria.org">{{Cite web|title=Sanhedrin 108b:7–16|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.108b.7|access-date=13 October 2021|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=October 2021}}

According to Sanhedrin 108b, Noah was engaged both day and night in feeding and caring for the animals, and did not sleep for the entire year aboard the Ark.<ref>Avigdor Nebenzahl, ''Tiku Bachodesh Shofer: Thoughts for [[Rosh Hashanah]]'', Feldheim Publishers, 1997, p. 208.</ref> The animals were the best of their kind and behaved with utmost goodness. They did not procreate, so the number of creatures that disembarked was exactly equal to the number that embarked. The raven created problems, refusing to leave the Ark when Noah sent it forth, and accusing the patriarch of wishing to destroy its race, but as the commentators pointed out, God wished to save the raven, for its descendants were destined to feed the prophet [[Elijah]].<ref name="Sefaria.org" />{{Primary source inline|date=October 2021}}

According to one tradition, refuse was stored on the lowest of the Ark's three decks, humans and clean beasts on the second, and the unclean animals and birds on the top. A differing interpretation described the refuse as being stored on the topmost deck, from where it was shoveled into the sea through a trapdoor. Precious stones, as bright as the noon sun, provided light, and God ensured the food remained fresh.<ref name="JE Noah"/><ref name="Ark of Noah"/><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Hirsch |editor-first=E. G. |editor2-last=Muss-Arnolt |editor2-first=W. |editor3-last=Hirschfeld |editor3-first=H. |editor-link3=Hartwig Hirschfeld|editor-link1=Emil G. Hirsch |editor-link2=William Muss-Arnolt |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |year=1906 |publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com |chapter=The Flood |chapter-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=218&letter=F }}</ref>  In an unorthodox interpretation, the 12th-century Jewish commentator [[Abraham ibn Ezra]] interpreted the ark as a vessel that remained underwater for 40 days, after which it floated to the surface.<ref>[http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9597&st=&pgnum=123 Ibn Ezra's Commentary to Genesis 7:16] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524092028/http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=9597&st=&pgnum=123 |date=24 May 2013 }}. HebrewBooks.org.</ref>

===Christianity===
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles f 11r 1.png|thumb|upright=1.4|An artist's depiction of the construction of the Ark, from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493)]]
[[File:Woodcut of Noah's Ark from Anton Koberger's "German Bible".jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|A woodcut of Noah's Ark from [[Anton Koberger]]'s German Bible]]
The [[First Epistle of Peter]] (composed around the end of the first century AD<ref>''The Early Christian World,'' Volume 1, p.148, [[Philip Esler]]</ref>) compared Noah's salvation through water to Christian salvation through baptism.<ref>{{bibleverse|1Pt|3:20–21}}</ref> [[Hippolytus of Rome]] (died 235) sought to demonstrate that "the Ark was a symbol of the [[Christ]] who was expected", stating that the vessel had its door on the east side—the direction from which Christ would appear at the [[Second Coming]]—and that the bones of [[Adam]] were brought aboard, together with gold, [[frankincense]], and [[myrrh]] (the symbols of the [[Nativity of Christ]]). Hippolytus furthermore stated that the Ark floated to and fro in the four directions on the waters, making the sign of the cross, before eventually landing on Mount Kardu "in the east, in the land of the sons of Raban, and the Orientals call it Mount Godash; the [[Armenians]] call it Ararat".<ref name="Knight, K 2007">{{cite web |author = Hippolytus |translator= S. D. F. Salmond|title = Fragments from the Scriptural Commentaries of Hippolytus |url = http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0502.htm |publisher = New Advent |access-date = 27 June 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070417130437/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0502.htm |archive-date = 17 April 2007 |url-status = live |df = dmy-all}}</ref> On a more practical plane, Hippolytus explained that the lowest of the three decks was for wild beasts, the middle for birds and domestic animals, and the top for humans. He says male animals were separated from females by sharp stakes to prevent breeding.<ref name="Knight, K 2007"/>

The early [[Church Father]] and theologian [[Origen]] (''circa'' 182–251), in response to a critic who doubted that the Ark could contain all the animals in the world, argued that Moses, the traditional author of the book of Genesis, had been brought up in [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and would therefore have used the larger Egyptian cubit. 
[[File:Noah's Ark by T.Poulakis after engraving of J.Sadeler (17th c.).jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Noah's Ark (Poulakis)|Noah's Ark]]'' by [[Theodore Poulakis]], 1650-1692, depicting animals traveling to an ark.]] He also fixed the shape of the Ark as a truncated [[pyramid]], square at its base, and tapering to a square peak one cubit on a side; only in the 12th century did it come to be thought of as a rectangular box with a sloping roof.{{sfn|Cohn|1996|p=38}}
Early Christian artists depicted Noah standing in a small box on the waves, symbolizing God saving the Christian Church in its turbulent early years. [[Augustine of Hippo]] (354–430), in his work ''[[City of God (book)|City of God]]'', demonstrated that the dimensions of the Ark corresponded to the dimensions of the human body, which according to Christian doctrine is the body of Christ and in turn the body of the Church.<ref name="Schaff, P 1890">{{cite book |last=St. Augustin |editor-last=Schaff |editor-first=Philip |title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers |trans-title=St. Augustin's City of God and Christian Doctrine |series=1 |volume=2 |orig-year=c. 400 |year=1890 |publisher=The Christian Literature Publishing Company |chapter=Chapter 26:That the Ark Which Noah Was Ordered to Make Figures In Every Respect Christ and the Church |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XV.26.html }}</ref> [[Jerome]] ({{Circa|347–420|lk=no}}) identified the raven, which was sent forth and did not return, as the "foul bird of wickedness" expelled by [[baptism]];<ref>{{cite book |last=Jerome |editor=Schaff, P |title=Niocene and Post-Niocene Fathers: The Principal Works of St. Jerome |series=2 |volume=6 |orig-year=c. 347–420 |year=1892 |publisher=The Christian Literature Publishing Company |chapter=Letter LXIX. To Oceanus. |chapter-url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf206.v.LXIX.html }}</ref> more enduringly, the dove and olive branch came to symbolize the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] and the hope of [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] and eventually, peace.<ref name="Cohn"/> The olive branch remains a secular and religious [[peace symbols|symbol of peace]] today.

===Gnosticism===
According to the ''[[Hypostasis of the Archons]]'', a 3rd-century [[Gnostic]] text, Noah is chosen to be spared by the evil [[Archon (Gnosticism)|Archons]] when they try to destroy the other inhabitants of the Earth with the great flood. He is told to create the ark then board it at a location called Mount Sir, but when [[Norea]] wants to board it as well, Noah attempts to not let her. So she decides to use her divine power to blow upon the ark and set it ablaze, therefore Noah is forced to rebuild it.<ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Marvin Meyer]]|author2=[[Willis Barnstone]]|title=The Gnostic Bible|publisher=[[Shambhala Publications|Shambhala]]|chapter=The Reality of the Rulers (The Hypostasis of the Archons)|url=http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/Hypostas-Barnstone.html|date=30 June 2009|access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref>

===Mandaeism===
In Book 18 of the [[Right Ginza]], a [[Mandaean text]], Noah and his family are saved from the Great Flood because they were able to build an ark or ''kawila'' (or ''kauila'', a [[Mandaic language|Mandaic]] term; it is cognate with Syriac ''kēʾwilā'', which is attested in the [[Peshitta]] New Testament, such as [[Matthew 24]]:38 and [[Luke 17]]:27).<ref name="Häberl 2022">{{cite book | last=Häberl | first=Charles | url=https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781800856271 | title=The Book of Kings and the Explanations of This World: A Universal History from the Late Sasanian Empire | location=Liverpool | publisher=Liverpool University Press | date=2022 | isbn=978-1-80085-627-1 | page=215| doi=10.3828/9781800856271 | doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}</ref>

===Islam===
{{Main|Noah in Islam}}
[[File:16 2-8-2005-Noahs-ark-Hafis-Abru-2.jpg|thumb|Persian Miniature from Hafiz-i Abru's Majma al-tawarikh. ''Noah's Ark'' Iran (Afghanistan), Herat; Timur's son Shah Rukh (1405–1447) ordered the historian [[Hafiz-i Abru]] to write a continuation of [[Rashid-al-Din Hamadani|Rashid al-Din's]] famous history of the world, [[Jami al-tawarikh]]. Like the [[Il-Khanids]], the [[Timurids]] were concerned with legitimizing their right to rule, and Hafiz-i Abru's ''A Collection of Histories'' covers a period that included the time of [[Shahrukh Mirza|Shah Rukh]] himself.]]
[[File:Noah's ark and the deluge.JPG|thumb|Noah's Ark and the deluge from Zubdat-al Tawarikh]]
In contrast to the Jewish tradition, which uses a term that can be translated as a "box" or "[[chest (furniture)|chest]]" to describe the Ark, surah 29:15 of the Quran refers to it as a {{lang|ar-Latn|safina}}, an ordinary ship; surah 7:64 uses ''fulk,''<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Christys |first1=Ann |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1053611250 |title=Die Interaktion von Herrschern und Eliten in imperialen Ordnungen des Mittelalters |date=2018 |others=Wolfram Drews |isbn=978-3-11-057267-4    |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] GmbH |location=Berlin |pages=114–124 |chapter=Educating the Christian Elite in Umayyad Córdoba |oclc=1053611250}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freidenreich |first=David M. |date=2003 |title=The Use of Islamic Sources in Saadiah Gaon's Tafsīr of the Torah |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/article/390127 |journal=Jewish Quarterly Review |volume=93 |issue=3 |pages=353–395 |doi=10.1353/jqr.2003.0009 |s2cid=170764204 |issn=1553-0604}}</ref> and surah 54:13 describes the Ark as "a thing of boards and nails". [[Abd Allah ibn Abbas]], a contemporary of [[Muhammad]], wrote that Noah was in doubt as to what shape to make the Ark and that Allah revealed to him that it was to be shaped like a bird's belly and fashioned of [[teak]] wood.<ref>{{cite book|last=Baring-Gould|first=Sabine|title=Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets and Other Old Testament Characters from Various Sources|publisher=James B. Millar and Co., New York|year=1884|chapter=Noah|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05BuCM6U4DgC&q=eutychius+noah&pg=PA113|page=113}}</ref>

The medieval scholar [[Al-Masudi|Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husayn Masudi]] (died 956) wrote that Allah commanded the Earth to absorb the water, and certain portions which were slow in obeying received [[seawater|salt water]] in punishment and so became [[desert|dry and arid]]. The water which was not absorbed formed the seas, so that the waters of the flood still exist. Masudi says the ark began its voyage at [[Kufa]] in central [[Iraq]] and sailed to [[Mecca]], circling the [[Kaaba]] before finally traveling to [[Mount Judi]], which surah 11:44 gives as its final resting place. This mountain is identified by tradition with a hill near the town of [[Jazirat ibn Umar]] on the east bank of the [[Tigris]] in the province of [[Mosul]] in northern Iraq, and Masudi says that the spot could be seen in his time.<ref name="JE Noah">{{cite book|editor-last=McCurdy|editor-first=J. F.|editor-link=J. Frederic McCurdy|editor2-last=Bacher|editor2-first=W.|editor3-last=Seligsohn|editor3-first=M.|display-editors=3 |editor4-last=Hirsch|editor4-first=E. G.|title=Jewish Encyclopedia|year=1906|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|chapter=Noah|chapter-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=318&letter=N&search=noah}}</ref><ref name="Ark of Noah">{{cite book|editor-last=McCurdy|editor-first=J. F.|editor2-last=Jastrow|editor2-first=M. W.|editor3-last=Ginzberg|editor3-first=L.|display-editors=3 |editor4-last=McDonald|editor4-first=D.B.|editor-link2=Marcus Jastrow|title=Jewish Encyclopedia|year=1906|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|chapter=Ark of Noah|chapter-url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1780&letter=A}}</ref>{{bsn|date=April 2023}}

[[File:Thomas Cole - Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge - Smithsonian.jpg|thumb|''The Subsiding of the Waters of the Deluge'' (1829), a painting by the American painter [[Thomas Cole]]]]

===Baháʼí Faith===
The [[Baháʼí Faith]] regards the Ark and the Flood as symbolic.<ref>From a letter written on behalf of [[Shoghi Effendi]], 28 October 1949: ''Baháʼí News'', No. 228, February 1950, p. 4. Republished in {{harvnb|Compilation|1983|p=508}}</ref> In Baháʼí belief, only Noah's followers were spiritually alive, preserved in the "ark" of his teachings, as others were spiritually dead.<ref name=BahaiArk>{{cite web|first= Brent|last= Poirier|title= The Kitab-i-Iqan: The key to unsealing the mysteries of the Holy Bible|url= http://bahai-library.com/poirier_iqan_unsealing_bible|access-date= 25 June 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110707205604/http://bahai-library.com/poirier_iqan_unsealing_bible|archive-date= 7 July 2011|url-status= live|df= dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Shoghi Effendi|author-link= Shoghi Effendi|year= 1971|title= Messages to the Baháʼí World, 1950–1957|publisher= Baháʼí Publishing Trust|location= Wilmette, Illinois, USA|isbn= 978-0-87743-036-0|url= http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/MBW/|page= 104|access-date= 10 August 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081023220446/http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/MBW/|archive-date= 23 October 2008|url-status= live}}</ref> The Baháʼí scripture ''[[Kitáb-i-Íqán]]'' endorses the Islamic belief that Noah had numerous companions on the ark, either 40 or 72, as well as his family, and that he taught for 950 (symbolic) years before the flood.<ref>From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 25 November 1950. Published in {{harvnb|Compilation|1983|p=494}}</ref> The Baháʼí Faith was founded in 19th century Persia, and it recognizes divine messengers from both the Abrahamic and the Indian traditions.

===Ancient accounts===

Multiple Jewish and Christian writers in the ancient world wrote about the ark.  The first-century historian [[Josephus]] reports that the Armenians believed that the remains of the Ark lay "in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans", in a location they called the Place of Descent ({{langx|grc|αποβατηριον}}). He goes on to say that many other writers of "barbarian histories", including [[Nicolaus of Damascus]], [[Berossus]], and [[Mnaseas]] mention the flood and the Ark.<ref>{{cite wikisource |last1=Josephus |first1=Flavius |author-[[Josephus]] |wslink=The Antiquities of the Jews/Book I#Chapter 3|title=The Antiquities of the Jews, Book I |orig-year=94 AD |chapter=3|quote=Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood, and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean. For when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: "It is said there is still some part of this ark in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs." Hieronymus the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them; where he speaks thus: "There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses the legislator of the Jews wrote.}}</ref>

In the fourth century, [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] wrote about Noah's Ark in his ''[[Panarion]]'', saying "Thus even today the remains of Noah's ark are still shown in Cardyaei."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Frank |title=The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis |date=2009 |isbn=978-90-04-17017-9 |page=48|publisher=BRILL }}</ref>  Other translations render "Cardyaei" as "the country of the Kurds".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montgomery |first1=John Warwick |title=The Quest For Noahs Ark |date=1974 |isbn=0-87123-477-7 |page=77|publisher=Bethany Fellowship }}</ref>

[[John Chrysostom]] mentioned Noah's Ark in one of his sermons in the fourth century, saying ""Do not the mountains of Armenia testify to it, where the Ark rested? And are not the remains of the Ark preserved there to this very day for our admonition?<ref>{{cite book |last1=Montgomery |first1=John Warwick |title=The Quest For Noahs Ark |date=1974 |isbn=0-87123-477-7 |page=78 |publisher=Bethany Fellowship }}</ref>

==Historicity==
[[Encyclopædia Britannica First Edition|The first edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']] from 1771 describes the Ark as factual. It also attempts to explain how the Ark could house all living animal types: "... Buteo and [[Athanasius Kircher|Kircher]] have proved geometrically, that, taking the common [[cubit]] as a foot and a half, the ark was abundantly sufficient for all the animals supposed to be lodged in it ... the number of species of animals will be found much less than is generally imagined, not amounting to a hundred species of [[quadrupeds]]."<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Ark |volume= 02 |last= Cook |first= Stanley Arthur |author-link= Stanley Arthur Cook | pages = 548&ndash;550; see page 549 | quote= Noah's Ark... }}</ref> It also endorses a supernatural explanation for the flood, stating that "many attempts have been made to account for the deluge by means of natural causes: but these attempts have only tended to discredit philosophy, and to render their authors ridiculous".<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Deluge, The |volume= 07 |last=Cheyne |first= Thomas Kelly |author-link= Thomas Kelly Cheyne | pages = 976&ndash;979 }}</ref>

The 1860 edition attempts to solve the problem of the Ark being unable to house all animal types by suggesting a local flood, which is described in the 1910 edition as part of a "gradual surrender of attempts to square scientific facts with a literal interpretation of the Bible" that resulted in "the '[[higher criticism]]' and the rise of the modern scientific views as to the origin of species" leading to "scientific comparative mythology" as the frame in which Noah's Ark was interpreted by 1875.<ref name="EB1911"/>

===Ark's geometry===
[[File:Allessandro Masnago - Cameo with Noah's Ark - Walters 421447.jpg|left|175px|thumb|This engraving features a line of animals on the gangway to Noah's ark. It is based on a woodcut by the French illustrator [[Bernard Salomon]].<ref>{{cite web |publisher = [[The Walters Art Museum]] |url = http://art.thewalters.org/detail/23266 |title = Cameo with Noah's Ark |access-date = 10 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131213133855/http://art.thewalters.org/detail/23266 |archive-date = 13 December 2013 |url-status = dead }}</ref> From the [[Walters Art Museum]].]]
In Europe, the [[Renaissance]] saw much speculation on the nature of the Ark that might have seemed familiar to early theologians such as [[Origen]] and [[Augustine]]. At the same time, however, a new class of scholarship arose, one which, while never questioning the literal truth of the ark story, began to speculate on the practical workings of Noah's vessel from within a purely naturalistic framework. In the 15th century, Alfonso Tostada gave a detailed account of the logistics of the Ark, down to arrangements for the disposal of dung and the circulation of fresh air. The 16th-century [[geometry|geometer]] [[Johannes Buteo]] calculated the Ark's internal dimensions, allowing room for Noah's grinding mills and smokeless ovens, a model widely adopted by other commentators.<ref name=Cohn>{{harvnb|Cohn|1996|p=}}</ref>{{rp|40-41}}

[[Irving Finkel]], a curator at the British Museum, came into the possession of a [[cuneiform]] tablet. He translated it and discovered an hitherto unknown Babylonian version of the story of the great flood. This version gave specific measurements for an unusually large [[coracle]] (a type of rounded boat). His discovery led to the production of a television documentary and a book summarizing the finding. A scale replica of the boat described by the tablet was built and floated in Kerala, India.{{sfn|Finkel|2014|}}{{Page needed|date=August 2024}}

===Searches for Noah's Ark===
[[File:The Durupinar site in July 2019.jpg|thumb|The Durupinar site in July 2019]]
{{Main|Searches for Noah's Ark}}
[[Searches for Noah's Ark]] have been made from at least the time of [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]] (c. 275 – 339&nbsp;CE) to the present day.<ref name="Oxford University Press"/> In the 1st century, Jewish historian [[Flavius Josephus]] claimed the remaining pieces of Noah's Ark had been found in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyaeans, which is understood to be Mount Ararat in [[Turkey]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Landing-Place of Noah's Ark: Testimonial, Geological and Historical Considerations: Part Four|author-first1=Rick|author-last1=Lanser|date=26 October 2011|publisher=Associates for Biblical Research |url=https://biblearchaeology.org/research/contemporary-issues/4112-the-landingplace-of-noahs-ark-testimonial-geological-and-historical-considerations-part-four |access-date=27 April 2023 |website=biblearchaeology.org}}</ref> Today, the practice of seeking the remains of the Ark is widely regarded as [[pseudoarchaeology]].<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA582|title=The Oxford Companion to Archaeology|last1=Fagan|first1=Brian M.|last2=Beck|first2=Charlotte|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1996|isbn=978-0195076189|location=[[Oxford]]|author1-link=Brian M. Fagan|access-date=17 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208073258/https://books.google.com/books?id=ystMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA582|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cline 2009">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwNIDHSPsSMC&pg=PA72|title=Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction|last=Cline|first=Eric H.|pages=71–75|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=2009|isbn=978-0199741076}}</ref><ref name="Feder 2010">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlRz2symkAsC&pg=PA195|title=Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum|last=Feder|first=Kenneth L.|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2010|isbn=978-0313379192|location=[[Santa Barbara, California]]|author1-link=Kenneth Feder|access-date=17 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160208073258/https://books.google.com/books?id=RlRz2symkAsC&pg=PA195|archive-date=8 February 2016|url-status=live|page=195}}</ref> Various locations for the ark have been suggested but have never been confirmed.<ref name="Mayell-2004">{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html|title=Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer|last=Mayell|first=Hillary|date=27 April 2004|publisher=National Geographic Society|access-date=29 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414031733/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html|archive-date=14 April 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Lovgren-2004">Stefan Lovgren (2004). [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0920_040920_noahs_ark.html Noah's Ark Quest Dead in Water] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120125030621/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0920_040920_noahs_ark.html |date=25 January 2012 }} – National Geographic</ref> Search sites have included the [[Durupınar site]], a site on [[Mount Tendürek]], and [[Mount Ararat]], both in [[Eastern Anatolia Region|eastern Turkey]], but geological investigation of possible remains of the ark has only shown natural sedimentary formations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Sutton%20Hoo%2014.pdf|last=Collins|first=Lorence G.|title=A supposed cast of Noah's ark in eastern Turkey|year=2011|access-date=26 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305191940/http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/Sutton%20Hoo%2014.pdf|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> While biblical literalists often maintain the Ark's existence in archaeological history, its scientific feasibility, along with that of the deluge, has been contested.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Review of John Woodmorappe's "Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study"|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/woodmorappe-review.html|access-date=6 April 2021|website=www.talkorigins.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Impossible Voyage of Noah's Ark {{!}} National Center for Science Education|url=https://ncse.ngo/impossible-voyage-noahs-ark|access-date=6 April 2021|website=ncse.ngo|language=en}}</ref>

==Cultural legacy ==
[[File:Reverse Noah's Ark silver bullion coin.jpg|thumb|200px|Noah's Ark depicted on a [[Noah's Ark silver coins|silver bullion coin]] of [[Armenia]].]]
In the modern era, individuals and organizations have sought to [[Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives|reconstruct Noah's ark]] using the dimensions specified in the Bible.<ref name="Antonson">{{cite book |last1=Antonson |first1=Rick |title=Full Moon over Noah's Ark: An Odyssey to Mount Ararat and Beyond |date=12 April 2016 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |isbn=978-1-5107-0567-8 |language=English}}</ref> [[Johan's Ark]] was completed in 2012 to this end, while the [[Ark Encounter]] was finished in 2016.<ref name="Thomas">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Paul |title=Storytelling the Bible at the Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, and Museum of the Bible |date=16 April 2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-567-68714-2 |page=23 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Religion|Christianity|Islam|Judaism|Mythology}}
{{div col}}
* [[Biblical literalism]]
* [[Book of Noah]]
* [[Dwyfan and Dwyfach]]
* [[Gilgamesh flood myth]]
* [[İlandağ]] of the [[Lesser Caucasus]] in [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]], [[Azerbaijan]]
* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience]]
* [[Manu (Hinduism)]]
* [[Noah's Ark replicas and derivatives]]
* The [[Sinjar Mountains]] in [[Nineveh Governorate]], Iraq
* [[Sons of Noah]]
* [[Wives aboard Noah's Ark]]
* [[Ziusudra]]
{{div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist |group="Notes"}}

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last = Bailey|first = Lloyd R.|chapter = Ark|title = Mercer Dictionary of the Bible|publisher = Mercer University Press|year = 1990|isbn = 9780865543737|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Mercer+Dictionary+of+the+Bible+Cosmology&pg=PA176|pages=63–64}}
*{{cite book |last=Batto |first=Bernard Frank |title=Slaying the Dragon: Mythmaking in the Biblical Tradition |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1992 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eWrDOxHQ7-oC&q=ark&pg=PA68|isbn=9780664253530 }} 
*{{citation |last=Blenkinsopp |first=Joseph |title=Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation: A Discursive Commentary on Genesis 1–11 |year= 2011|publisher= A&C Black |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B12qwOSMD20C |isbn=9780567372871}}
*{{cite book|first=Norman|last=Cohn|author-link=Norman Cohn|title=Noah's Flood: The Genesis Story in Western Thought|location=New Haven & London|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ7g-BIfXu0C&q=Noah%27s+Flood%3A+The+Genesis+Story+in+Western+Thought|isbn=978-0-300-06823-8}}
*{{cite book|author=Compilation|editor-last=Hornby|editor-first=Helen|year= 1983|title= Lights of Guidance: A Baháʼí Reference File |publisher= Baháʼí Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India|isbn= 978-81-85091-46-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZ7g-BIfXu0C&q=Noah%27s+Flood%3A+The+Genesis+Story+in+Western+Thought}}
*{{citation |last=Enns |first=Peter |title=The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say about Human Origins |year=2012 |publisher=Baker Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNxeoqoTg-YC |isbn=9781587433153}}
*{{citation |last=Finkel |first=Irving L. |author-link= Irving Finkel|title=The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood |year=2014 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lScWAwAAQBAJ&q=tablet&pg=PT274|isbn=9781444757071 }}
*{{cite book|last=Hamilton|first=Victor P.|title=The book of Genesis: Chapters 1–17|publisher=Eerdmans|year=1990|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WW31E9Zt5-wC&q=Genesis&pg=PR3|isbn=9780802825216}}
*{{cite book|last1=Kessler|first1=Martin|last2=Deurloo|first2=Karel Adriaan|title=A commentary on Genesis: The Book of Beginnings|publisher=Paulist Press|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBWeLCTgT0QC&q=A+commentary+on+Genesis:+the+book+of+beginnings+Martin+Kessler,+Karel+Adriaan+Deurloo|isbn=9780809142057}}
*{{citation |last1=Kvanvig |first1=Helge |title=Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic: An Intertextual Reading |year=2011 |publisher=BRILL |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e1hnJYbShWMC|isbn=978-9004163805}}
*{{cite book |last=McKeown |first=James |title=Genesis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gqTTl1iPr8C&q=westermann+tabernacle+ark&pg=PA65 |series=Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary |year=2008 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-8028-2705-0 |page=398 }} 
*{{citation |last=Nigosian |first=S.A. |title=From Ancient Writings to Sacred Texts: The Old Testament and Apocrypha |year=2004 |publisher=JHU Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gpAAKpmMHYoC|isbn=9780801879883}}
*{{cite book|last=Wenham|first=Gordon|chapter=Genesis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Vo-11umIZQC&q=Eerdmans+Genesis+his+rise+to+be+ruler+of+all+Egypt&pg=PA34|editor=James D. G. Dunn |editor2=John William Rogerson|title=Eerdmans Bible Commentary|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2003|isbn=9780802837110 }}
{{Refend}}

===Further reading===
{{Further reading cleanup|date=August 2024}}
'''Commentaries on Genesis'''
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Towner|first=Wayne Sibley|title=Genesis|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ONdsoa7MHUC&q=Genesis+Wayne+Sibley+Towner|isbn=9780664252564 }}
*{{cite book|last=Von Rad|first=Gerhard|title=Genesis: A Commentary|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1972|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IbuBa8Qy3AwC&q=Genesis:+A+Commentary+Gerhard+Von+Rad|isbn=9780664227456 }}
*{{cite book|last=Whybray|first=R. N.|chapter=Genesis|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3surkLVdw3UC&q=4.+Genesis+Whybray+Genesis+and+the+Pentateuch&pg=PA38|editor=John Barton|title=Oxford Bible Commentary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2001|isbn=9780198755005|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordbiblecomme0000unse}}
{{Refend}}

'''General'''
{{Refbegin}}
*{{citation |last=Bandstra |first=Barry L. |title=Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction to the Hebrew Bible |year=2008 |publisher=Wadsworth/ Cengage Learning |location=Belmont, CA |isbn=978-0495391050 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY9mTUZKJcC&q=%22not+really+contradictory%22&pg=PA61 |edition=4th |pages=61–63 }}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Noah |volume= 19 |last= Bennett |first= William Henry |author-link= William Henry Bennett | page = 722}}
*{{citation |last=Best |first=Robert |title=Noah's Ark And the Ziusudra Epic: Sumerian Origins of the Flood Myth|publisher = Eerdmans |year= 1999 |isbn=978-09667840-1-5}}
*{{cite book|first= Janet|last= Browne|author-link= Janet Browne|title= The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography|year= 1983|location= New Haven & London|publisher= Yale University Press|isbn= 978-0-300-02460-9|page=276}}
*{{cite book|last=Brueggemann|first=Walter|title=Reverberations of Faith: a Theological Handbook of Old Testament Themes
|publisher=Westminster John Knox|year=2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBJQ71RIpdMC&q=theological+handbook+of+Old+Testament+themes|isbn=9780664222314}}
*{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Antony F.|last2=O'Brien|first2=Mark A.|title=Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations|publisher=Fortress Press|year=1993|url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofpentate0000camp|url-access=registration|quote=Sources of the bible.|isbn=9781451413670 }}
*{{cite book|last=Carr|first=David M.|title=Reading the Fractures of Genesis|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8UJctZxFHikC&q=Reading+the+fractures+of+Genesis:+historical+and+literary+approaches|isbn=9780664220716}}
*{{cite book|last=Clines|first=David A.|title=The Theme of the Pentateuch|publisher=Sheffield Academic Press|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z45ullcFRG8C&q=Clines+Theme+of+the+Pentateuch|isbn=9780567431967}}
*{{cite book|last=Davies|first=G. I.|chapter=Introduction to the Pentateuch|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3surkLVdw3UC&q=Oxford+Bible+Commentary+Introduction+to+the+Pentateuch&pg=PA12|editor=John Barton|title=Oxford Bible Commentary|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=9780198755005|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordbiblecomme0000unse}}
*{{cite book|title=Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary|editor=Douglas, J. D. |editor2=Tenney, Merrill C.|year=2011|publisher=Zondervan|location=Grand Rapids, Mich.|isbn=978-0310229834|edition=Revised|others=revised by Moisés Silva}}
*{{cite book|last1=Kugler|first1=Robert|last2=Hartin|first2=Patrick|title=The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey|publisher=Eerdmans|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L8WbXbPjxpoC&q=Robert+Kugler,+Patrick+Hartin|isbn=9780802846365}}
*{{cite book|last1=Levin|first1=Christoph L.|title=The Old testament: A Brief Introduction|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2005|url=https://archive.org/details/oldtestamentbrie00levi|url-access=registration|quote=The Old testament: a brief introduction Christoph Levin.|isbn=978-0691113944}}
*{{cite book|title=The Old Testament: A Brief Introduction|author=Levin, C.|date=2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691113944|url=https://archive.org/details/oldtestamentbrie00levi|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Longman|first=Tremper|title=How to Read Genesis|publisher=InterVarsity Press|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKEJ3kT7S2kC&q=How+to+read+Genesis+Tremper+Longman|isbn=9780830875603}}
*{{cite book|last=McEntire|first=Mark|title=Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch|publisher=Mercer University Press|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VwOs9f1FpmsC&q=william+propp+exodus+1-18&pg=PA87|isbn=9780881461015}}
*{{cite book|last=Ska|first=Jean-Louis|title=Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch|publisher=Eisenbrauns|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cdy67ZvzdkC&q=Introduction+to+reading+the+Pentateuch+Jean+Louis+Ska|isbn=9781575061221}}
*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|title=Prologue to History: The Yahwist As Historian in Genesis|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1992|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRl8aj_KiM4C|isbn=9780664221799}}
*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|chapter=The Pentateuch|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owwhpmIVgSAC&q=The+Hebrew+Bible+today:+an+introduction+to+critical+issues|editor=Steven L. McKenzie |editor2=Matt Patrick Graham|title=The Hebrew Bible Today: An Introduction to Critical Issues|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1998|isbn=9780664256524}}
*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|title=The Pentateuch: A Social-science Commentary|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-Vi9eK_vS0C&q=Sources+of+the+bible&pg=PA7|isbn=9780567080882}}
*{{cite book|last=Walsh|first=Jerome T.|title=Style and Structure in Biblical Hebrew Narrative|publisher=Liturgical Press|year=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGeXrcQTZ2kC&q=style+and+structure+in+biblical+hebrew+narrative|isbn=9780814658970}}
*{{cite book|first= Lloyd R.|last= Bailey|title= Noah, the Person and the Story|url= https://archive.org/details/noahpersonstoryi0000bail|url-access= registration|year= 1989|location= South Carolina|publisher= [[University of South Carolina Press]]|isbn= 978-0-87249-637-8}}
*{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Antony F.|last2=O'Brien|first2=Mark A.|title=Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations|publisher=Fortress Press|year=1993|url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofpentate0000camp|url-access=registration|quote=Sources of the bible.|isbn=9781451413670}}
*{{cite book|title=Sources of the Pentateuch: Texts, Introductions, Annotations|author1=Campbell, A. F.|author2=O'Brien, M. A.|date=1993|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=9781451413670|url=https://archive.org/details/sourcesofpentate0000camp|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book |last=Cline|first=Eric H.|title= Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zwNIDHSPsSMC&pg=PA72|isbn=9780199741076}}
*{{cite book|last=Cotter|first=David W.|title=Genesis|publisher=[[Liturgical Press]]|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6lCVzr4cT9QC&q=Genesis+David+W.+Cotter|isbn=9780814650400}}
*{{cite book
|last = Cresswell
|first = Julia
|chapter = Ark
|title = Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins
|publisher = Oxford University Press
|year = 2010
|isbn = 978-0199547937
|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J4i3zV4vnBAC
}}
*{{cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=G. Brent |title=The Age of the Earth |year=1991 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-2331-2 }} 
*{{cite journal |last= Emerton |first= J. A. |editor-last= Joosten |editor-first=J. |year= 1988 |title= An Examination of Some Attempts to Defend the Unity of the Flood Narrative in Genesis: Part II |journal= [[Vetus Testamentum]] |volume= XXXVIII |issue= 1 }}
*{{cite book|last=Gooder|first=Paula|title=The Pentateuch: A Story of Beginnings|publisher=T&T Clark|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49XpvvO-Oq0C&q=The+Pentateuch+Paula+Gooder|isbn=9780567084187}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.news.wisc.edu/16176 |title=Reason or Faith? Darwin Expert Reflects |first=Gwen |last=Evans |date=3 February 2009 |work=UW-Madison News |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |access-date=18 June 2010}}
*{{cite book |last1=Knight |first1=Douglas A. |editor1= Watson E. Mills |title=Mercer Dictionary of the Bible |publisher= Mercer University Press |location=Macon, Georgia |isbn=978-0-86554-402-4 |chapter=Cosmology |year= 1990 |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&q=Mercer+Dictionary+of+the+Bible+Cosmology&pg=PA176 }}
*{{cite book
|last1=Levenson
|first1=Jon D.
|chapter=Genesis: introduction and annotations
|editor1-last=Berlin
|editor1-first=Adele
|editor2-last=Brettler
|editor2-first=Marc Zvi
|title= The Jewish Study Bible
|publisher= Oxford University Press
|year=2014
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yErYBAAAQBAJ
|isbn=9780199393879
}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-noahs-ark.html|title=Problems with a Global Flood|last=Isaak|first=M.|year=1998|publisher=[[TalkOrigins Archive]]|access-date=29 March 2007|quote=Isaak no a geologist}}
*{{cite web|url= http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/list.html#CD|title=Index to Creationist Claims, Geology|first=Mark|last=Isaak|publisher=[[TalkOrigins Archive]]|date=5 November 2006|access-date= 2 November 2010 }}
* {{Cite web |last=Lippsett |first=Lonny |date=2009 |title=Noah's Not-so-big Flood: New evidence rebuts controversial theory of Black Sea deluge |url=https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/noahs-not-so-big-flood/ |access-date=5 February 2021 |website=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |language=en-US}}
*{{cite web|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/geocolumn/|title=The Geologic Column and its Implications for the Flood|first=Glenn|last=Morton|publisher=[[TalkOrigins Archive]]|access-date= 2 November 2010|date=17 February 2001|quote=Morton Not a Geologist}}
*{{cite book |last1=Nicholson |first1=Ernest W. |title=The Pentateuch in the Twentieth Century: the legacy of Julius Wellhausen |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=opBBTHT13yoC&q=The+Pentateuch+in+the+twentieth+century:+the+legacy+of+Julius+Wellhausen|isbn=9780199257836}} 
*{{cite book |last= Numbers |first= Ronald L. |author-link= Ronald Numbers |title= The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, Expanded Edition |publisher= Harvard University Press |year= 2006 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/creationistsfrom0000numb/page/624 624] |isbn= 978-0-674-02339-0 |title-link= The Creationists }}
*{{cite journal |last=Parkinson |first=William|date=January–February 2004|title=Questioning 'Flood Geology': Decisive New Evidence to End an Old Debate|journal=NCSE Reports|volume=24|issue=1|url=http://ncse.com/rncse/24/1/questioning-flood-geology|access-date=2 November 2010}}
*{{cite book |last=Plimer |first=Ian |title=Telling Lies for God: Reason vs Creationism |year=1994 |publisher=Random House Australia |isbn=978-0-09-182852-3 |page=303 }} 
*{{cite journal|last=Schadewald|first=Robert J.|date=Summer 1982 |title= Six Flood Arguments Creationists Can't Answer |journal= Creation/Evolution Journal |volume= 3 |issue= 3 |pages= 12–17 |url= http://ncse.com/cej/3/3/six-flood-arguments-creationists-cant-answer |access-date= 16 November 2010 }}
*{{cite journal|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/cre-error.html |last=Schadewald|first=Robert|year=1986|title=Scientific Creationism and Error|journal=Creation/Evolution|volume=6|issue=1|pages=1–9|access-date=29 March 2007}}
*{{citation|url=http://ncse.com/rncse/23/1/my-favorite-pseudoscience |first=Eugenie C. |last=Scott|title=My Favorite Pseudoscience|volume= 23|issue= 1|date=January–February 2003}}
*{{cite book|last= Speiser|first= E. A.|author-link= E. A. Speiser|title= Genesis|url= https://archive.org/details/genesis00spei|url-access= registration|series= The [[Anchor Bible]]|year= 1964|publisher= Doubleday|isbn= 978-0-385-00854-9 }}
*{{cite book |last1= Stewart |first1= Melville Y. |title= Science and Religion in Dialogue |year= 2010 |publisher= Wiley-Blackwell |location= Malden, MA |isbn= 978-1-4051-8921-7 |pages= 123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaGhngEACAAJ}}
*{{cite book|author= Tigay, Jeffrey H. |title= The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic|location=Philadelphia |publisher= [[University of Pennsylvania Press]], Philadelphia|year= 1982|isbn= 0865165467 }}
*{{cite book|last=Van Seters|first=John|title=The Pentateuch: A Social-Science commentary|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-Vi9eK_vS0C&pg=PA7|isbn=0567080889 }}
*{{cite book |last=Wenham |first=Gordon |editor1-last=Hess |editor1-first=Richard S. |editor2-last=Tsumura |editor2-first=David Toshio |title=I Studied Inscriptions From Before the Flood |format=Google Books |series=Sources for Biblical and Theological Study |volume=4 |year=1994 |publisher=Eisenbrauns |isbn=978-0-931464-88-1 |page=480 |chapter=The Coherence of the Flood Narrative |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5MGVP6gAPkC }} 
*{{cite book |last=Young |first=Davis A. |title=The Biblical Flood: A Case Study of the Church's Response to Extrabiblical Evidence |date=March 1995 |publisher=Eerdmans Pub Co |location= Grand Rapids, MI |isbn=978-0-8028-0719-9 |page=340 }} 
*{{cite book |last1= Young |first1= Davis A. |last2= Stearley |first2= Ralph F. |title= The Bible, Rocks, and Time: Geological Evidence for the Age of the Earth |year= 2008 |publisher= IVP Academic |location= Downers Grove, Ill. |isbn= 978-0-8308-2876-0 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{NIE poster|Ark|Noah's Ark}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Noah's Ark}}
{{Characters and names in the Quran}}
{{Creationism topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Noah's Ark| ]]
[[Category:Flood myths]]
[[Category:Mythological ships]]
[[Category:Noach (parashah)]]
[[Category:Mount Ararat]]