Around the beginning of the Christian era, readers of Genesis would probably understand the word "Ararat" in terms of the geography of their day rather than that of the Genesis narrator. That is, they might restrict the term to the small district on the Araxes, the Ararat of their time, rather than with the much larger ancient Kingdom of Urartu. Urartu could at times be considered the entire mountainous region north of Syro-Mesopotamia. The result would be that one tall mountain in this area, Agri Dagi (traditional Mount Ararat in Turkey), rising dramatically from the plain of the Araxes, would be considered the Real Mount Ararat. By the time of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity (fourth century) Armenia was a semi-independent kingdom whose religious and administrative centers were concentrated in the northern part of the country. Thus, when some persons read in the early translations that the Ark had come to rest in "the mountains of Armenia," and when Armenians in particular read this in their own Bible, they might understand it in a much more restricted sense than the writer of Genesis intended. Attention would be focused too narrowly toward Agri Dagi in the north. It should be noted here that Armenian literature of the fifth through the tenth centuries knows nothing of any Ark story. It is not until the thirteenth century that the Ark legends began to appear in Armenia, and by the fourteenth century these stories became popular.

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The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia agrees with the aforementioned hypothesis that the Ark of Noah would lie in a distinct mountainous region: "The Ark is said to have rested upon the mountains of Ararat, i.e., in the mountainous region of Armenia, the plural showing that the mountain peak known as Ararat was not referred to, this peak lies outside the general region." ¹

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(Genesis 11:1) "Now the whole earth had one language and one speech..."

indicates these people were descendents of Noah prior to arriving in Babylon where multi-lingual cultures originated.

Genesis 11:2) "And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there." ." If the survivors of the flood journeyed from the east, they would have come from the land in the direction of present day Iran.

Some Bibles have different translations for the verse: "journeyed in the east" or eastward," which adds confusion to the actual direction from where the survivors of the flood traveled. Dr. Roy Knuteson, Ph.D. in New Testament Greek writes, "The Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek in 250 BC reads: from the east. This is significant since these Greek-speaking Hebrews knew the exact equivalent of the Hebrew into the Greek and chose a preposition (apo) that only means ‘from,’ not ‘in,’ or ‘towards,’ or ‘eastward.’ I would, therefore, choose the KJV translation for the correct rendering and head for the east of Babylon for the mountain with the Ark."

It is very possible that the term "from the east" (Genesis 11:2) does not indicate a compass direction. It is probable that the author intended to refer to a geographical region, i.e., when we refer to “the south”, or “the mid west.” This is illustrated by Isaiah 46:11, which refers to Cyrus the Great coming from the region of the Medes, which is known as present-day Iran: "Calling a bird of prey from the east the man of my purpose from a far country." This is not a compass heading but a region that Isaiah refers to. It should also be noted here that Cyrus the Great, traveled down the Diyala River from the east when attacking Babylon. This would mean that the descendents of Noah traveled this similar route while migrating from the east into the Mesopotamia Valley.

It is illogical that the descendents of Noah would migrate from the traditional Mount Ararat in Turkey to the Mesopotamia plain. If they did so, they would have had to traverse impassable mountain ranges to eventually come from the east. The Assyrian invaders found it impossible to cross these mountain ranges thus it would seem that the descendents of Noah would find it equally difficult. If the descendents of Noah traveled from the traditional Mount Ararat in Turkey, then they would have to traveled an easy path down the Euphrates River, which eventually pours into the Mesopotamia Valley. This North to South direction violates scripture interpretation. Noah’s descendents journeyed from the east, which only allows for a Northern Iran interpretation.

Shuckford suggested that some spot farther east corresponds better with the scriptural account of the place where the ark rested. For it is said of the families of the sons of Noah, that, as they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. Now, Shinar, or Babylonia, lies nearly south of the Armenian Ararat, and the probability, therefore, is, that the true Ararat, from whose vicinity the descendants of Noah probably emigrated, lay much farther to the south.²

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The Bible said the assassins fled into the land of Ararat. The Urartian ruler at the time was Rusa II, who the New Bible Dictionary proposes as the person who gave the assassins asylum. Recent inscriptions from Rusa have been unearthed in Iran in a city called Sarab. This city is next to Mount Sabalon.

Esarhaddon states in his writings that the assassins fled to an unknown country. This does not tell us where the assassins journeyed, but it does tell us where they did not. They did not travel, according to Esaradon, to areas he was familiar with as the King of Assyria. Areas he was not familiar with would have been the area of the region east of Lake Urmiah. This region was avoided by his father Sennacharib and never ventured to by Esaradon. This is in the region of Urartu and makes it the prime candidate where the mountains of Ararat should be located. All other regions in the Urartu area were well known to Esaradon, thus excluding them from consideration.

In 1955, a team from the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, led by Max Mallowan, found some 350 fragments of baked clay tablets with inscriptions. Barbara Parker subsequently pieced together these clay pieces and made an identification of a treaty made in 672 B.C. between the Assyrian king, Esarhaddon and nine princes from bordering frontier states in Iran. These clay documents are more than a treaty; they are in actuality a last will and testament of Esarhaddon. As stated above, Esarhaddon’s two older brothers assassinated Esarhaddon’s father. Esarhaddon, now, in 672 B.C., had a son of his own named Ashur Banipal. Esarhaddon forced this treaty on the Iranian princes specifically to avoid the mortal danger that beset his father. The treaty is unique in that it covers the single subject of the royal succession of Esarhaddon’s son. The wording in this treaty specifically address the attempt to avoid an assassination attempt on his son and were specifically addressed to Iranian princes. The wording is as follows: “You will protect Ashur Banipal, the crown prince. You will not bring your hand against him with evil intent. You will not revolt. You will not oust him from the kingship of Assyria, by helping one of his brothers, older or younger, to seize the throne of Assyria in his stead.” In 672 B.C., Esarhaddon was at the peak of his political power. The countries present, witnessing the treaty, were Egypt, Elam, The Arabs of the Western Desert, The City States of Syria and Palestine, Tyre, Sidon, and even distant Cilicia, Cypress, and North Arabia.

The logic derived from the above indicates that Esarhaddon was paranoid that his son would become a victim of the same group of people that joined in the civil revolt against his father. Since Esarhaddon’s brothers fled to the region of Ararat, subsequent to killing their father, it is reasonable to assume that they fled into the region that had joined them in the civil revolt. This region, Ararat, that gave the assassins asylum, would probably be the same region (Iran) that was forced into the aforementioned treaty. This can be assumed because it was the only region forced to agree to a treaty of non-revolt against his son.

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Scripture states that the nations of Minni, Ashkenaz, and Ararat were closely aligned. We can deduce this by the verse that says: Set up a banner in the land, blow the trumpet amongst the nations, i.e. visually close in proximity, and able to hear a summoning trumpet. This would indicate that Ararat would be in a more southerly location. This opinion is shared by the study section of the New International Version Bible, which states, "The ark’s landfall was probably in southern Urartu", which is in present-day northern Iran.

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There was a marked weakness of Assyria in 782-746 BC, caused by poor representatives of the Royal House. Rather than a collapse of military power, a series of expeditions were sent to the hill country around Lake Urmiah. ⁵

Below you will find an eponym list. These lists were accurate for chronology in ancient times. These eponym lists were compiled from events that occurred of great importance for the designated year. For instance, in today’s dating we would have the year that a president was assassinated as the dating practice. We could transfer this event, such as President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, to be 1963. Since the ancient Assyrians did not have a numerical dating sequence, they used the eponym list as the method for assigning annual dates. The dating of the eponym lists is trustworthy because one date can be fixed with certainty. This is possible because one of the eponym lists mentions an eclipse of the sun that took place in the month of Sivan in the eponymy of Par-Sagale. Present day astronomers have shown that an eclipse of the sun did actually take place on June 15, 763 B.C. This gives historians a fixed point from which to reckon backwards or forwards. ⁶

This eponym list from ancient Assyria shows activity of expeditions to the region of Ararat by government officials in the reign of Shalmaneser IV, 782-772 B.C.

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Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. III, describes Shalmaneser activity as being in the region the shores of Lake Urmiah, located in Iran, to the west of Mount Sabalon. This would indicate that the Ararat region, according to the ancient Assyrian kings, was in the region of northern Iran.

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