Shak-I-Pira Magrun, Noah's Mountain in Iraq
For quite a long time now, people have been trudging up mountains in search of Noah’s ark. This a vain quest, of course, because the story of the Flood is a myth*, and no pieces of wood will be found atop any of the traditional candidates for Noah’s mountain. However, we may be able to narrow down our search to the “prototypical” mountain, which then became relocated in the usual way through folk movements and folklore development.
To begin, it is important we know two things. First, the story of Noah as we have it betrays all kinds of problems with proper names and aetiologically explained place-names. Second, we do actually already know where the first Flood mountain is to be found. For those who would like to familiarize themselves with the Mesopotamian Flood story, the precursor of the Biblical version, as well as the parallels that exist between the former and the latter, I refer you to the following excellent links. There is no longer any doubt among scholars that the different versions of the story are related, and that they betray an original source.
http://www.livius.org/fa-fn/flood/flood3.html
http://www.livius.org/fa-fn/flood/flood6-parallels.html
Noah, Hebrew Noach, it might surprise people to know, it not a real personal name. It is said to mean “rest” in Hebrew and to be from a root meaning “resting place”. Lots of theological thought has been put into accounting for the name, but we need not waste our time here with that. Suffice it to say that its cognate in Akkadian, nahu, is not a personal name, either. There it means not only “rest”, but interestingly enough ‘to abate, subside’, in the sense of the subsiding of flood-waters. It is even found in the Gilgamesh Epic’s story of the Flood, where we are told, for example, “the sea subsided [i-nu-uh], the destructive storm calmed, the flood ceased”, and “let the vast sea subside together with you [li-nu-uh].”
We encounter the same oddness with the Hebrew word used for the ark, tebah. This word is so rare that it is used in the Bible only one other time – to describe the flotation device contrived for the baby Moses. I would trace this, rather solidly, to Akkadian tebu, used in the context of floods, as in “a flood will arise and sink the boats”. The word means “sunken, submerged”, or “to sink, to down, to submerge”. Tibu is the rising of water, high waters rise and the like, while tubbu is to submerge or immerse boats, e.g. “the flood waters will rise and swamp the boats”. What has happened here is that the Jews, during the Babylonian Captivity, learned of the Mesopotamian Flood story and made it their own. However, in the process of converting it to their own sacred story, they took in some loanwords from Akkadian that they either did not properly understand or, more likely, these words gradually changed meaning over time. Hence a word that meant “submerged” or “sunken” in Akkadian took on the meaning of the OBJECT of the action of sinking or submerging, i.e. a boat.
The most important clue we have to the real name of the mountain of Noah is not found in our Bible, but in very early sacred scriptures that did not make the cut. In “The Book of Jubilees” and a few other sources, the mountain in Ararat, ancient Urartu, modern Armenia, is given a name: Lubar. This name is found in what appears to be the truncated form of Baris in the works of the Jewish historian Josephus. He claims the mountain is in Armenia, and this agrees with the placement of Lubar.
The secret to the true whereabouts of Noah’s mountain as always lies in the unlocking of such place-name riddles. First, I am providing here two full extracts from the ancient sources that actually name the specific mountain in Ararat, ancient Urartu, modern Armenia, where the ark supposedly came to rest.
From the Book of Jubilees, Chapter 7:
“And in the seventh week in the first year [1317 A.M.] thereof, in this jubilee, Noah planted vines on the mountain on which the ark had rested, named Lubar, one of the Ararat Mountains, and they produced fruit in the fourth year, [1320 A.M.] and he guarded their fruit, and gathered it in this year in the seventh month.
And he made wine therefrom and put it into a vessel, and kept it until the fifth year, [1321 A.M.] until the first day, on the new moon of the first month.
And he celebrated with joy the day of this feast, and he made a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord, one young ox and one ram, and seven sheep, each a year old, and a kid of the goats, that he might make atonement thereby for himself and his sons.
And he prepared the kid first, and placed some of its blood on the flesh that was on the altar which he had made, and all the fat he laid on the altar where he made the burnt sacrifice, and the ox and the ram and the sheep, and he laid all their flesh upon the altar.
And he placed all their offerings mingled with oil upon it, and afterwards he sprinkled wine on the fire which he had previously made on the altar, and he placed incense on the altar and caused a sweet savour to ascend acceptable before the Lord his God.
And he rejoiced and drank of this wine, he and his children with joy.
And it was evening, and he went into his tent, and being drunken he lay down and slept, and was uncovered in his tent as he slept.
And Ham saw Noah his father naked, and went forth and told his two brethren without.
And Shem took his garment and arose, he and Japheth, and they placed the garment on their shoulders and went backward and covered the shame of their father, and their faces were backward.
And Noah awoke from his sleep and knew all that his younger son had done unto him, and he cursed his son and said: 'Cursed be Canaan; an enslaved servant shall he be unto his brethren.'
And he blessed Shem, and said: 'Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall enlarge Japheth, and God shall dwell in the dwelling of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.'
And Ham knew that his father had cursed his younger son, and he was displeased that he had cursed his son. and he parted from his father, he and his sons with him, Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.
And he built for himself a city and called its name after the name of his wife Ne'elatama'uk.
And Japheth saw it, and became envious of his brother, and he too built for himself a city, and he called its name after the name of his wife 'Adataneses.
And Shem dwelt with his father Noah, and he built a city close to his father on the mountain, and he too called its name after the name of his wife Sedeqetelebab.
And behold these three cities are near Mount Lubar; Sedeqetelebab fronting the mountain on its east; and Na'eltama'uk on the south; 'Adatan'eses towards the west.”
From Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews - Book I, Chapter 3:
“5. When God gave the signal, and it began to rain, the water poured down forty entire days, till it became fifteen cubits higher than the earth; which was the reason why there was no greater number preserved, since they had no place to fly to. When the rain ceased, the water did but just begin to abate after one hundred and fifty days, (that is, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month,) it then ceasing to subside for a little while. After this, the ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia; which, when Noah understood, he opened it; and seeing a small piece of land about it, he continued quiet, and conceived some cheerful hopes of deliverance. But a few days afterward, when the water was decreased to a greater degree, he sent out a raven, as desirous to learn whether any other part of the earth were left dry by the water, and whether he might go out of the ark with safety; but the raven, finding all the land still overflowed, returned to Noah again. And after seven days he sent out a dove, to know the state of the ground; which came back to him covered with mud, and bringing an olive branch: hereby Noah learned that the earth was become clear of the flood. So after he had staid seven more days, he sent the living creatures out of the ark; and both he and his family went out, when he also sacrificed to God, and feasted with his companions. However, the Armenians call this place Apobahtayreon, The Place of Descent; for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are shown there by the inhabitants to this day.
6. 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 ship 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.
NOTE 16: This Apobahtayreon (Greek) or Place of Descent, is the proper rendering of the Armenian name of this very city. It is called in Ptolemy Naxuana, and by Moses Chorenensis, the [5th century A.D.] Armenian historian, Idsheuan; but at the place itself Nachidsheuan, which signifies The first place of descent, and is a lasting monument of the preservation of Noah in the ark, upon the top of that mountain, at whose foot it was built, as the first city or town after the flood. See Antiq. B. XX. ch. 2. sect. 3; and Moses Chorenensis, who also says elsewhere, that another town was related by tradition to have been called Seron or, The Place of Dispersion, on account of the dispersion of Xisuthrus's or Noah's sons, from thence first made. Whether any remains of this ark be still preserved, as the people of the country suppose, I cannot certainly tell. Mons. Tournefort had, not very long since, a mind to see the place himself, but met with too great dangers and difficulties to venture through them.”
Lubar is the result of a standard Hebrew attempt to provide a place-name origin. The Bible is full of such stories, and rarely do they have anything to do with the real etymologies of the names they treat of. Lubar, given the tale of Noah’s sons covering him with a garment, is a clear reference to Akkadian lubaru, clothing, garments, lubartu, clothing, garment. The word used in the Hebrew account is simlah, but this does not disguise the lubar word particularly well. Now, Akkadian also has barru, a piece of apparel, barsillu, a garment, bura’u, an adjective describing a garment, and Sumerian has barim, garment, barsig, a garment, bur, a garment and bardul, a garment. Some of these last words remind us of Josephus’s Baris.
Certainly, we cannot take seriously the notion that the mountain was called “Garment”. Instead, what we have here is a fairly typical aetiological story concocted in an attempt to explain the place-name. The etymology of the mountain name is actually quite different.
Fortunately, the Mesopotamian Flood mountain, called Mt. Nisir and Kinipa in the Assyrian records, was in a kingdom called Lullu or Lullubi or Lullumu. And one of the main cities of this kingdom was called Bara. The language of the Lullubi is not known, so we cannot offer an etymology for Bara. We might guess at something akin to Sumerian or Old Akkadian barag, ‘dais, seat’, Akkadian parakku, dais, pedestal, socle, sanctuary, shrine, divine throne room, also found as ba-ra/BARA. But we would probably be wrong!
Professor Karen Radner of University College, London, who is working on an Assyrian geography project in this part of Iraq, says this about Bara and Mt. Numush:
"The fullest discussion of the historical geography of Ma-zamua is still Speiser 1927 and I attach that paper (see p. 19 and his maps). On the basis of the itinerary of Assurnasirpal II, he locates the place next to the Pira Magrun = Mt. Nimush and that seems acceptable."
The following on Bara is from "Southern Kurdistan in the Annals of Ashurnasirpal and Today", Ephraim A. Speiser, The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Vol. 8 (1926 - 1927), pp. 1-41:
"As Bara is captured by Ashurnasirpal in his first campaign against Nur-Adad, it should be sought near the western entrance into the Sulaimania valley, not far from Tasluja... Bara may be located at Girdabor, the "Mound of Bor", which lies five miles south of the peak of Gudrun [= Shak-i Pira Magrun]."
Assyrian geography expert Professor Mario Liverani adds:
"I think that Speiser’s location of Bara is most probably correct. I adopted it in my book on the topograhy of Ashurnasirpal’s campaigns (1992). By the way, if you give me your postal address I can send it to you (I still have some copies). But note that the “deluge” mount is to be read Nisir, not Nimuš (the same sign can be read muš or sir), and means ”(Mount of) protection / shelter” (hinting at the deluge story)."
My conclusion would be, simply, that Lubar, from Akkadian lubaru, was a later development from the Mountain of Bara (= Nimush/Kinipa), as Bara itself had been wrongly interpreted in Hebrew tradition as a word for clothing or garment. Thus ALL the flood heroes can be placed on the same mountain. This might make the peak a bit crowded, what with all those arks jockeying for grounding rights, but it does make a great deal more sense than continuing to chase after pieces of wood in Armenia.
We have seen above that the ‘Place of Descent’ from the mountain of the ark is traditionally said to be Nakhchivan. Conventional logic, which identifies the purely modern name Nakhchivan with the Nachidsheuan of Moses, chooses Agri Dagi to the northwest, i.e. the traditional Mount Ararat. I don’t think this is correct. Why?
Edward Lipinksy (ibid) discusses the likely identification of Agri Dagi/Mt. Ararat with the Mount Masu (“Twins”) of the Gilgamesh Epic. The Armenian name for Agri Dagi is, indeed, Masis, and while this is sometimes said to be either Moses by the Arabs or a legendary hero Amaysis by the Armenians, if Mt. Ararat IS Masu, then the name Lubar or Baris would not seem to apply to it.
Mount Judi or Cudi Dagi, another favored location for Noah’s mountain, was picked for only one reason: as photos of it make clear, the mountain itself has a remarkable natural rock formation upon it which perfectly resembles the shape of an ark! We can thus dispense with this mountain.
Another place-name we’ve just seen associated with the ark is Seron, the Place of Dispersion. This word can clearly be associated with words like Hebrew zarah, “disperse”. The Biblical Sirion, Akkadian Si-ra-ra, i.e. Mt. Hermon, is unlikely. We must remember that Moses Chorenensis was an Armenian. Thus his Seron, like Nahkchivan, must have been in Armenia. Unless, of course, we are once again dealing with the fairly standard migration of legendary place-names.
We would not know where to look for Seron were it not for the reference to Xisuthrus. This is the Mesopotamian Zuisudra, equated in the ancient sources with Utnapishtum. Both heroes brought their arks down on Mt. Nimush, now firmly identified with Shak-I Pira Magrun in As Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
This mountain was in the lands of the Lullubi, whose territory was centered about the Sharazor Plain. Their capital of Lullubum has been identified with Halabja in the southern part of the plain. Later called Zamua, this kingdom lay between the source of the Lower Zab and the source of the Turnat River/Diyala. According to Mario Liverani (“Studies in the Annals of Ashurnasirpal II, Volume 2, Topographical Analysis”, 1992), Zamua corresponds to the modern province of Sulaymaniya, the valley of the upper course of Diyala, and to the valleys of the left tributaries of the upper Lesser Zab. The kingdom was delimited on the southwest by Qara Dagh (dagh = mountain).
As it happens, on the very north of Sharazor Plain, butted up against the mountains not far SE of Shak-I Pira Magrun, is a place called Seran. Although the name is doubtless Kurdish, Turkish or Arabic in its present form, it may preserve an earlier name. One would expect the Mesopotamian Flood heroes of the primary mountain of Lullubum to descend onto the plain of the Lullubi – and Seran is here perfectly positioned to receive them.
We know that at least some of the Lullubi were of Urartu: the country of Him(m)e, for example, which lay on the borderland between NE Mesopotamia and NW Iran, was inhabited by Lullubi groups, yet it belonged to Urartu (see Trevor Bryce’s The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire).
So where is Noah’s mountain? Where the other Mesopotamian Flood heroes were placed: Shak-I Pira Magrun next to Bara.
Just for fun, I’m appending a comparison chart of the antediluvian patriarchs from both the Mesopotamian and Biblical traditions. Not surprisingly, the number of one category matches perfectly that of the other.
From THE SUMERIAN KING LIST by Thorkild Jacobsen, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1973, and the NRSV of the Bible:
Alulim(ak) Adam
Alalgar Cain
Bad-Tibira(k) Abel
En-men-lu-anna(k) Seth
En-men-gal-anna(k) Enosh
Dum-zi(d) Kenan
Bad-tibira(k) Mahalalel
En-sipa(d)-zi(d)-anna(k) Jared
En-men-dur-anna(k) Enoch
Ubar-Tutu(k) of Shuruppak/ Methuselah
SU.KUR.LAM [= Shuruppak] Lamech from LAM?
Utnapishtum/Zi-u-sud-ra Noah
THE FLOOD
ADDENDUM:
THE THREE CITIES OF NOAH’S MOUNTAIN
Well, we are left with three additional clues as to the location of Noah’s mountain, none of which have heretofore proven to be of any value: the cities said in the Song of Jubilees to surround the said mountain. While these city-names may be literary creations only, it may help us to see if we can do anything with them.
To the east of the mountain – and AT the mountain – Sedeqetelebab (Shem)
To the south of the mountain, Ne’eltama’uk (Ham)
To the west of the mountain, ‘Adatan’eses (Japheth)
The only important site is that belonging to Shem, as we are specifically told he stayed with his father at the mountain. The other two sites may be ANY distance south and west of the mountain. And, indeed, as the three sons are given sons who are merely geographical and/or ethnic designations, and as Shem is the only one whose sons “fit” into the scheme of the mountain’s location, we will concentrate on Sedeqetelebab.
Sons of Shem:
Elam, a personification of the Elamites, whose kingdom lay in southern Mesopotamia.
Asshur, a personification of the Assyrians, who were again a Mesopotamian-centered empire.
Arpachshad, a personification of the city of Arrapha, modern Kirkuk in Iraq in northeastern Mesopotamia.
Lud, a personification NOT of Lydia, which has no connection at all with Shem’s other sons geographically, but with a place called Ludbu in the Assyrian record of Adad-Nirari II. The place is mentioned as being in the lands of the Kassites, Kuti, Lullumu and Shubari , with Rapiku between itself and Eluhat. Once again, we are talking about Mesopotamia, including the northeastern region.
Aram, a personification of the Aramaeans, for whom Aram Nahrin or Aram “Between the Rivers” of the Tigris and the Euphrates was named.
It goes without saying that Mesopotamia was the location of the Flood stories. So we should not be surprised that Shem, whose sons describe a map of various Mesopotamian territories and kingdoms, should be the one to remain with his father at the mountain.
As for Sedeqetelebab, the first component Sedeq or Zedeq could be from Hebrew s.d.q., ‘righteousness’. However, as is made clear in the entry for ZEDEQ in “The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible”, it was also the name of a West Semitic and Mesopotamian deity, possibly an aspect of the sun god Shamash (Akkadian shamash, Syriac shemsha, Hebrew shemesh and Arabic shams). The comparable Akkadian deity was named Kittu. The word’s connection with Shem’s wife is obvious, as Shem was the “righteous” son of Noah, and thus the one who stayed closest to his father on the mountain. We have many ancient personal names where sdq is used either as a first or last component.
And what of (e)telebab?
Well, we have several ancient names beginning with Til (Akkadian “mound”, especially the mound upon which a city stands). This would leave us with a Til ‘Ebab’ or some such – which is easy! This is similar (or identical) to the Tel Abib homeland of Ezekial during the Babylonian Captivity. The name is from Akkadian Til Abubi, “Mound of the Deluge”. Abubi is from abubu, meaning a Deluge as a cosmic event. So a Til Abubi was a ‘hill of ruins made by the Deluge’ (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary).
Do we know specifically where Tel Abib was in Babylonia? Well, yes, we do. From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia:
“CHEBAR
The river by the side of which his first vision was vouchsafed to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1). It is described as in "the land of the Chaldeans," and is not, therefore, to be sought in northern Mesopotamia. This rules out the Habor, the modern Chabour, with which it is often identified. The two names are radically distinct: chabhor could not be derived from kebhar. One of the great Babylonian canals is doubtless intended. Hilprecht found mention made of (naru) kabaru, one of these canals large enough to be navigable, to the East of Nippur, "in the land of the Chaldeans."
Bible-history.com adds an important detail:
“The "river" has been identified as the "Naru Kabari" because of two cuneiform inscriptions from Nippur. According to these tablets there was an irrigation canal that brought the water of the Euphrates River from Nippur to Babylon and looped around to the River near Erech. The canal’s modern name is Shatt en-Nil.”
I say important because Erech is the earlier Uruk, and this was the city over which the famous Gilgamesh of the Flood story was king. Even better, the city Shuruppak or modern Tall Fa'rah was located SOUTH OF NIPPUR and originally on the bank of the Euphrates River! The Flood heroes Utnapishtum/Ziusudra built their arks at Shuruppak.
It is possible the ‘ZEDEQ-Tel-Abib’ may represent a different ‘Mound of the Deluge’, the first component here being a sort of qualifier meant to distinguish this particular mound from that of the Babylonian Captivity. In the Akkadian records, the term is used of any site that resembled a flood-destroyed city. The phrase was often used by kings as an expression of the thoroughness with which they destroyed an enemy’s town. The storm god Adad was frequently blamed for creating such flood-ravaged mounds.
However, Zedeq as wife of Shem may say even more about the latter. First, to quote from The Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible:
“The West Semitic god Zedek seemingly corresponds to the deity known as Kittu in the Babylonian pantheon and as Isar in the Amorite pantheon. In Mesopotamia the preservation of truth and justice was considered to be the particular domain of the sun god Shamash. Truth or Right was personified and deified as the god Kittu ('Truth', 'Right'; from Akk root kanu, cf. Heb root KWN). Kittu was often invoked together with the god Misharu ('Justice') (see CAD K 471 s.v. kittu A 1b4; MI2 118 S.". misaru A 2d; cf. Heb root YSR). One or both of these deities were described as 'seated before Shamash', i.e. Shamash's attendant, or as 'the minister of (Shamash's) right hand'. While Misharu wall always considered a male deity, Kittu was identified sometimes as the daughter of Shamash, sometimes as the son of Shamash. Meanwhile, at Mari offerings were made to the divine pair Isar u Mesar (ARM 24.210.24-25: cf. 263.5-6 where these same gods are listed separately but contiguously; see P. TALON, Un nouveau pantheon de Mari, Akkadica 20 [1980] 12-17). As a theophoric element Isar is common in both Akk and Amorite personal names (HUFFMON 1965:216). From the interchangeability of the names Kittu, Isar, and Sidqu/Zedek in the pairing with Misar(u), it appears that the deity known as Kittu in Babylonia was known further to the West under the names Isar and Sidqu/Zedek Zedek-all three names having essentially the same meaning but operative in different linguistic communities. Additional support for the identification of Sidqu and Kittu comes from the Amorite royal name Ammi-saduqa, which was translated in the Babylonian King List as Kimtum-kittum, showing an equivalence between the West Semitic root SDQ and Akk kittu (cf. BAUMGARTEN 1979:235).”
It will be noted here that Kittu, the Akkadian goddess who equates with Zedeq, could be FEMININE IN FORM, a daughter of the sun god. This suggests to me, quite strongly, that Shem (Hebrew sm), which means literally “name”, is a substitute for the sun god Shamash (Hebrew semes). The author of the entry on Shamash in the dictionary says “… the element sm in the [theophoric] names does not refer to a deity Shem, but functions as a substitution for a godhead.” The godhead he is referring to in this context is, of course, Yahweh, but as I’ve made a case of Yahweh being Amun-Re (see my The Real Moses and His God), Shamash would do just as well.
Zedeq, wife of Shem, who hails from a Mound of the Deluge in Mesopotamia, is Kittu daughter of Shamash.
*The Flood is likely an exaggerated historical event. Archaeologists excavating the ancient cities of Sumer on the Euphrates did find a significant 'flood layer', and this proves that at about the time the Flood was supposed to have occurred, there indeed was a major flood OF THE RIVER. Not OF THE WORLD. Obviously, people caught in such a flood - including the king of a city - would seek high ground either on their own ziggurat-mountain or on a nearby hill, which they would have to reach by boat. Over time, this event became "mythologized" into the Mesopotamian and Biblical accounts of the Flood.
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