View source for Mount Ararat

{{Short description|Highest mountain in Turkey}}
{{about|the mountain in Turkey}}
{{Distinguish|Mount Arafat|Mount Aragats|Mount Arayat}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Mount Ararat
| native_name = {{native name list|tag1=hy|name1=Մասիս|postfix1=&nbsp;{{transliteration|hy|(''Masis'')}}|tag2=ku|name2=Çiyayê Agirî|postfix2=&nbsp;|tag3=tr|name3=Ağrı Dağı (official name)|postfix3=&nbsp;}} 
| photo = <!--in photo_caption--> spacer.gif
| photo_size = 1
| photo_caption = [[File:Mount Ararat and the Yerevan skyline in spring (50mm).jpg|frameless|upright=1.40]]<br /> [[Little Ararat]] (left) and Greater Ararat (right); View from [[Yerevan]], Armenia
| elevation_m = 5137
| elevation_ref = <br/><small>See [[#Elevation|Elevation section]]</small>
| prominence_m = 3611
| prominence_ref = <ref>{{cite web|title=100 World Mountains ranked by primary factor|url=http://www.ii.uib.no/~petter/mountains/world_finest.html|website=ii.uib.no|publisher=Institutt for informatikk [[University of Bergen]]|access-date=2016-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160521231603/http://www.ii.uib.no/~petter/mountains/world_finest.html|archive-date=2016-05-21|url-status=live}}</ref><br/><small>[[List of peaks by prominence|Ranked 48th]]</small>
| range = [[Armenian highlands]] 
| listing = [[List of countries by highest point|Country high point]]<br />[[Ultra prominent peak|Ultra]]<br />[[Volcanic Seven Summits#Volcanic Seven Second Summits|Volcanic Seven Second Summits]]
| location = [[Iğdır Province|Iğdır]] and [[Ağrı province]]s, [[Turkey]]
| region = [[Eastern Anatolia region]]
| map = Turkey#Caucasus mountains#Near East#Europe#Earth
| map_caption = Location in Turkey
| label_position = left#right
| coordinates = {{coord|39.7019|N|44.2983|E|type:mountain_region:TR|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref = <ref name=otm>{{cite opentopomap|Ağrı Dağı|39.7019|44.2983|2023-06-13}}</ref>
| type = [[Stratovolcano]]
| last_eruption = [[1840 Ararat earthquake|July 2, 1840]]
| first_ascent = {{OldStyleDate|9 October|1829|27 September}}<br />[[Friedrich Parrot]], [[Khachatur Abovian]], two Russian soldiers, two Armenian villagers
| fetchwikidata = ALL
}}{{Infobox designation list
| embed                   = 
| designation1            = National Park
| designation1_offname    = Ağrı Dağı Milli Parkı
| designation1_date       = 1 November 2004<ref>{{cite web|title=Ağrı Dağı Milli Parkı [Ağrı Dağı National Park]|url=http://bolge13.ormansu.gov.tr/13bolge/AnaSayfa/birimler/agri/agridagi.aspx?sflang=tr|website=ormansu.gov.tr|publisher=[[Ministry of Forest and Water Management (Turkey)|Republic of Turkey Ministry of Forest and Water Management]]|language=tr|access-date=2016-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505045218/http://bolge13.ormansu.gov.tr/13bolge/AnaSayfa/birimler/agri/agridagi.aspx?sflang=tr|archive-date=2016-05-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>
}}

'''Mount Ararat''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ær|ə|r|æ|t}}, {{respell|ARR|ə|rat}}; {{langx|hy|Արարատ|Ararat}} {{IPA|hy|ɑɾɑˈɾɑt||audio=LL-Q8785 (hye)-Vahagn Petrosyan-Արարատ.wav}}}} also known as '''Masis'''{{efn|{{langx|hy|Մասիս|link=no}} {{IPA|hy|maˈsis|}}}} or officially '''Mount Ağrı''',{{efn|{{langx|tr|Ağrı Dağı}}; {{langx|ku-Latn|Çiyayê Agirî}}}} is a snow-capped and dormant [[compound volcano]] in [[Eastern Turkey|easternmost Turkey]]. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and [[Little Ararat]]. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey and the [[Armenian highlands]] with an elevation of {{convert|5137|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}; Little Ararat's elevation is {{convert|3896|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}.<ref name="YilmazOther1998a">{{cite journal|last1=Yilmaz|first1=Y.|last2=Güner|first2=Y.|last3=Saroğlu|first3=F.|title=Geology of the quaternary volcanic centres of the east Anatolia|journal=[[Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research]]|date=1998|volume=85|issue=1–4|pages=173–210|doi=10.1016/s0377-0273(98)00055-9|bibcode=1998JVGR...85..173Y |issn=0377-0273 }}</ref> The Ararat [[massif]] is about {{convert|35|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} wide at ground base.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Short|editor1-first=Nicholas M.|editor2-last=Blair|editor2-first=Robert W.|title=Geomorphology From Space: A Global Overview of Regional Landforms|date=1986|publisher=[[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]]|page=226|chapter=Mt. Ararat, Turkey}}</ref> The first recorded efforts to reach Ararat's summit were made in the Middle Ages, and [[Friedrich Parrot]], [[Khachatur Abovian]], and four others made the first recorded ascent in 1829.

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

Although lying outside the borders of modern [[Armenia]], the mountain is the principal national symbol of Armenia and has been considered a sacred mountain by Armenians. It has featured prominently in Armenian literature and art and is an icon for [[United Armenia|Armenian irredentism]]. It is depicted on the [[coat of arms of Armenia]] along with Noah's Ark.

==Political borders ==
Mount Ararat forms a near-[[quadripoint]] between [[Turkey]], [[Iran]], [[Armenia]], and the [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]] exclave of [[Azerbaijan]].<ref name="BournoutianMaps"/> The Iran-Turkey boundary skirts east of Lesser Ararat.<ref name="BournoutianMaps">{{cite journal |last=Bournoutian |first=George A. |author-link=George Bournoutian |title=The Iran-Turkey-Armenia Borders as Depicted in Various Maps |journal=[[Iran and the Caucasus]] |date=2015 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=97-107 |doi=10.1163/1573384X-20150108}}</ref>

From the 16th century until 1828 the range was part of the Ottoman-Persian border; Great Ararat's summit and the northern slopes, along with the eastern slopes of Little Ararat were controlled by Persia. Following the [[Russo-Persian War (1826–28)|1826–28 Russo-Persian War]] and the [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]], the Persian controlled territory was ceded to the Russian Empire. Little Ararat became the point where the Turkish, Persian, and Russian imperial frontiers converged.<ref name="iranicaonline"/> The current international boundaries were formed throughout the 20th century. The mountain came under Turkish control during the 1920 [[Turkish invasion of Armenia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hovannisian|first1=Richard G.|author-link1=Richard G. Hovannisian|title=Armenia and the Caucasus in the Genesis of the Soviet-Turkish Entente|journal=[[International Journal of Middle East Studies]]|date=1973|volume=4|issue=2|pages=129–147|jstor=162238|quote=...Nationalist Turkey annexed the Surmalu district, embracing Mount Ararat, the historic symbol of the Armenian people.|doi=10.1017/s0020743800027409|s2cid=162360397 }}</ref> It formally became part of Turkey according to the 1921 [[Treaty of Moscow (1921)|Treaty of Moscow]] and [[Treaty of Kars]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Shakarian|first=Pietro A.|title=Anastas Mikoyan: An Armenian Reformer in Khrushchev's Kremlin|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|year=2025|page=147|url={{Google Books|rTNgEQAAQBAJ|page=147|plainurl=yes}}|isbn=978-0253073556}}</ref> In the late 1920s, Turkey crossed the Iranian border and occupied the eastern flank of Lesser Ararat as part of its effort to quash the [[Kurds|Kurdish]] [[Ararat rebellion]],<ref name="BournoutianMaps"/> during which the Kurdish rebels used the area as a safe haven against the Turkish state.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Yildiz|first1=Kerim|last2=Taysi|first2=Tanyel B.|title=The Kurds in Iran: The Past, Present and Future|url=https://archive.org/details/kurdsiranpastpre00yild|url-access=limited|year=2007|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London|isbn=978-0745326696|page=[https://archive.org/details/kurdsiranpastpre00yild/page/n77 71]}}</ref> Iran eventually agreed to cede the area to Turkey in a [[Iran–Turkey relations#20th century|territorial exchange]].<ref name="BournoutianMaps"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Tsutsiev|first=Arthur|translator=Nora Seligman Favorov|title=Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus|year=2014|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=978-0300153088|page=92}}</ref>

==Names and etymology==
[[File:Mount Ararat and the Araratian plain (cropped).jpg|thumb|View from the Araratian plain near the city of [[Artashat, Armenia]]]]
[[File:Closeup of large peak of Mount Ararat.jpg|thumb|Closeup of Greater Ararat]]
[[File:Closeup of Lesser Ararat from Yerevan.jpg|thumb|Closeup of Lesser Ararat]]
[[File:981122-Ararat-IMG_0791-3.jpg|thumb|View from [[Turkey]]]]

===Ararat===
The mountain was not called by the name Ararat until the [[Middle Ages]]; early Armenian historians considered the biblical Ararat to be in [[Corduene]].<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle | {{cite book|first=Alexander |last=Agadjanian|title=Armenian Christianity Today: Identity Politics and Popular Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YAYHDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-17857-6|pages=14 <!--|quote= It is worth noting that, contrary to Armenian Apostolic Church discourse and popular knowledge, it was probably as late as the beginning of the second millennium AD when the localization of the biblical Mount Ararat was permanently moved from the highlands hemming upper Mesopotamia to Mount Masis in the heart of historical Armenian territory.-->}} | {{cite book|last=Petrosyan|first=Hamlet|authorlink=Hamlet Petrosyan|editor=[[Levon Abrahamian]] and Nancy Sweezy|title=Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780253337047/page/36|year=2001|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-33704-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780253337047/page/36 36]|chapter=The Sacred Mountain <!-- |quote=When Armenians were first introduced to the biblical story of the flood, there was no special interest in the location of Mount Ararat. Most Armenian historians in the Early Middle Ages accepted the generally held Christian opinion of the time that Ararat was located near Mesopotamia in Korduk (Corduene), the southernmost province of Armenia. However, when European Crusaders on their way to free the Holy Land from Moslem rule appeared in the region in the 11th century, Armenian hopes for similar "salvation" helped to catalyze the final identification of Masis with Ararat. From the 12th century on, Catholic missionaries and other travelers to the region returned to Europe with the same story: that the mountain where the Ark landed was towering in the heart of Armenia.-->}} }}</ref> It is known as Ararat in European languages,<ref name="Hewsen"/> however, none of the native peoples have traditionally referred to it by that name.{{sfn|Bryce|1877|p=[https://archive.org/stream/transcaucasiaara00bryciala#page/198/mode/2up 198]}} Ultimately, Ararat{{efn|[[Western Armenian]] pronunciation: ''Ararad''}} is the [[Biblical Hebrew]] name of the [[Iron Age]] kingdom of [[Urartu]].{{efn|{{langx|hbo|אררט}}, {{Transliteration|hbo|ʾrrṭ}}.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Frymer|first1=Tikva S.|last2=Sperling|first2=S. David|author-link1=Tikva Frymer-Kensky|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica|date=2008|edition=2nd|chapter=Ararat, Armenia|title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica}} [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0002_0_01234.html view online]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222111306/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0002_0_01234.html |date=2015-12-22 }}.</ref> [[Tiberian vocalization]] אֲרָרָט ''ʾărārāṭ''; [[Pesher on Genesis|Pesher Genesis]] הוררט ''hōrārāṭ''.}}{{sfn|Arnold|2008|p=104}} Urartu, the Assyrian/Babylonian name of the kingdom, has been proposed by [[Archibald Sayce]] to mean "highlands".<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle | {{cite book |last1=Sayce |first1=A. H. |author1-link=Archibald Sayce |title=[[The Cambridge Ancient History]] Vol. 3: The Assyrian Empire |date=1925 |location=Cambridge |pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.70247/page/n201/mode/1up?view=theater&q=urartu 169] |chapter=The Kingdom of Van (Urartu) <!--|quote=The Vannic kingdom was known as Urartu to the Assyrians and Babylonians, Ararat in Hebrew. An early Babylonian ‘tourist’s’ map places the city of Ura-Urtu north of Assyria, and a lexical tablet informs us that Urtu corresponded with Tilla ‘the Highlands.’ -->}} | {{cite book |last1=Piotrovsky |first1=Boris |author1-link=Boris Piotrovsky |title=История и культура Урарту [History and Culture of Urartu] |date=1959  |publisher=[[:ru:Восточная литература (издательство)|Vostochnaya literatura]] |location=Moscow |page=32 |language=ru <!-- |quote= Значение этого термина [Уруатри], графически сближающегося с названием Аккада, не совсем еще ясно. На основании соответствия термина urṭu термину ṭillā в одном древнем словаре Сэйс этимологизировал ассирийское Urarṭu как «высокая страна». -->|url=http://www.co6op.ru/sites/default/files/boris_borisovich_piotrovskiy_vanskoe_carstvo.pdf}} }}</ref> [[Ayrarat]], the central province of [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|ancient Armenia]], is linked to the same name.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle | {{cite book |last1=Hakobian |first1=T. Kh. |author1-link=Tadevos Hakobyan |title=Հայաստանի պատմական աշխարհագրություն [Historical Geography of Armenia] |date=1984 |orig-date=1968 |publisher=Yerevan University Press |page=108 |edition=4th |url=http://lib.ysu.am/disciplines_bk/185de07e6ba68b6099e3a1d351ce2ca5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410142156/http://lib.ysu.am/disciplines_bk/185de07e6ba68b6099e3a1d351ce2ca5.pdf |archive-date=2023-04-10 |language=hy <!-- |quote= Այրարատ անվան ստուգաբանությամբ զբաղվել են մի շարք բանասերներ և պատմաբաններ: Սակայն մինչև օրս էլ այդ անվան մեկնության շուրջ գոյություն ունեն տարբեր կարծիքներ: Ամենից հավանականը այն կարծիքն է, որն Այրարատ, Արարատ և Ուրարտու անունները համարում է հոմանիշներ: -->}} | {{cite web |last1=Hewsen |first1=R. H. |author1-link=Robert H. Hewsen |title=Ayrarat |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayrarat/ |website=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] Vol. III, Fasc. 2, pp. 150-151 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250114230609/https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayrarat |archive-date=14 January 2025 |date=December 15, 1987 <!-- |quote=the name is undoubtedly connected with the Assyrian Urautri, later Urartu, the biblical Ararat -->}}| {{cite book |last1=Hewsen |first1=Robert H. |author1-link=Robert H. Hewsen |editor1-last=Hovannisian |editor1-first=Richard G. |editor1-link=Richard G. Hovannisian |title=Armenian Van/Vaspurakan |date=2000 |publisher=Mazda Publishers |isbn=1-56859-130-6 |page=16 |chapter="Van in This World; Paradise in the Next": The Historical Geography of Van/Vaspurakan <!-- |quote=Urartu was remembered only as Ayrarat, the name of the central Armenian plain...-->}} }}</ref> [[Robert W. Thomson]] suggested that the mountain was called Ararat "by confusion with Ayrarat, the name of the province."{{sfn|Khorenats'i|1978|p=91}}

===Ağrı and Agirî===
The Turkish name Mount Ağrı (''Ağrı Dağı'', {{IPA|tr|aːɾɯ da.ɯ|}}; {{langx|ota|آغـر طﺎﻍ|lit=|translit=Āġır Ṭāġ}}, {{IPA|az|aːɣæɾ taɣ|}}), has been known since the [[late Middle Ages]].{{sfn|Novoseltsev|1978}} Although the word "ağrı" literally translates to "pain" the current name is considered a derivative of the mountain's initial Turkish name "Ağır Dağ" which translates as "heavy mountain".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nuh'un Gemisi Efsanesi |url=https://agri.ktb.gov.tr/TR-122233/nuhun-gemisi-efsanesi.html |access-date=2024-01-05 |website=agri.ktb.gov.tr}}</ref><ref name="Hewsen" />{{sfn|Novoseltsev|1978}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dalton|first1=Robert H.|title=Sacred Places of the World: A Religious Journey Across the Globe|date=2004|publisher=Abhishek|isbn=9788182470514|page=133|quote=The Turkish name for Mt Ararat is Agri Dagi (which means mountain of pain).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=McCarta|first1=Robertson|title=Turkey|date=1992|publisher=Nelles|isbn=9783886184019|page=210|edition=2nd|quote=(Turkish: Agri Dagi, "Mount of Sorrows")}}</ref> The 17th century explorer [[Evliya Çelebi]] referred to it as Ağrî in the ''[[Seyahatnâme]]''. Despite the supposed meaning in Turkish ''Ağrı Dağı'' as "pain mountain" and Kurdish ''Çiyayê Agirî'' as "fiery mountain", some linguists underline a relationship between the mountain's name and a village on its slopes called ''[[Yenidoğan, Aralık|Ağori]]'' that was decimated after a landslide in 1840. The exact meaning of these related names remains unknown.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nişanyan |first1=Sevan |author1-link=Sevan Nişanyan |title=Yenidoğan |url=https://www.nisanyanyeradlari.com/?y=Yenidoğan&ul=All&o=c&s=1&n=1 |website=Nişanyan Yeradları (formerly Index Anatolicus) |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250515152949/https://www.nisanyanyeradlari.com/?y=Yenido%C4%9Fan&ul=All&o=c&s=1&n=1 |archive-date=15 May 2025 |quote=The old town of Agori/Aqori, which is the source of the Turkish and Kurdish name of Mount Ararat}}</ref>

The [[Kurdish languages|Kurdish]] name of the mountain is {{Lang|ku|Çiyayê Agirî}}<ref name=Sar2012a/><ref>{{cite news|title=Xortekî tirk dixwaze bi bîsîklêtê xwe ji çiyayê Agirî berde xwarê|url=http://rudaw.net/kurmanci/sports/190620141|agency=[[Rudaw Media Network]]|date=19 June 2014|language=ku|access-date=16 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117020118/http://rudaw.net/kurmanci/sports/190620141|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> ({{IPA|ku|t͡ʃɪjaːˈje aːgɪˈriː|}}), which translates to "fiery mountain".<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last1=Waugh|first1=Alexander|title=Will he, won't He? Ararat by Frank Westerman, translated by Sam Garrett|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/08/will-he-wont-he/|work=[[The Spectator]]|date=27 August 2008|access-date=22 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811211231/http://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/08/will-he-wont-he/|archive-date=11 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> An alternative Kurdish name is ''Grîdax'', which is composed of the word ''grî'', presumably a corrupted version of the Kurdish ''girê'', meaning hill, or ''Agirî'', and ''dax'', which is the Turkish ''dağ'', meaning mountain.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Akkuş |first1=Murat |title=Ağrı Dağı'nın adı "Ararat" olmalı |url=https://www.basnews.com/tr/babat/475822 |website=basnews |access-date=26 July 2022}}</ref>

===Masis===
The traditional Armenian name is ''Masis'' ({{Lang|hy|Մասիս}} {{IPA|hy|maˈsis|}}; sometimes spelled ''Massis'').<ref name="JewEnc"/>{{sfn|Bryce|1877|p=[https://archive.org/stream/transcaucasiaara00bryciala#page/198/mode/2up 198]}} Today, Masis and Ararat are interchangeably used in Armenian.<ref>{{cite book|last=Avetisyan|first=Kamsar|title=Հայրենագիտական էտյուդներ [Armenian studies sketches]|date=1979|publisher=Sovetakan grogh|location=Yerevan|language=hy|page=14|url=http://armenianhouse.org/avetisyan/armenian-highland.html|quote=Հայերը Արարատը անվանում են Մասիս...|access-date=2015-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127174506/http://armenianhouse.org/avetisyan/armenian-highland.html|archive-date=2015-11-27|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|The peaks are sometimes referred to in plural as Մասիսներ ''Masisner''.<ref name="encyclopedia.am"/> The name "Ararat" occurs in Armenian literature from the early medieval period, following the invention of the [[Armenian alphabet]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hovhannisyan |first1=L. Sh. |title=Բառերի մեկնությունը հինգերորդ դարի հայ մատենագրուտյան մեջ [Interpretation of words in 5th century Armenian manuscripts] |date=2016 |publisher=Gitutyun |location=Yerevan |page=[http://language.sci.am/sites/default/files/book/bareri_meknutynnery.pdf 61] |language=hy}}</ref>}}  Greater Ararat is known as simply ''Masis'' or Մեծ Մասիս (''Mets Masis'', "Great/Big Masis"). While Lesser Ararat is known as ''Sis'' (Սիս)<ref name="Peroomian"/><ref name="Delitzsch"/> or Փոքր Մասիս (''P′ok′r Masis'', "Little/Small Masis").<ref name="Hewsen"/><ref name="encyclopedia.am"/> Both Ararat and Masis are also common male first names among Armenians.<ref>As of 2022, there were 5489 and 882 people named Ararat and Masis, respectively, in Armenia's voters' list.
{{Unbulleted list citebundle |  {{cite web |title=Արարատ (Ararat) |url=http://www.anun.am/f/85e |website=anun.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230105174616/http://www.anun.am/f/85e |archive-date=5 January 2023 |language=hy}} | {{cite web |title=Մասիս (Masis) |url=http://www.anun.am/f/324f |website=anun.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810131501/http://www.anun.am/f/324f |archive-date=10 August 2022}} }}</ref>

The folk etymology recorded in [[Movses Khorenatsi]]'s ''[[History of Armenia (Movses Khorenatsi)|History of Armenia]]'' derives the name from king Amasya, the great-grandson of the legendary Armenian patriarch [[Hayk]], who is said to have called it after himself.{{sfn|Khorenats'i|1978|p=91}}{{sfn|Petrossyan|2010|p=221}}

Several scholarly etymologies have also been proposed.{{efn|[[Hovhannes Tumanyan]] tentatively proposed an etymology from purported [[Sanskrit]] words ''ma'' (mother) and ''sis'' (summit, peak or height) by citing [[:ru:Ягелло, Иван Дионисиевич|Ivan Yagello]]'s ''Hindustani-Russian Dictionary'' (1902). Tumanyan also referred to the [[Cybele|Anatolian mother goddess]], who was called "Ma" or "Amma" locally as a possible inspiration.<ref>{{cite book |title=Հովհ. Թումանյան. Երկերի ժողովածու. Չորրորդ հատոր. Քննադատություններ և հրապարակախոսություն. 1892-1921 [Hovh. Tumanyan: Collected Works. Volume IV: Criticism and Journalism, 1892-1921] |date=1951 |publisher=Haypethrat |location=Yerevan |pages=399–409 |url=https://tert.nla.am/archive/HAY%20GIRQ/Ardy/1951-1980/tumanyan_IVhator_1951.pdf |language=hy |chapter=Հայերեն գավառական բառարան}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gasparian |first1=G. K. |title=Հովհաննես Թումանյանի բառարանագիտական դիտողությունները [Lexicographical Remarks of Hovhannes Tumanian] |journal=[[Patma-Banasirakan Handes]] |date=1969 |volume=3 |page=66 |url=https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/188786/edition/171423/content |language=hy}}</ref> [[Hrachia Acharian]] disagreed, noting that the earlier variant is Masik‘, while Masis is the [[accusative case]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stepanian |first1=Garnik |author1-link=:hy:Գառնիկ Ստեփանյան |title=Հրաչյա Աճառյան. Կյանքը և գործը [Hrachia Acharian: Life and Work] |date=2013 |publisher=Yerevan University Press |isbn=978-5-8084-1787-8 |url=http://publishing.ysu.am/files/34-1465373184-.pdf |language=hy|page=175|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819102718/http://publishing.ysu.am/files/34-1465373184-.pdf |archive-date=2024-08-19 |quote=չի ընդունում Թումանյանի ստուգաբանական կարծիքները, մանավանդ հատուկ անունների խնդրում, օրինակ' Սիս Մասիս բառերի Թումանյանական բացատրությունը: Թումանյանի կարծիքով Մասիս անունը առաջացել է սանսկրիտ Մա և Սիս- գագաթ բառերից, մինչդեռ Աճառյանն իր նամակում գտնում է, որ Մասիս բառի հին ձևը եղել է Մասիք, թե Մասիս նրա հայցական ձևն է, ուրեմն բուն բառը պետք է լինի մասի, արմատը մաս և այլն:}}</ref> }} [[Anatoly Novoseltsev]] suggested that it derives from [[Middle Persian]] ''masist'', meaning "the largest".{{sfn|Novoseltsev|1978}} According to [[:hy:Սարգիս Պետրոսյան|Sargis Petrosyan]] the ''mas'' root in Masis means "mountain", corresponding to [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] *mņs-.{{sfn|Petrossyan|2010|p=221}} Armen Petrosyan suggested a link to the [[Mashu|Māšu]] (Mashu) mountain mentioned in the ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'', pronounced ''Māsu'' in Assyrian.{{sfn|Petrosyan|2016|p=72}} Additionally, the land of Erkuahi, mentioned in Urartian texts and identified with Ararat, may preserve a native Armenian form of the same name—erku (երկու) meaning "two" in Armenian.<ref>Armen Petrosyan. "Biblical Mt. Ararat: Two Identifications". ''Comparative Mythology''. December 2016. Vol.&nbsp;2. Issue&nbsp;1. pp.&nbsp;68–80.</ref>

===Other names===
The traditional [[Persian language|Persian]] name is {{lang|fa|کوه نوح}} ({{IPA|fa|ˈkuːhe ˈnuːh|}}, ''{{transliteration|fa|Kūh-e Nūḥ}}''),<ref name="iranicaonline"/> literally the "mountain of Noah".<ref name="Hewsen"/><ref name="JewEnc"/>

In [[classical antiquity]], particularly in [[Strabo]]'s ''[[Geographica]]'', the peaks of Ararat were known in [[ancient Greek]] as {{Lang|grc|Ἄβος}} (''Abos'') and {{Lang|grc|Νίβαρος}} (''Nibaros'').{{efn|[[Strabo]], ''[[Geographica]]'', XI.14.2 and XI.14.14.{{sfn|Petrossyan|2010|p=220}} They are also transliterated as ''Abus'' and ''Nibarus''.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Jones|editor1-first=Horace Leonard|title=The Geography of Strabo|date=1928|publisher=Harvard University Press|chapter=XI.14}} [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/11N*.html view Book XI, Chapter 14 online]</ref> Abos and Nibaros are the two peaks of Ararat according to scholars such as [[Nicholas Adontz]],{{sfn|Petrossyan|2010|p=220}} [[Vladimir Minorsky]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Minorsky|first1=V.|author-link1=Vladimir Minorsky|title=Roman and Byzantine Campaigns in Atropatene|journal=[[Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London]]|date=1944|volume=11|issue=2|pages=243–265|quote=Although what Strabo means by Abos seems to be the southern spurs of Mt. Ararat...|jstor=609312|doi=10.1017/S0041977X0007244X|s2cid=129323675 }}</ref> [[Julius Fürst]].<ref name="Fürst"/>}}

==Geography==
Mount Ararat is located in the [[Eastern Anatolia region]] of Turkey, between the provinces of [[Ağrı Province|Ağrı]] and [[Iğdır Province|Iğdır]], near the border with [[Iran]], [[Armenia]] and [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]] [[exclave]] of [[Azerbaijan]], between the [[Aras (river)|Aras]] and [[Murat River|Murat]] rivers.<ref name=MinistryOfTourism>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110611075707/http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/belge/2-17324/eski2yeni.html "Ağrı – Mount Ararat"]. Republic of Turkey Ministry of culture and tourism (''kultur.gov.tr''). 2005.</ref> The [[Serdarbulak plateau|Serdarbulak]] [[lava plateau]], at 2600 meters of elevation, separates the peaks of Greater and Little Ararat.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://anatolia.com/activities/mountaineering/ararat.html |title= Mount Agri (Ararat) |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= 2003 |website= anatolia.com |access-date= 26 December 2020 |quote= "the Serdarbulak lava plateau (2600 m) stretches out between the two pinnacles." |archive-date= 28 September 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210928205405/http://anatolia.com/activities/mountaineering/ararat.html |url-status= dead }}</ref> There are [[Doğubayazıt Reeds]] on the western slopes of Mount Ararat.<ref name="Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Mehmet Ali Çelik, Prof.Dr. İbrahim Kopar, Dr.Öğr. Üyesi Emrah Çelik">{{Cite web |date=December 20, 2021 |title=Doğubayazıt sazlığının (Ağrı-Türkiye) arazi örtüsü deseninde meydana gelen değişimlerin ekolojik sonuçları üzerine bir analiz |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2058634 |publisher=Doğu Coğrafya Dergisi-[[Atatürk University]] |page=3 |language=Turkish}}</ref> Ararat's summit is located west of the Turkey-Iran border and south of the Turkey-Armenia border. The [[Ararat plain]] runs along its northwest to western side.<ref name="BournoutianMaps"/>

===Elevation===
Ararat is the third [[List of Ultras of West Asia|most prominent mountain in West Asia]] behind [[Mount Elbrus|Elbrus]] and [[Mount Damavand|Damavand]].

An elevation of {{convert|5165|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} for Mount Ararat is given by some encyclopedias and reference works such as ''[[Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary]]'' and ''Encyclopedia of World Geography''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary|date=2001|publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]|location=Springfield, Massachusetts|isbn=9780877795469|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Co_VIPIJerIC&pg=PA63 63]|edition=3rd|url=https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersg1998merr/page/63}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Haggett|editor1-first=Peter|editor1-link=Peter Haggett|title=Encyclopedia of World Geography: The Middle East|chapter=Turkey|date=2002|publisher=[[Marshall Cavendish]]|isbn=978-0-7614-7289-6|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6BqVsXdHWAIC&pg=PA2026 2026]|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hartemann|first1=Frederic|last2=Hauptman|first2=Robert|title=The Mountain Encyclopedia|date=2005|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield|Taylor Trade]]|location=Lanham, Maryland|isbn=978-0-8108-5056-9|page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ifs2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 17]|url=https://archive.org/details/mountainencyclop0000hart/page/17}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Galichian|first1=Rouben|author-link1=Rouben Galichian|title=Historic Maps of Armenia: The Cartographic Heritage|date=2004|publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]]|isbn=978-1-86064-979-0|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0dZfCXeL2AEC&pg=PA26 26]}}</ref> However, a number of sources, such as the [[United States Geological Survey]] and numerous topographic maps indicate that the alternatively widespread figure of {{convert|5137|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} is probably more accurate.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kurter|first1=Ajun|author-link1=:tr:Ajun Kurter|title=Glaciers of the Middle East and Africa: Turkey|date=20 May 1988|url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1386g/turkey.pdf|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] Professional Paper 1386-G|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011160658/https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1386g/turkey.pdf|archive-date=11 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Maps of Ararat - Ararat Map, Turkey (Agri Dagi)|url=http://maps.turkeyodyssey.com/city/maps_of_ararat.php|website=turkeyodyssey.com|publisher=Terra Anatolia|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225034653/http://maps.turkeyodyssey.com/city/maps_of_ararat.php|archive-date=2007-02-25}}</ref> The current elevation may be as low as {{convert|5125|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} due to the [[Retreat of glaciers since 1850|melting]] of its [[snow]]-covered [[ice cap]].<ref>According to Petter E. Bjørstad, Head of Informatics Department at the [[University of Bergen]] (Norway). {{cite web|title=Ararat Trip Report|url=http://www.ii.uib.no/~petter/mountains/5000mtn/Ararat/ararat-trip.html|website=ii.uib.no|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011161358/http://www.ii.uib.no/~petter/mountains/5000mtn/Ararat/ararat-trip.html|archive-date=11 October 2017|date=August 2007|quote=I measured the summit elevation, averaging more than 300 samples in my GPS, it settled on 5132 meter, 5 meter lower than the often quoted 5137 figure. This clearly shows that the 5165 meter elevation that many sources use is wrong. The summit is a snow ridge with no visible rock anywhere. Thus, the precise elevation will change with the seasons and could definitely be influenced by climate change (global warming). Later GPS measurements in Iran suggested that the GPS data may be about 10 meter too high also in this part of the world. This would in fact point in the direction of a true Ararat elevation around 5125 meter.}}</ref>

[[File:Ararat 3d version 1.gif|300px|thumb|right|Mount Ararat 3D]]

===Summit ice cap===
{{see also|Climate change in Turkey}}
The [[ice cap]] on the summit of Mount Ararat has been shrinking since at least 1957. In the late 1950s, Blumenthal observed that there existed 11 outlet [[glacier]]s emerging from a summit snow mass that covered about {{convert|10|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Blumenthal1958a>{{cite journal|last=Blumenthal|first=M. M.|year=1958|title=Vom Agrl Dag (Ararat) zum Kagkar Dag. Bergfahrten in nordostanatolischen Grenzlande|journal=Die Alpen|volume=34|pages=125–137|language=de}}</ref> At that time, it was found that the present glaciers on the summit of Ararat extend as low as an elevation of {{convert|3900|m|ft|sp=us}} on the north-facing slope, and an elevation of 
{{convert|4200|m|ft|sp=us}} on its south-facing slope.<ref name=Blumenthal1958a/> Using pre-existing [[aerial imagery]] and [[remote sensing]] data, Sarıkaya and others studied the extent of the ice cap on Mount Ararat between 1976 and 2011.<ref name=Sar2012a>{{cite journal|last=Sarıkaya|first=Mehmet Akif|title=Recession of the ice cap on Mount Ağrı (Ararat), Turkey, from 1976 to 2011 and its climatic significance|journal=Journal of Asian Earth Sciences|date=2012|volume=46|pages=190–194|doi=10.1016/j.jseaes.2011.12.009|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257553234|bibcode=2012JAESc..46..190S}}</ref><ref name=SarOthers2014a>{{cite book|last1=Sarıkaya|first1=Mehmet Akif|first2=A. E.|last2=Tekeli|year=2014|chapter=Satellite inventory of glaciers in Turkey|editor=J. S. Kargel|display-editors=etal|pages=465–480|title=Global Land Ice Measurements from Space|publisher=Springer-Verlag|location=New York|isbn=978-3540798170}}</ref> They discovered that this ice cap had shrunk to {{convert|8.0|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} by 1976 and to {{convert|5.7|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} by 2011. They calculated that between 1976 and 2011, the ice cap on top of Mount Ararat had lost 29% of its total area at an average rate of ice loss of {{convert|0.07|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} per year over 35 years. This rate is consistent with the general rates of retreat of other Turkish summit glaciers and ice caps that have been documented by other studies.<ref name=SarOthers2014a/> According to a 2020 study by Yalcin, "if the glacial withdrawals continue with the same acceleration, the permanent glacier will likely turn into a temporary glacier by 2065."<ref>{{Cite journal|title= A GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis Model for Determining Glacier Vulnerability|year=2020|doi=10.3390/ijgi9030180|doi-access=free|last1=Yalcin|first1=Mustafa|journal=ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information|volume=9|issue=3|page=180|bibcode=2020IJGI....9..180Y}}</ref>

Blumenthal estimated that the [[snow line]] had been as low as {{convert|3000|m|ft|sp=us}} in elevation during the Late [[Pleistocene]].<ref name=Blumenthal1958a/> Such a snow line would have created an ice cap of {{convert|100|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} in extent. However, he observed a lack of any clear evidence of prehistoric [[moraine]]s other than those which were close to the 1958 glacier tongues. Blumenthal explained the absence of such moraines by the lack of confining ridges to control glaciers, insufficient debris load in the ice to form moraines, and their burial by later eruptions. Years later, Birman observed on the south-facing slopes a possible moraine that extends at least {{convert|300|m|ft|sp=us}} in altitude below the base of the 1958 ice cap at an elevation of {{convert|4200|m|ft|sp=us}}.<ref name=Birman1968a>{{cite journal|last=Birman|first=J. H.|year=1968|title=Glacial Reconnaissance in Turkey|journal=Geological Society of America Bulletin|volume=79|issue=8|pages=1009–1026|bibcode=1968GSAB...79.1009B|doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1968)79[1009:GRIT]2.0.CO;2}}</ref> He also found two morainal deposits that were created by a Mount Ararat valley glacier of Pleistocene, possibly in the [[Last Glacial Period]], downvalley from [[Lake Balık]]. The higher moraine lies at an altitude of about {{convert|2200|m|ft|sp=us}} and the lower moraine lies at an altitude of about {{convert|1800|m|ft|sp=us}}. The lower moraine occurs about {{convert|15|km|mi|sp=us}} downstream from Lake Balık. Both moraines are about {{convert|30|m|ft|sp=us}} high. It is suspected that Lake Balık occupies a glacial basin.<ref name=Birman1968a/>

== Geology ==
{{see also|Alpide belt}}
Mount Ararat is a polygenic, compound [[stratovolcano]]. Covering an area of {{convert|1100|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, it is the largest volcanic edifice within the region. Along its northwest–southeast trending long axis, Mount Ararat is about {{convert|45|km|mi|sp=us}} long and is about {{convert|30|km|mi|sp=us}} long along its short axis. It consists of about {{convert|1150|km3|abbr=on}} of [[dacite|dacitic]] and [[rhyolite|rhyolitic]] [[Pyroclastic rock|pyroclastic]] debris and dacitic, rhyolitic, and [[basalt]]ic [[lava]]s.<ref name=YilmazOther1998a/>

Mount Ararat consists of two distinct volcanic cones, Greater Ararat and Lesser Ararat ([[Little Ararat]]). The western volcanic cone, Greater Ararat, is a steep-sided volcanic cone that is larger and higher than the eastern volcanic cone. Greater Ararat is about {{convert|25|km|mi|sp=us}} wide at the base and rises about {{convert|3|km|mi|sp=us}} above the adjacent floors of the Iğdir and Doğubeyazıt basins. The eastern volcanic cone, Lesser Ararat, is {{convert|3896|m|ft|sp=us}} high and {{convert|15|km|mi|sp=us}} across. These volcanic cones, which lie {{convert|13|km|mi|sp=us}} apart, are separated by a wide north–south-trending crack. This crack is the surface expression of an extensional [[Fault (geology)|fault]]. Numerous [[parasitic cone]]s and [[lava dome]]s have been built by flank eruptions along this fault and on the flanks of both of the main volcanic cones.<ref name=YilmazOther1998a/>

Mount Ararat lies within a complex, sinistral [[pull-apart basin]] that originally was a single, continuous depression. The growth of Mount Ararat partitioned this depression into two smaller basins, the Iğdir and Doğubeyazıt basins. This pull-apart basin is the result of [[Strike slip fault|strike-slip]] movement along two en-echelon fault segments, the [[Doğubeyazıt–Gürbulak Fault|Doğubeyazıt–Gürbulak]] and [[Iğdir Fault]]s, of a sinistral strike–slip fault system. Tension between these faults not only formed the original pull-apart basin, but created a system of faults, exhibiting a horsetail splay pattern, that control the position of the principal volcanic eruption centers of Mount Ararat and the associated linear belt of parasitic volcanic cones. The strike-slip fault system within which Mount Ararat is located is the result of north–south convergence and [[Tectonism|tectonic]] compression between the Arabian Platform and [[Laurasia]] that continued after the [[Tethys Ocean]] closed during the [[Eocene]] [[Epoch (geology)|epoch]] along the Bitlis–Zagros [[Suture (geology)|suture]].<ref name=YilmazOther1998a/><ref name=DeweyOther1986a>{{cite book|last1=Dewey|first1=J. F.|last2=Hempton|first2=M. R.|last3=Kidd|first3=W. S. F.|last4=Saroglum|first4=F.|last5=Sengὃr|first5=A. M. C.|editor1-last=Coward|editor1-first=M. P.|editor2-last=Ries|editor2-first=A. C.|title=Collision Tectonics|date=1986|publisher=[[Geological Society of London]]|pages=3–36|chapter=Shortening of continental lithosphere: the neotectonics of Eastern Anatolia – a young collision zone}}</ref><ref name=KarakhanianOther2002a>{{cite journal|last1=Karakhanian|first1=A.|last2=Djrbashian|first2=R.|last3=Trifonov|first3=V.|last4=Philip|first4=H.|last5=Arakelian|first5=S.|last6=Avagian|first6=A.|title=Holocene–Historical Volcanism and Active Faults as Natural Risk Factor for Armenia and Adjacent Countries|journal=[[Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research]]|date=2002|volume=113|issue=1|pages=319–344|doi=10.1016/s0377-0273(01)00264-5|bibcode=2002JVGR..113..319K}}</ref>

=== Geological history ===
[[File:Mediterranean Rupelian.jpg|thumb|Paleogeography of the early [[Oligocene]]]]
[[File:Tectonic map Mediterranean EN.svg|thumb|Tectonic map of southern Europe, Mediterranean and the Near East, showing tectonic structures of the western [[Alpide belt|Alpide mountain belt]]]]
During the early [[Eocene]] and early [[Miocene]], the collision of the Arabian platform with Laurasia closed and eliminated the Tethys Ocean from the area of what is now Anatolia. The closure of these masses of [[continental crust]] collapsed this [[ocean basin]] by middle Eocene and resulted in a progressive shallowing of the remnant seas, until the end of the early Miocene. Post-collisional tectonic convergence within the collision zone resulted in the total elimination of the remaining seas from East Anatolia at the end of early Miocene, crustal shortening and thickening across the collision zone, and uplift of the East Anatolian–Iranian plateau. Accompanying this uplift was extensive deformation by faulting and folding, which resulted in the creation of numerous local basins. The north–south compressional deformation continues today as evidenced by ongoing faulting, volcanism, and seismicity.<ref name=YilmazOther1998a/><ref name=DeweyOther1986a/><ref name=KarakhanianOther2004a/>

Within Anatolia, regional volcanism started in the middle-late Miocene. During the late Miocene–[[Pliocene]] period, widespread volcanism blanketed the entire East Anatolian–Iranian plateau under thick volcanic rocks. This volcanic activity has continued uninterrupted until historical times. Apparently, it reached a climax during the latest Miocene–Pliocene, 6 to 3 Ma. During the [[Quaternary]], the volcanism became restricted to a few local volcanoes such as Mount Ararat. These volcanoes are typically associated with north–south tensional fractures formed by the continuing north–south shortening deformation of Anatolia.<ref name=YilmazOther1998a/>

In their detailed study and summary of the Quaternary volcanism of Anatolia, Yilmaz et al. recognized four phases to the construction of Mount Ararat from volcanic rocks exposed in glacial valleys deeply carved into its flanks. First, they recognized a ''fissure eruption phase'' of [[Plinian eruption|Plinian-subPlinian]] [[Fissure vent|fissure eruptions]] that deposited more than {{convert|700|m|ft|sp=us}} of pyroclastic rocks and a few basaltic [[lava flow]]s.<ref name=YilmazOther1998a/>

These volcanic rocks were erupted from approximately north northwest–south southeast-trending extensional faults and fissures prior to the development of Mount Ararat. Second, a ''cone-building phase'' began when the volcanic activity became localized at a point along a fissure. During this phase, the eruption of successive flows of lava up to {{convert|150|m|ft|sp=us}} thick and [[pyroclastic flow]]s of [[andesite]] and dacite composition and later eruption of basaltic lava flows, formed the Greater Ararat cone with a low conical profile. Third, during a ''climatic phase'', copious flows of andesitic and basaltic lavas were erupted. During this phase, the current cones of Greater and Lesser Ararat were formed as eruptions along subsidiary fissures and cracks and flank occurred. Finally, the volcanic eruptions at Mount Ararat transitioned into a ''flank eruption phase'', during which a major north–south-trending fault offset the two cones that developed along with a number of subsidiary fissures and cracks on the volcano's flanks.<ref name=YilmazOther1998a/>

Along this fault and the subsidiary fissures and cracks, a number of parasitic cones and domes were built by minor eruptions. One subsidiary cone erupted voluminous basalt and andesite lava flows. They flowed across the Doğubeyazıt plain and along the southerly flowing Sarısu River. These lava flows formed black [[ʻaʻā]] and [[pāhoehoe]] lava flows that contain well preserved [[lava tube]]s.<ref name="YilmazOther1998a" /> The [[radiometric dating]] of these lava flows yielded radiometric ages of 0.4, 0.48 and 0.81 Ma.<ref name="AllenOther2011a">{{cite journal|last1=Allen|first1=Mark B.|last2=Mark|first2=Darren F.|last3=Kheirkhah|first3=Monireh|last4=Barfod|first4=Dan|last5=Emami|first5=Mohammad H.|last6=Saville|first6=Christopher|title=40Ar/39Ar dating of Quaternary lavas in northwest Iran: constraints on the landscape evolution and incision rates of the Turkish–Iranian plateau|journal=[[Geophysical Journal International]]|date=2011|volume=185|issue=3|pages=1175–1188|doi=10.1111/j.1365-246x.2011.05022.x|bibcode=2011GeoJI.185.1175A|url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/13575/1/13575.pdf|doi-access=free}}</ref> Overall, radiometric ages obtained from the volcanic rocks erupted by Mount Ararat range from 1.5 to 0.02 Ma.<ref name="YilmazOther1998a" />

===Recent volcanic and seismic activity===
The chronology of [[Holocene]] volcanic activity associated with Mount Ararat is documented by either archaeological excavations, oral history, historical records, or a combination of these data, which provide evidence that volcanic eruptions of Mount Ararat occurred in 2500–2400 BC, 550 BC, possibly in 1450 AD and 1783 AD, and definitely in 1840 AD. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that explosive eruptions and pyroclastic flows from the northwest flank of Mount Ararat destroyed and buried at least one [[Kura–Araxes culture]] settlement and caused numerous fatalities in 2500–2400 BC. Oral histories indicated that a significant eruption of uncertain magnitude occurred in 550 BC and minor eruptions of uncertain nature might have occurred in 1450 AD and 1783 AD.<ref name=SiebertOther2010a/><ref name=KarakhanianOther2002a/><ref name=KarakhanianOther2004a/><ref name="АрутюнянOthers2005a"/> According to the interpretation of historical and archaeological data, strong earthquakes not associated with volcanic eruptions also occurred in the area of Mount Ararat in 139, 368, 851–893, and 1319 AD. During the 139 AD earthquake, a large [[landslide]] that caused many casualties and was similar to the 1840 AD landslide originated from the summit of Mount Ararat.<ref name=KarakhanianOther2002a/><ref name=KarakhanianOther2004a/><ref name= TaymazOther1991a/>

====1840 eruption====
{{main|1840 Ararat earthquake}}
A [[phreatic eruption]] occurred on Mount Ararat on July 2, 1840 and pyroclastic flow from radial fissures on the upper north flank of the mountain and a possibly associated [[1840 Ahora earthquake|earthquake of magnitude 7.4]] that caused severe damage and numerous casualties. Up to 10,000 people died in the earthquake, including 1,900 villagers in the village of Akhuri (Armenian: Akori, modern [[Yenidoğan, Aralık|Yenidoğan]]) who were killed by a gigantic landslide and subsequent [[debris flow]]. In addition, this combination of landslide and debris flow destroyed the [[Saint Hakob of Akori monastery|Armenian monastery of St. Jacob]] near Akori, the town of [[Aralık|Aralik]], several villages, and Russian military barracks. It also temporarily dammed the Sevjur (Metsamor) River.<ref name=SiebertOther2010a/><ref name=KarakhanianOther2002a/><ref name=KarakhanianOther2004a/><ref name="АрутюнянOthers2005a"/>

==Ascents==
The 13th century missionary [[William of Rubruck]] wrote that "Many have tried to climb it, but none has been able."<ref name="William of Rubruck"/>

===Religious objections===
The [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] was historically opposed to ascents of Ararat on religious grounds. [[Thomas Stackhouse]], an 18th-century English theologian, noted that "All the Armenians are firmly persuaded that Noah's ark exists to the present day on the summit of Mount Ararat, and that in order to preserve it, no person is permitted to approach it."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stackhouse|first1=Thomas|author-link1=Thomas Stackhouse|title=A History of the Holy Bible|date=1836|publisher=[[Blackie and Son]]|location=Glasgow|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=j78CAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA93 93]}}</ref> In response to its first ascent by Parrot and Abovian, one high-ranking Armenian Apostolic Church clergyman commented that to climb the [[sacred mountain]] was "to tie the womb of the mother of all mankind in a dragonish mode". By contrast, in the 21st century to climb Ararat is "the most highly valued goal of some of the patriotic pilgrimages that are organized in growing number from Armenia and the Armenian diaspora".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Siekierski|first1=Konrad|editor1-last=Agadjanian|editor1-first=Alexander|title=Armenian Christianity Today: Identity Politics and Popular Practice|date=2014|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|isbn=978-1-4724-1273-7|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=dDbjBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 14]|chapter='One Nation, One Faith, One Church': The Armenian Apostolic Church and the Ethno-Religion in Post-Soviet Armenia}}</ref>

===First ascent===
{{multiple image|caption_align=center
|image1   = Friedrich Parrot.jpg
|width1   = 160
|caption1 = [[Friedrich Parrot]]

|image2   = Abovianportrait.jpg
|width2   = 154
|caption2 = [[Khachatur Abovian]]
}}

The first recorded ascent of the mountain in modern times took place on {{OldStyleDate|9 October|1829|27 September}}.<ref name="Parrot">{{harvnb|Parrot|2016|p=139}}</ref><ref name="ut.ee">{{cite web|last1=Randveer|first1=Lauri|title=How the Future Rector Conquered Ararat|url=http://www.ut.ee/en/how-future-rector-conquered-ararat|publisher=[[University of Tartu]]|date=October 2009|access-date=2015-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125214750/http://www.ut.ee/en/how-future-rector-conquered-ararat|archive-date=2015-11-25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Khachaturian|first1=Lisa|title=Cultivating Nationhood in Imperial Russia: The Periodical Press and the Formation of a Modern Armenian Identity|date=2011|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-1372-3|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=A0uY_tuRcx8C&pg=PA52 52]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Milner|first1=Thomas|title=The Gallery of Geography: A Pictorial and Descriptive Tour of the World, Volume 2|date=1872|publisher=W.R. M'Phun & Son|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UlYBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA783 783]|quote=Great Ararat was ascended for the first time by Professor Parrot, October 9, 1829...}}</ref> The [[Baltic Germans|Baltic German]] naturalist [[Friedrich Parrot]] of the [[University of Dorpat]] arrived at [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral|Etchmiadzin]] in mid-September 1829, almost two years after the Russian [[capture of Erivan|capture of Yerevan]], for the sole purpose of exploring Ararat.<ref>{{cite web|last=Giles|first=Thomas|title=Friedrich Parrot: The man who became the 'father of Russian mountaineering'|url=http://rbth.com/arts/literature/2016/04/27/friedrich-parrot-the-man-who-became-the-father-of-russian-mountaineering_588545|work=[[Russia Beyond the Headlines]]|date=27 April 2016|access-date=19 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624204206/https://www.rbth.com/arts/literature/2016/04/27/friedrich-parrot-the-man-who-became-the-father-of-russian-mountaineering_588545|archive-date=24 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The prominent Armenian writer [[Khachatur Abovian]], then a deacon and translator at Etchmiadzin, was assigned by Catholicos Yeprem, the head of the Armenian Church, as interpreter and guide.<ref>{{cite web|last=Giles|first=Thomas|title=Friedrich Parrot: The man who became the 'father of Russian mountaineering'|url=http://rbth.com/arts/literature/2016/04/27/friedrich-parrot-the-man-who-became-the-father-of-russian-mountaineering_588545|work=[[Russia Beyond the Headlines]]|date=27 April 2016|access-date=19 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624204206/https://www.rbth.com/arts/literature/2016/04/27/friedrich-parrot-the-man-who-became-the-father-of-russian-mountaineering_588545|archive-date=24 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hacikyan|first1=Agop J|first2=Gabriel|last2=Basmajian|first3=Edward S|last3=Franchuk|date=October 30, 2005|title=The Heritage of Armenian Literature, Vol. 3: From The Eighteenth Century To Modern Times|publisher=Wayne State University Press|ISBN=0-8143-3221-8|page=211}}</ref>

Parrot and Abovian crossed the [[Aras River]] into the district of [[Surmalu uezd|Surmalu]] and headed to the Armenian village of Akhuri on the northern slope of Ararat, {{convert|1220|m|ft}} above sea level. They set up a base camp at the [[Saint Hakob of Akori monastery|Armenian monastery of St. Hakob]] some {{convert|730|m|ft}} higher, at an elevation of {{convert|1943|m|ft}}. After two failed attempts, they reached the summit on their third attempt at 3:15&nbsp;p.m. on October 9, 1829.<ref name="ut.ee"/><ref name="Ketchian">{{Cite journal|last=Ketchian |first=Philip K. |title=Climbing Ararat: Then and Now |journal=[[The Armenian Weekly]] |volume=71 |issue=52 |date=December 24, 2005 |url=http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/fea12240501.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090908015245/http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/fea12240501.htm |archive-date=September 8, 2009 }}</ref> The group included Parrot, Abovian, two Russian soldiers – Aleksei Zdorovenko and Matvei Chalpanov – and two Armenian Akhuri villagers – Hovhannes Aivazian and Murad Poghosian.{{sfn|Parrot|2016|p=142}} Parrot measured the elevation at {{convert|5250|m|ft}} using a mercury barometer. This was not only the first recorded ascent of Ararat, but also the second highest elevation climbed by man up to that date outside of Mount [[Licancabur]] in the Chilean Andes. Abovian dug a hole in the ice and erected a wooden cross facing north.{{sfn|Parrot|2016|p=141-142}} Abovian also picked up a chunk of ice from the summit and carried it down with him in a bottle, considering the water holy. On {{OldStyleDate|8 November|1829|27 October}}, Parrot and Abovian together with the Akhuri hunter Sahak's brother Hako, acting as a guide, climbed up Lesser Ararat.{{sfn|Parrot|2016|p=183}}

===Later notable ascents===
{{Wikisource|Century Magazine/Volume 48/Issue 2/Across Asia on a Bicycle. A Pause at the Mountain of the Ark|an early account of an ascent of Mount Ararat.}}

Other early notable climbers of Ararat included Russian climatologist and meteorologist [[Kozma Spassky-Avtonomov]] (August 1834), Karl Behrens (1835), German mineralogist and geologist [[Otto Wilhelm Hermann von Abich]] (29 July 1845),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fairbairn|first1=Patrick|author-link1=Patrick Fairbairn|title=The Imperial Bible-Dictionary: Historical, Biographical, Geographical and Doctrinal – Volume I|contribution=Ararat|date=1866|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ZMECAAAAQAAJ/page/n134 119]}}</ref> British politician [[Henry Danby Seymour]] (1848)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Polo|first1=Marco|last2=Yule|first2=Henry|author-link1=Marco Polo|author-link2=Henry Yule|title=The Book of Ser Marco Polo, the Venetian: Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, Volume 1|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NRG540FwhrcC&pg=PA49 49]|isbn=978-1-108-02206-4}}</ref> and British army officer [[Robert Stuart (British Army officer)|Major Robert Stuart]] (1856).<ref>B. J. Corbin and Rex Geissler, ''The Explorers of Ararat: And the Search for Noah's Ark'', 3rd. edition (2010), chap. 3.</ref> Later in the 19th century, two British politicians and scholars—[[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|James Bryce]] (1876)<ref name="Bryce 18783">{{cite journal |last=Bryce |first=James |author-link=James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce |date=1878 |title=On Armenia and Mount Ararat |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449386 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=169–186 |doi=10.2307/1799899 |jstor=1799899}}</ref> and [[H. F. B. Lynch]] (1893)<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Lynch|first1=H. F. B.|author-link1=H. F. B. Lynch|title=The ascent of Ararat|journal=[[The Geographical Journal]]|date=1893|volume=2|page=458}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lynch|first1=H. F. B.|author-link1=H. F. B. Lynch|title=Armenia, travels and studies. Volume I: The Russian Provinces|date=1901|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co.|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/stream/armeniatravelsst01lync#page/176/mode/2up 176]}}</ref>—climbed the mountain. The first winter climb was by Turkish alpinist Bozkurt Ergör, the former president of the [[:tr:Türkiye Dağcılık Federasyonu|Turkish Mountaineering Federation]], who climbed the peak on 21 February 1970.<ref>{{cite news|title=Conquering the legendary Mount Ararat|url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=conquering-the-legendary-mount-ararat-2006-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222144639/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=conquering-the-legendary-mount-ararat-2006-01-15|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 February 2014|work=[[Hürriyet Daily News]]|date=15 January 2006}}</ref>

==Resting-place of Noah's Ark==
[[File:Martin Behaim's Erdpfel,1492 (Reproduction) Ararat in Armenia with Noah's Ark.jpg|thumb|Ararat and Noah's ark on the [[Erdapfel]] by [[Martin Behaim]], {{circa|1490}}.<ref name="Behaim">{{cite book |last1=Ravenstein |first1=E. G. |author1-link=Ernst Georg Ravenstein |title=Martin Behaim. His Life and his Globe |date=1908 |publisher=George Philip & Son |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008398949/page/n102/mode/1up?q=ararat&view=theater 81] |url=https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008398949/ |quote=arche Noe (F 41), the Ark of Noah on a lofty mountain, the Ararat, according to the ancient legends.}}</ref>]]

===Origin of the tradition===
According to the [[Book of Genesis]] of the [[Old Testament]], [[Noah's Ark]] landed on the "[[mountains of Ararat]]" ({{Bibleverse|Genesis|8:4|KJV}}). Historians and Bible scholars generally agree that "Ararat" is the Hebrew name of [[Urartu]], the geographical predecessor of Armenia; they argue that the word referred to the wider region at the time and not specifically to Mount Ararat.{{efn|
*Richard James Fischer: "The Genesis text, using the plural 'mountains' (or hills), identifies no particular mountain, but points generally toward Armenia ('Ararat' being identical with the Assyrian 'Urartu') which is broadly embraces [sic] that region."<ref name="Fischer"/>
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Exell|editor1-first=Joseph S.|editor2-last=Spence-Jones|editor2-first=Henry Donald Maurice|title=The Pulpit Commentary|chapter=Genesis|quote=It is agreed by all that the term Ararat describes a region.|title-link=Pulpit Commentary}} [https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tpc.html view online]
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Dummelow|editor1-first=John|title=John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible|date=1909|chapter=Genesis|quote=Ararat is the Assyrian 'Urardhu,' the country round Lake Van, in what is now called Armenia&nbsp;... and perhaps it is a general expression for the hilly country which lay to the N. of Assyria. Mt. Masis, now called Mt. Ararat (a peak 17,000 ft. high), is not meant here.}} [https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcb/genesis-8.html view online]
*Bill T. Arnold: "Since the ancient kingdom of Ararat/Urartu was much more extensive geographically than this isolated location in Armenia, modern attempts to find remaints of Noah's ark here are misguided."{{sfn|Arnold|2008|p=105}}
*[[Vahan Kurkjian]]: "It has long been the notion among many Christians that Noah's Ark came to rest as the Flood subsided upon the great peak known as Mount Ararat; this assumption is based upon an erroneous reading of the 4th verse of the VIIIth chapter of Genesis. That verse does not say that the Ark landed upon Mount Ararat, but upon 'the mountains of Ararat.' Now, Ararat was the Hebrew version of the name, not of the mountain but of the country around it, the old Armenian homeland, whose name at other times and in other tongues appears variously as Erirath, Urartu, etc."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kurkjian|first=Vahan|author-link=Vahan Kurkjian|title=A History of Armenia|date=1964|orig-year=1958|publisher=Armenian General Benevolent Union of America|location=New York|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Asia/Armenia/_Texts/KURARM/1*.html|page=2}}</ref>}} The phrase is translated as "mountains of Armenia" (''montes Armeniae'') in the [[Vulgate]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Room|first1=Adrian|author-link1=Adrian Room|title=Placenames of the World: Origins and Meanings|date=1997|publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]]|isbn=9780786401727|page=[https://archive.org/details/placenamesofworl00room/page/34 34]|url=https://archive.org/details/placenamesofworl00room/page/34}}</ref> Nevertheless, Ararat is traditionally considered the resting-place of Noah's Ark,<ref name="vos"/> and, thus, regarded as a biblical mountain.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tremblais|first1=Jean-Louis|title=Ararat, montagne biblique|url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2011/07/16/01006-20110716ARTFIG00456-ararat-montagne-biblique.php|work=[[Le Figaro]]|date=16 July 2011|language=fr|access-date=9 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117031047/http://www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2011/07/16/01006-20110716ARTFIG00456-ararat-montagne-biblique.php|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}
*{{cite news|title=Biblical mountain's glaciers shrinking|url=http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Biblical-mountains-glaciers-shrinking-20100908|agency=[[News24 (website)|News24]]|date=8 August 2010|access-date=16 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117035416/http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Biblical-mountains-glaciers-shrinking-20100908|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Avagyan">{{cite book|last=Avagyan|first=Ṛafayel|title=Yerevan—heart of Armenia: meetings on the roads of time|date=1998|publisher=[[Union of Writers of Armenia]]|page=17|quote=The sacred biblical mountain prevailing over Yerevan was the very visiting card by which foreigners came to know our country.}}</ref>

[[File:Chardin Ararat 1686.jpg|thumb|Ararat with Noah's Ark and [[Saint Gayane Church]] on [[Jean Chardin]]'s engraving of Etchmiadzin (1686).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Travels of Sir John Chardin into Persia and the East Indies – First Edition – London, 1686 – Engravings and a Map |url=https://www.kedem-auctions.com/en/content/travels-sir-john-chardin-persia-and-east-indies-%E2%80%93-first-edition-%E2%80%93-london-1686-%E2%80%93-engravings |publisher=[[Kedem Auction House]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305112839/https://www.kedem-auctions.com/en/content/travels-sir-john-chardin-persia-and-east-indies-%E2%80%93-first-edition-%E2%80%93-london-1686-%E2%80%93-engravings |archive-date=5 March 2024 |date=December 21, 2021}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20240305112327/https://files.kedem-auctions.com/files/Sale84-public/281_2.jpg engraving archived]</ref>{{efn|It was created by [[:fr:Guillaume-Joseph Grelot|Guillaume-Joseph Grelot]], according to a 2024 book by {{Wikidata fallback link|Q73162093}}, director of the [[Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin#Museums and libraries|Etchmiadzin Museums]]. See [https://archive.today/JThaP/4c5f3b90a6920b9e9c8f57ee5f7eec4c7c73680f.jpg still] (4:55–5:01) from the book launch.<ref>{{cite web |title=Կայացել է "Արփիափայլ և երփնազան Սուրբ Էջմիածին" պատկերագրքի շնորհադեսը |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImVv6i5ffgU&ab_channel=MotherSeeofHolyEtchmiadzin |publisher=[[Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin]] |language=hy |date=March 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/ImVv6i5ffgU |archive-date=8 August 2024}}</ref> See also [[:File:Chardin Hripsime 1811 ed.jpg|1811 version]] ([[:File:06 Chardin Ecs-miazin nommée communément les trois eglises.jpg|full engraving]]).<ref>{{cite web |title=Ecs-miazin nommée communément les trois eglises |url=https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:216531/ |website=repository.library.brown.edu |publisher=Brown Digital Repository, [[Brown University Library]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231213102626/https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:216531/ |archive-date=13 December 2023}}</ref>}} ]]

Mount Ararat has been associated with the Genesis account since the 11th century,{{sfn|Arnold|2008|p=105}} and Armenians began to identify it as the ark's landing place during that time.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bailey|first1=Lloyd R.|editor1-last=Mills|editor1-first=Watson E.|editor2-last=Bullard|editor2-first=Roger Aubrey|title=Mercer Dictionary of the Bible|contribution=Ararat|date=1990|publisher=Mercer University Press|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&pg=PA54|isbn=978-0-86554-373-7|quote=...the local (Armenian) population called Masis and which they began to identify as the ark's landing place in the eleventh-twelfth centuries.|access-date=2016-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128072144/https://books.google.com/books?id=goq0VWw9rGIC&pg=PA54|archive-date=2019-01-28|url-status=live}}</ref> The ark on Ararat was often depicted in ''[[mappae mundi]]'' as early as the 11th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Unger |first1=Richard W. |author1-link=Richard Unger |title=Ships on Maps: Pictures of Power in Renaissance Europe |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=9781349312078 |page=33 |quote=Mappaemundi did not have ships as part of their repertoire of illumination. Now and again but by no means universally Noah’s Ark did turn up, perched often on Mount Ararat where it had come to rest after the Flood.}}</ref>{{efn|Notable examples: 
*the Anglo-Saxon ''mappa mundi'' (the [[:File:Cotton world map.jpg|Cotton map or Cottoniana]], {{circa|1025‒50}}),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Appleton |first1=Helen |title=The northern world of the Anglo-Saxon mappa mundi |journal=[[Anglo-Saxon England (journal)|Anglo-Saxon England]] |date=December 2018 |volume=47 |pages=275–305 |doi=10.1017/S0263675119000061 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/anglo-saxon-england/article/abs/northern-world-of-the-anglosaxon-mappa-mundi/2FC3A373031A172817CA2752C8AF9719 |language=en |issn=0263-6751 |quote=The tribes of Israel are allocated areas and the locations of God’s covenants with man on Sinai and Ararat are marked, the latter with a small drawing of the Ark.|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
*the [[Ebstorf Map]] ({{circa|1240}}),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pischke |first1=G. |title=The Ebstorf Map: tradition and contents of a medieval picture of the world |journal=[[History of Geo- and Space Sciences]] |date=11 July 2014 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=155–161 |doi=10.5194/hgss-5-155-2014 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2014HGSS....5..155P |url=https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/5/155/2014/hgss-5-155-2014.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106140913/https://hgss.copernicus.org/articles/5/155/2014/hgss-5-155-2014.pdf |archive-date=2023-11-06 |quote=Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat (Fig. 3a)}}</ref> 
*the ''[[Chronica Majora]]'' ({{circa|1240–1253}}) ([[:File:Boat 1520.jpg|image]])<ref name="MatPari">{{cite web |last1=Mann |first1=C. Griffith |title=Armenia! In the Shadows of Mount Ararat |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2018/armenia-mt-ararat |website=metmuseum.org |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232912/https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2018/armenia-mt-ararat |archive-date=10 August 2023 |date=October 15, 2018}}</ref>
*the [[Psalter world map]] ({{circa|1260}}),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fein |first1=Ariel |title=The Catalan Atlas |url=https://smarthistory.org/catalan-atlas/ |publisher=[[Smarthistory]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030235301/https://smarthistory.org/catalan-atlas/ |archive-date=30 October 2023 |date=June 6, 2022 |quote=The biblical whale that swallowed the prophet Jonah swims in an ocean while Noah’s ark rests atop Mount Ararat.}}</ref> 
*the [[Hereford Mappa Mundi]] ({{circa|1300}}),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wogan-Browne |first1=Jocelyn |title=Reading the world: the Hereford mappa mundi |journal=[[Parergon]] |date=1991 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=117–135 |doi=10.1353/pgn.1991.0019 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/62/article/494673/ |issn=1832-8334 |quote=shown, in the ark, perched on top of Mount Ararat near the centre of the Hereford map|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 
*the [[Angelino Dulcert]] (1339),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=Helen C. |author1-link=Helen C. Evans |title=Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages |date=2018 |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] and [[Yale University Press]] |isbn=9781588396600 |oclc=1028910888 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Armenia_Art_Religion_and_Trade_in_the_Middle_Ages |chapter=Maps including Armenia |page=300 <!-- A 1339 Catalan portolano (navigational chart) of the Mediterranean emphasizes the last Christian port in the Eastern Mediterranean, Ayas in Cilicia, and illustrates the ark on Mount Ararat to mark Greater Armenia on the inland trade route (fig. 97).4-->}}</ref> 
*the [[Catalan Atlas]] ({{circa|1375}}) ([[:File:Catalan Atlas Ark on Ararat.jpg|image]])<ref name="Catalan">{{cite web |title=Panel V |url=https://www.cresquesproject.net/catalan-atlas-legends/panel-v |publisher=The Cresques Project |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026092429/https://www.cresquesproject.net/catalan-atlas-legends/panel-v |archive-date=26 October 2023 |quote=Mons Ararat...}}</ref>
*the [[Fra Mauro map]] ({{circa|1450}}),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Philip |title=Atlas of Atlases |date=2022 |publisher=Ivy Press |location=London |isbn=9780711267497 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=SN-PEAAAQBAJ&dq=Fra+Mauro+ararat+noah%27s+ark&pg=PA76 76] |quote=He also shows Gog and Magog, Noah's Ark atop Mount Ararat...}}</ref> 
*the [[Erdapfel]] ({{circa|1490}},<ref name="Behaim"/>
*[[Martin Waldseemüller]]'s ''Carta marina'' (1516).<ref name="Duzer"/>
Also:
*''[[Arca Noë]]'' (1675) by [[Athanasius Kircher]] ([[:File:Houghton GC6 K6323 675a (A) - topographia paradisi.jpg|Topography of Paradise]], [[:File:Houghton GC6 K6323 675a (A) - topographia paradisi - detail.jpg|detail]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Spar|first1=Ira|editor1-last=Aruz|editor1-first=Joan|title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus|contribution=The Mesopotamian Legacy: Origins of the Genesis tradition|date=2003|publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]|location=New York|isbn=978-1-58839-043-1|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8l9X_3rHFdEC&pg=488 488]|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications/Art_of_the_First_Cities_The_Third_Millennium_BC_from_the_Mediterranean_to_the_Indus#|access-date=2015-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151129012315/http://www.metmuseum.org/research/metpublications/Art_of_the_First_Cities_The_Third_Millennium_BC_from_the_Mediterranean_to_the_Indus|archive-date=2015-11-29|url-status=live}}</ref>
*1749 [[etching]] in ''[[The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure|The Universal Magazine]]'' ([[:File:The Manner how the Whole Earth was Peopled by Noah & his Descendants after the Flood.jpg|image]], [[:File:The Manner how the Whole Earth was Peopled by Noah & his Descendants after the Flood - detail.jpg|detail]])<ref>{{cite web |title=The Manner how the Whole Earth was Peopled by Noah & his Descendants after the Flood |work=The British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Y-4-103 |publisher=[[British Museum]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227203528/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Y-4-103 |archive-date=December 27, 2020}}</ref>}}

[[Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare|F. C. Conybeare]] wrote that the mountain was "a center and focus of pagan myths and cults… and it was only in the eleventh century, after these had vanished from the popular mind, that the Armenian theologians ventured to locate on its eternal snows the resting-place of Noah's ark".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Conybeare|first=F. C.|author-link=Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare|title=Reviewed Work: ''Ararat und Masis. Studien zur armenischen Altertumskunde und Litteratur'' by Friedrich Murad|journal=[[The American Journal of Theology]]|date=1901|volume=5|issue=2|pages=335–337|jstor=3152410|doi=10.1086/477703}}</ref> [[William of Rubruck]] is usually considered the earliest reference for the tradition of Mount Ararat as the landing place of the ark in European literature.<ref name="William of Rubruck"/><ref name="Fischer"/><ref name="swau">{{cite web |last1 = Spencer |first1 = Lee |last2 = Lienard |first2 = Jean Luc |title = The Search for Noah's Ark |url = http://origins.swau.edu/papers/global/noah/default.html |publisher=[[Southwestern Adventist University]] |year = 2005 |access-date = 2015-11-03 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150314220807/http://origins.swau.edu/papers/global/noah/default.html |archive-date=2015-03-14 |url-status=live }} ([https://archive.org/details/SpencerLienardArarat archived])</ref> [[John Mandeville]] is another early author who mentioned Mount Ararat, "where Noah's ship rested, and it is still there".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mandeville|first1=John|author-link1=John Mandeville|translator=Anthony Bale|translator-link=Anthony Bale|title=The Book of Marvels and Travels|date=2012|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=9780199600601|page=70}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mandel|first1=Jerome|editor1-last=Friedman|editor1-first=John Block|editor2-last=Figg|editor2-first=Kristen Mossler|title=Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia|contribution=Ararat, Mount|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-59094-9|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-OmCfNI_SxAC&pg=PA30 30]}}</ref>{{efn|[[Isidore of Seville]] (''[[Etymologiae]]'' 14.3.35), [[Marco Polo]], [[Pierre d'Ailly]], and [[Odoric of Pordenone]] mention that Noah’s Ark can be found on "some mountains in Armenia, but they do not give the mountains’ name."<ref name="Duzer"/>}}

===Prevalence of the tradition===
[[File:Aivazovsky - Descent of Noah from Ararat.jpg|thumb|''Descent of Noah from Ararat'' by [[Ivan Aivazovsky]] (1889, [[National Gallery of Armenia]]) depicts Noah with his family and a procession of animals crossing the [[Ararat plain]], following their descent from Mount Ararat, which is seen in the background.<ref>{{cite web|title=Նոյն իջնում է Արարատից (1889) [Descent of Noah from Ararat (1889)]|url=http://www.gallery.am/hy/database-egov/item/296/|publisher=[[National Gallery of Armenia]]|language=hy|access-date=2015-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924020550/http://www.gallery.am/hy/database-egov/item/296/|archive-date=2015-09-24|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Conway Morris|first=Roderick|title=The Key to Armenia's Survival|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEEDA1F3EF937A15751C0A9649D8B63|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 February 2012|access-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307050226/https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEEDA1F3EF937A15751C0A9649D8B63|archive-date=7 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Most Christians, including most of [[Western Christianity]],<ref name="swau"/> identify Mount Ararat with the biblical mountains of Ararat "largely because it would have been the first peak to emerge from the receding flood waters".<ref name="vos"/>{{efn|A 1722 biblical dictionary by [[Antoine Augustin Calmet|Austin Calmet]] and the 1871 [[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary]] both point to Ararat as the place where the ark rested.<ref name="Calmet">original title: ''Dictionnaire historique, critique, chronologique, geographique et literal de la Bible''. English translation: {{cite book|last1=Calmet|first1=Augustin|author-link1=Antoine Augustin Calmet|title=Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible: With the Biblical Fragments, Volume 1|date=1830|publisher=Holdsworth and Ball|location=London|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LOhSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA178 178–179]|others=Charles Taylor (translator)|chapter=Ararat}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Jamieson|first1=Robert|last2=Fausset|first2=Andrew Robert|last3=Brown|first3=David|author-link2=Andrew Robert Fausset|author-link3=David Brown (Free Church of Scotland)|title=Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible|date=1871|title-link=Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary}} [http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/jamieson-fausset-brown/genesis/genesis-8.html view Genesis 8:4 commentary online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820121159/http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/jamieson-fausset-brown/genesis/genesis-8.html |date=2016-08-20 }}</ref>}} [[H. G. O. Dwight]] wrote in 1856 that it is "the general opinion of the learned in Europe" that the Ark landed on Ararat.{{sfn|Dwight|1856|p=189}} [[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|James Bryce]] wrote that the ark rested upon a "mountain in the district which the Hebrews knew as Ararat, or Armenia" in an 1878 article for the [[Royal Geographical Society]], and he added that the biblical writer must have had Mount Ararat in mind because it is so "very much higher, more conspicuous, and more majestic than any other summit in Armenia".<ref name="Bryce 18783"/>

In 2001 [[Pope John Paul II]] declared in his homily in Yerevan's [[Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, Yerevan|St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral]]: "We are close to Mount Ararat, where tradition says that the Ark of Noah came to rest."<ref>{{cite web|title=Homily of John Paul II|url=https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20010926_yerevan-st-gregory.html|website=vatican.va|publisher=[[Holy See]]|date=26 September 2001|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219191426/https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2001/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20010926_yerevan-st-gregory.html|archive-date=19 December 2016}}</ref> [[Patriarch Kirill of Moscow]] also mentioned it as the ark's resting place in his speech at [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=Приветственная речь Святейшего Патриарха Кирилла в кафедральном соборе Эчмиадзина [Welcome speech by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the Cathedral of Etchmiadzin]|url=http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1114986.html|website=patriarchia.ru|publisher=[[Russian Orthodox Church]]|language=ru|date=16 March 2010|quote=Каждый, кто приезжает в Армению, получает неизгладимое впечатление, лицезрея ее главный символ — священную гору Арарат, на которой остановился после потопа ковчег праотца Ноя.|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219191256/http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1114986.html|archive-date=19 December 2016}}</ref>

Those critical of this claim point out that Ararat was the name of the country at the time when Genesis was written, not specifically the mountain. Arnold wrote in his 2008 Genesis commentary, "The location 'on the mountains' of Ararat indicates not a specific mountain by that name, but rather the mountainous region of the land of Ararat".{{sfn|Arnold|2008|p=104}}

===Searches===
Ararat has traditionally been the main focus of the [[searches for Noah's Ark]].<ref name="vos"/> [[Antoine Augustin Calmet|Augustin Calmet]] wrote in his 1722 biblical dictionary: "It is affirmed, but without proof, that there are still remains of Noah's ark on the top of this mountain; but [[Joseph Pitton de Tournefort|M.&nbsp;de Tournefort]], who visited this spot, has assured us there was nothing like it; that the top of mount Ararat is inaccessible, both by reason of its great height, and of the snow which perpetually covers it."<ref name="Calmet"/> Archaeological expeditions, sometimes supported by [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] and [[Millenarianism|millenarian]] churches, have been conducted since the 19th century in search of the ark.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Patai|first1=Raphael|last2=Oettinger|first2=Ayelet|editor1-last=Patai|editor1-first=Raphael|editor2-last=Bar-Itzhak|editor2-first=Haya|editor1-link=Raphael Patai|title=Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions|chapter=Ararat|date=2015|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9780765620255|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m3qsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 50–51]}}</ref> According to a 1974 book, around 200 people from more than 20 countries claimed to have seen the Ark on Ararat since 1856.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Balsiger|first1=David|last2=Sellier|first2=Charles E. Jr.|title=In Search of Noah's Ark|date=1974|publisher=[[Sunn Classic Pictures|Sunn Classic Books]]|page=203|title-link=In Search of Noah's Ark}}</ref> A fragment from the ark supposedly found on Ararat is on display at the museum of [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral]], the center of the Armenian Church.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Zenian|first1=David|title=The Holy Etchmiadzin Museum: History of a Long Journey|journal=AGBU Magazine|date=1 July 1996|url=https://agbu.org/news-item/the-holy-etchmiadzin-museum-history-of-a-long-jouney/|access-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022163303/https://agbu.org/news-item/the-holy-etchmiadzin-museum-history-of-a-long-jouney/|archive-date=22 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Despite numerous reports of ark sightings (e.g. [[Ararat anomaly]]) and rumors, "no scientific evidence of the ark has emerged".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mayell|first1=Hillary|title=Noah's Ark Found? Turkey Expedition Planned for Summer|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html|work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]]|date=27 April 2004|pages=[https://web.archive.org/web/20040428171519/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark.html 1], [https://web.archive.org/web/20051208012721/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0427_040427_noahsark_2.html 2]|access-date=26 November 2015|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>
Searches for Noah's Ark are considered by scholars an example of [[pseudoarchaeology]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cline|first1=Eric H.|author-link1=Eric H. Cline|title=Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-534263-5|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zwNIDHSPsSMC&pg=PA72 72]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Fagan|first1=Garrett G.|author-link1=Garrett G. Fagan|title=Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public|date=2006|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-30592-1|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=sIYpx9mzd4gC&pg=PA69 69]}}</ref>

==Significance for Armenians==
===Symbolism===
[[File:Mount Ararat and the Yerevan skyline.jpg|thumb|Ararat—located some {{convert|65|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} south of the city–dominates the skyline of Armenia's capital [[Yerevan]].<ref name="Peroomian"/><ref name="Avagyan" /><ref name="Worldwide Destinations" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lydolph|first1=Paul E.|title=Geography of the U.S.S.R., Topical Analysis|date=1979|publisher=Misty Valley Publishing|page=46|quote=...about 65 kilometers south of Yerevan where Mount Ararat reaches an elevation of 5156 meters.}}</ref>]]
[[File:Tigran Erato coin with Mt Ararat.jpg|thumb|upright|Ararat on the reverse of a coin of the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|co-rulers of Armenia]] [[Tigranes IV]] and [[Erato of Armenia|Erato]] from 2&nbsp;BC–AD&nbsp;1.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kovacs |first1=Frank L. |title=Tigranes IV, V, and VI: New Attributions |journal=[[American Journal of Numismatics]] |date=2008 |volume=20 |pages=341 |jstor=43580318 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43580318 |issn=1053-8356 |quote=The third coin type combines the jugate busts of Tigranes and Erato on the obverse with the unprecedented reverse type of the two-peaked Mount Ararat as it would have been seen from the capital city of Artaxata}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kovacs |first=Frank L. |title=Armenian Coinage in the Classical Period |url=https://www.academia.edu/107422933 |publisher=Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. |year=2016 |isbn=9780983765240|location=Lancaster|page=29 |quote=The smallest (two chalkoi) shows the jugate portraits of Tigranes and Erato, while the reverse is noteworthy for the first depiction of Mt. Ararat. }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Khachatryan |first1=Zhores |author1-link=Zhores Khachatryan |title=Նոր քաղաք-Կայնեպոլիս-Վաղարշապատ [New City-Cainepolis-Vagharshapat] |journal=[[Etchmiadzin (magazine)|Etchmiadzin]] |date=2014 |volume=71 |issue=9 |pages=29–53 |url=https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/277597/edition/254692/content |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221211141942/https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/277597/edition/254692/content |archive-date=2022-12-11 |language=hy|quote=Դարձերեսին Արարատ լեռան պատկերն է՝ իր զույգ գագաթներով:}}</ref> ]]
[[File:Mkrtum Hovnatanian. Hayk Nahapet.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[Hayk]], the legendary founding father (patriarch) of the Armenian people, as depicted by [[Hovnatanian|Mkrtum Hovnatanian]] (1779–1846). Ararat is pictured in the background.]]

Despite lying outside the borders of modern Armenia, Ararat has historically been associated with Armenia.{{refn|<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shoemaker|first1=M. Wesley|title=Russia and The Commonwealth of Independent States 2014|contribution=Armenia|date=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9781475812268|page=203|quote=Mt. Ararat, traditionally associated with Armenia...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Walker|first=Christopher J.|author-link=Christopher J. Walker|title=Armenia: The Survival of a Nation|url=https://archive.org/details/armeniasurvivaln00walk|url-access=limited|year=1990|orig-year=1980|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York|isbn=978-0-312-04230-1|edition=2nd|page=[https://archive.org/details/armeniasurvivaln00walk/page/n141 11]|quote=...Mount Ararat, closely identified with Armenia throughout her history...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Villari|first1=Luigi|author-link1=Luigi Villari|title=Fire and Sword in the Caucasus|date=1906|publisher=[[T. Fisher Unwin]]|location=London|page=[http://armenianhouse.org/villari/caucasus/land-of-ararat.html 215]|quote=Almost the whole history of the Armenian people centres round Mount Ararat.}}</ref>}}{{efn| 
Armenians have been called the "people of Ararat".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gabrielian|first1=M. C.|title=The Armenians: or the People of Ararat|date=1892|publisher=Allen, Lane & Scott|location=Philadelphia|url=https://archive.org/details/armeniansorpeopl00gabr|access-date=2016-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201225032/https://archive.org/details/armeniansorpeopl00gabr|archive-date=2015-02-01|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Burtt|first1=Joseph|title=The People of Ararat|date=1926|publisher=L. and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press|location=London|oclc=3522299}}</ref>}} It is widely considered the country's principal [[national symbol]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Levonian Cole|first=Teresa|title=Armenia opens up to visitors|url=https://www.ft.com/content/7b5f2146-e2e0-11df-9735-00144feabdc0|work=[[Financial Times]]|date=30 October 2010|quote=Ararat, the supreme symbol of Armenia...|access-date=16 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023913/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7b5f2146-e2e0-11df-9735-00144feabdc0.html|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The image of Ararat, usually framed within a nationalizing discourse, is ubiquitous in everyday [[material culture]] in Armenia,{{sfn|Adriaans|2011|p=35}} with Armenians having "a sense of possession of Ararat in the sense of symbolic [[cultural property]]".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Darieva|first=Tsypylma|author-link=Tsypylma Darieva|title=Bringing the soil back to the homeland: Reconfigurations of representation of loss in Armenia|journal=Comparativ: Leipziger Beiträge zur Universalgeschichte und Vergleichenden Gesellschaftsforschung|date=2006|issue=3|page=90|url=http://research.uni-leipzig.de/comparativ/documents/C_2006-3/Darieva,%20Tsypylma%3B%20Bringing%20the%20soil%20back%20to%20the%20Homeland.pdf|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170521215852/http://research.uni-leipzig.de/comparativ/documents/C_2006-3/Darieva,%20Tsypylma%3B%20Bringing%20the%20soil%20back%20to%20the%20Homeland.pdf|archive-date=2017-05-21}}</ref> In a 2024 poll in Armenia, 86% of respondents said they experience strong emotions when seeing the mountain.<ref>{{cite web |title=Agree/Disagree - When I see national symbols of Armenia such as Mount Masis/Ararat, I experience strong emotions |url=https://caucasusbarometer.org/en/cb2024am/XPOSSYMB/ |website=Caucasus Barometer |publisher=Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC) |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250422065725/https://caucasusbarometer.org/en/cb2024am/XPOSSYMB/ |archive-date=22 April 2025}}</ref>

There is historical and modern [[mountain worship]] around it among Armenians.{{refn|<ref>{{cite journal |title=Veneration of Ararat |journal=Near East/South Asia Report |date=1984 |issue=84158 |page=[https://archive.today/69trR/6babd8ff7dd5c8ddc60a955c557c28bb72e647ea.png 16] |publisher=[[Foreign Broadcast Information Service]] |quote=The Yerevan Armenians truly worship Ararat, which is their magic mountain. They venerate it to the extent that they sometimes forget that by one dirty trick of history its summit is presently under the skies of Turkey.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Le mont Ararat, symbole de l'Arménie |url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/armenie/le-mont-ararat-symbole-de-l-armenie_1020453.html |agency=[[France Info (radio network)|France Info]] |date=29 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123140404/https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/armenie/le-mont-ararat-symbole-de-l-armenie_1020453.html |archive-date=23 November 2022 |language=fr |quote=Cet ancien volcan vénéré par les Améniens attire des curieux du monde entier.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Մասիսներ [The Masises] |url=https://www.encyclopedia.am/pages.php?bId=1&hId=525 |website=encyclopedia.am |publisher=Armenian Encyclopedia Publishing |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123142347/https://www.encyclopedia.am/pages.php?bId=1&hId=525 |archive-date=23 November 2022 |language=hy |quote=Այն եղել է հայ ժողովրդի պաշտամունքի լեռը, որի շուրջ հյուսվել են բազմաթիվ զրույցներ ու առասպելներ:}}</ref>}} Ararat is known as the "[[Sacred mountains|holy mountain]]" of the Armenian people.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Companjen|editor1-first=Françoise|editor2-last=Marácz|editor2-first=László Károly|editor3-last=Versteegh|editor3-first=Lia|title=Exploring the Caucasus in the 21st Century: Essays on Culture, History and Politics in a Dynamic Context|date=2010|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=9789089641830|pages=12–13}}</ref><ref name="Worldwide Destinations" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Darke|first1=Diana|title=Eastern Turkey|date=2014|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|isbn=978-1-84162-490-7|page=317|quote=...of course Mount Ararat is for Armenians their holy mountain...}}
*{{cite book|title=Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary Volume II|contribution=Арарат|date=1890|language=ru|quote=Арарат давно считался священной горой у армян...|title-link=Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary}} [[:ru:s:ЭСБЕ/Арарат, горы|on Russian Wikisource]]</ref> It was principal to the pre-Christian [[Armenian mythology]], where it was the home of the gods.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Melton|first1=J. Gordon|author-link1=J. Gordon Melton|editor1-last=Melton|editor1-first=J. Gordon|editor2-last=Baumann|editor2-first=Martin|title=Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-204-3|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA164 164]|edition=2nd|chapter=Ararat, Mount}}</ref> With the rise of Christianity, the mythology associated with pagan worship of the mountain was lost.<ref name="Adalian"/>

Ararat was the geographical center of [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|ancient Armenia]].{{efn|"...Mt. Ararat, which was the geographical center of the ancient Armenian kingdoms..."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sakalli|first1=Seyhun Orcan|title=Coexistence, Polarization and Development: The Armenian Legacy in Modern Turkey|date=2014|url=http://www.hec.unil.ch/documents/seminars/deep/1566.pdf|publisher=[[HEC Lausanne]]|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215122946/http://www.hec.unil.ch/documents/seminars/deep/1566.pdf|archive-date=2016-12-15}}</ref><br>
"The sacred mountain stands in the center of historical and traditional Armenia..."<ref name="Lottman"/><br>
"To the Armenians it is the ancient sanctuary of their faith, the centre of their once famous kingdom, hallowed by a thousand traditions."{{sfn|Bryce|1877|p=[https://archive.org/stream/transcaucasiaara00bryciala#page/233/mode/1up 234]}}<br>One scholar defined the historic [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Greater Armenia]] as "the area about {{convert|200|miles}} in every direction from Mount Ararat".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Maxoudian|first1=Noubar|title=Early Armenia as an empire: The career of Tigranes III, 96–55 B.C|journal=[[Asian Affairs|Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society]]|date=1952|volume=39|issue=2|pages=156–163|doi=10.1080/03068375208731438}}</ref>}} In the 19th-century era of [[romantic nationalism]], when an Armenian state did not exist, Ararat symbolized the historical Armenian nation-state.<ref name="Shirinian" /> In 1861 Armenian poet [[Mikael Nalbandian]], witnessing the [[Italian unification]], wrote to [[Harutiun Svadjian]] in a letter from [[Naples]]: "[[Mount Etna|Etna]] and [[Mount Vesuvius|Vesuvius]] are still smoking; is there no fire left in the old volcano of Ararat?"<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hacikyan|first1=Agop Jack|author-link1=Agop Jack Hacikyan|last2=Basmajian|first2=Gabriel|last3=Franchuk|first3=Edward S.|last4=Ouzounian|first4=Nourhan|title=The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the eighteenth century to modern times|year=2005|publisher=Wayne State University Press|location=Detroit|isbn=9780814332214|page=292}}</ref>

[[Theodore Edward Dowling]] wrote in 1910 that Ararat and [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral|Etchmiadzin]] are the "two great objects of Armenian veneration",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dowling |first=Theodore Edward |authorlink=Theodore Edward Dowling |title=The Armenian Church |publisher=[[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]] |year=1910 |location=London |page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002032127632&view=1up&seq=28 22]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Menon |first1=K. P. S. |author1-link=K. P. S. Menon |title=Russian Panorama |date=1962 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780196351599 |page=164 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.113912 |quote=Ararat is as sacred to the Armenians as [[Kailas]] to the Hindus, [[Fujiyama]] to the Japanese and [[Bogd Khan Mountain|Bogdo Ola]] to the Mongols.}}</ref> while Jonathan Smele called Ararat and the medieval capital of [[Ani]] the "most cherished symbols of Armenian identity".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smele |first1=Jon |title=The "Russian" Civil Wars, 1916–1926: Ten Years that Shook the World |date=2015 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780190233044 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jGyMCwAAQBAJ&dq=two+of+the+most+cherished+symbols+of+Armenian+identity&pg=PA145 145] <!-- |quote=...contained two of the most cherished symbols of Armenian identity: Mount Ararat and the ancient Armenian capital of Ani... -->}}</ref>

===Myth of origin===
The [[Genesis flood narrative]] was linked to the Armenian [[Origin myth|myth of origin]] by the early medieval historian [[Movses Khorenatsi]]. In his ''[[History of Armenia (book)|History of Armenia]]'', he wrote that Noah and his family first settled in Armenia and later moved to [[Babylon]]. [[Hayk]], a descendant of [[Japheth]], a son of Noah, revolted against [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]] (the biblical [[Nimrod]]) and returned to the area around Mount Ararat, where he established the roots of the Armenian nation. He is thus considered the legendary [[founding father]] (patriarch) and the name giver of the Armenian people.{{sfn|Khorenats'i|1978|p=85}}{{sfn|Panossian|2006|p=51}} According to [[Razmik Panossian]], this legend "makes Armenia the cradle of all civilisation since Noah's Ark landed on the 'Armenian' mountain of Ararat. [...] it connects Armenians to the biblical narrative of human development. [...] it makes Mount Ararat the national symbol of all Armenians, and the territory around it the Armenian homeland from [[time immemorial]]."{{sfn|Panossian|2006|pp=51–52}}

===Coat of arms of Armenia===
Mount Ararat has been depicted on the [[coat of arms of Armenia]] consistently since 1918. The [[First Republic of Armenia|First Republic]]'s coat of arms was designed by architect [[Alexander Tamanian]] and painter [[Hakob Kojoyan]]. This coat of arms was readopted by the legislature of the Republic of Armenia on April 19, 1992, after Armenia regained its independence. Mount Ararat is depicted along with the ark on its peak on the [[Escutcheon (heraldry)|shield]] on an orange background.<ref>{{cite web|title=State symbols of the Republic of Armenia|url=http://www.president.am/en/state-symbols/|website=president.am|publisher=Office to the President of the Republic of Armenia|access-date=2015-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151130213232/http://www.president.am/en/state-symbols/|archive-date=2015-11-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[emblem of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (Soviet Armenia) was created by the painters [[Martiros Saryan]] and Hakob Kojoyan in 1921.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Matevosian|first1=V.|last2=Haytayan|first2=P.|title=Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia Volume 10|contribution=Սարյան Մարտիրոս (Saryan Martiros)|date=1984|page=[https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_10.djvu/240 240]|language=hy|quote=1921–ին Հ. Կոջոյանի հետ ստեղծել է Խորհրդային Հայաստանի գերբը...|title-link=Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia}}</ref> Mount Ararat is depicted in the center and makes up a large portion of it.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Meier|first1=Reinhard|title=Soviet Armenia Today|journal=Swiss Review of World Affairs|date=1975|volume=25–26|quote=The impressive mountain also has its place as the central image in the coat of arms of the Armenian Soviet Republic (coupled, of course, with a five-pointed Soviet star).}}</ref> 

According to an account (anecdote) widely reported since the 1920s,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nansen|first1=Fridtjof|author1-link=Fridtjof Nansen|title=Armenia and the Near East|date=1928|publisher=George Allen & Unwin|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/armenia-and-the-near-east-1928_OCR/ |p=[https://archive.org/details/armenia-and-the-near-east-1928_OCR/page/112/mode/1up?view=theater 112] }}<!-- There is a story that the Turks once complained of this to Tchitcherin, the Commissar of Foreign Affairs, who responded by inquiring if it was not a fact that the Turks had the crescent moon on their arms, and whether they considered that to be under the sway of Turkey. --> <!-- alt link: https://archives.webaram.com/dvdk_new/eng/armenia-and-the-near-east-1928_OCR.pdf
--> </ref> Turkey{{efn|Variously identified as Turkish ambassador,<ref name="Duranty"/> Turkish Foreign Minister,<ref name="Matossian"/> or [[İsmet İnönü]] (Ismet Pasha).<ref name="Yeghenian"/>}} raised the issue{{efn|At [[Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923]] according to an early source.<ref name="Yeghenian"/>}} of Ararat being on Soviet Armenia's coat of arms with the Soviet Union. The Soviet response, attributed to Foreign Commissar [[Georgy Chicherin]], pointed out that [[Flag of Turkey|Turkey's flag]] features a crescent moon despite Turkey not owning the moon.<ref name="Yeghenian">{{cite book |last1=Yeghenian |first1=A. Y. |title=The Red Flag at Ararat |date=1932 |publisher=The Womans Press |location=New York |page=[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004732031&seq=63 39] |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001248146}}</ref><ref name="Duranty">{{cite news |last1=Duranty |first1=Walter |author1-link=Walter Duranty |title=Armenia Blooming Under Soviet Rule |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/10/25/archives/armenia-blooming-under-soviet-rule-irrigation-and-electricity-are.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=25 October 1934  |archive-url=https://d19n1616fazwqf.archive.ph/hSQdu/b5b3c018ff0d01c26aa480d7b20e5aac56ca745f.png |archive-date=24 April 2025 |page=13}}</ref><ref name="Matossian">{{cite book |last1=Matossian |first1=Mary Kilbourne |author1-link=Mary Kilbourne Matossian |title=The Impact of Soviet Policies in Armenia, 1920-1936 |date=1955 |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/matossian-1955-impact-1920-1936/page/270/mode/2up?view=theater 271] |url=https://archive.org/details/matossian-1955-impact-1920-1936/ |format=PhD dissertation}}</ref> Later sources described it as likely apocryphal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lamont |first1=Corliss |author1-link=Corliss Lamont |title=The Peoples of the Soviet Union |date=1946 |publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Company |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/lamont-corliss.-the-peoples-of-the-soviet-union/page/76/mode/1up?view=theater 76] }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Derluguian |first1=Georgi |author1-link=Georgi M. Derluguian |title=Bourdieu's Secret Admirer in the Caucasus |date=2005 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226142821 |page=[https://www.google.am/books/edition/Bourdieu_s_Secret_Admirer_in_the_Caucasu/U0n_zmzxwAkC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ararat+soviet+turkey+moon&pg=PA361&printsec=frontcover 361]}}</ref> The account is mentioned in the memoirs of [[Nikita Khrushchev]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Khrushchev |editor1-first=Sergei |editor1-link=Sergei Khrushchev |title=Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev. Volume 3: Statesman, 1953–1964 |date=2007 |publisher=[[Pennsylvania State University Press]] |location=University Park, PA |isbn=978-0-271-02935-1 |pages=467-468 <!-- https://pdfupload.io/docs/e4df83ef--> }}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" widths="150px">
File:Coat of Arms of the First Republic of Armenia.png|[[Coat of arms of Armenia#Coat of arms of the First Republic of Armenia|First Republic (1918–1920)]]
File:Emblem of the Armenian SSR.svg|[[Emblem of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Republic (1921–91)]]
File:Coat of arms of Armenia.svg|[[Coat of arms of Armenia|Current Republic]] (1992–)
</gallery>

It is also depicted on the [[Emblem of Yerevan|emblem]] and [[flag of Yerevan]] since 2004. It is portrayed on the breast of a lion along with the [[Armenian eternity sign]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Symbols of Yerevan |url=https://www.yerevan.am/en/symbols-of-yerevan/ |website=yerevan.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811180125/https://www.yerevan.am/en/symbols-of-yerevan/ |archive-date=11 August 2023}}</ref> The mountain appears on the emblem of the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]'s [[Araratian Pontifical Diocese|Araratian]] and [[:hy:Մասյացոտնի թեմ|Masyatsotn]] dioceses, and the [[Armenian Catholic Church|Armenian Catholic]] [[Ordinariate for Catholics of Armenian Rite in Eastern Europe|Ordinariate of Armenia and Eastern Europe]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Առաջնորդության տեղեկատվական համակարգը |url=https://armenianchurchco.com/%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B5%D6%84%D5%AB-%D5%B4%D5%A1%D5%BD%D5%AB%D5%B6 |website=armenianchurchco.com |publisher=Ordinariate of the Armenian Catholic Church in Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Eastern Europe |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240829121740/https://armenianchurchco.com/%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B5%D6%84%D5%AB-%D5%B4%D5%A1%D5%BD%D5%AB%D5%B6 |archive-date=29 August 2024 |language=hy}}</ref>

Ararat appeared on the coat of arms of the [[Armenian Oblast]] and the [[Georgia-Imeretia Governorate]] ([[:File:Georgia-Imeretia Governorate.JPG|image]]), subdivisions of the Russian Empire that included the northern flanks of the mountain. They were adopted in 1833 and 1843, respectively.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Revo |first1=O. |title=Гербы городов Грузино-Имеретинской губернии Российской империи [Coats of arms of the cities of the Georgian-Imereti province of the Russian Empire] |url=https://m.nkj.ru/archive/articles/8140/ |website=[[Nauka i Zhizn]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129190504/https://m.nkj.ru/archive/articles/8140/ |archive-date=29 January 2022 |language=ru |date=August 2000}}</ref>

===Symbol of genocide and territorial claims===
In the aftermath of the [[Armenian genocide]] of 1915, Mount Ararat became a symbol in Armenian national consciousness, representing both the destruction of Armenian communities in eastern Turkey ([[Western Armenia]]) and aspirations for lost homeland.{{efn|"The lands of Western Armenia which Mt. Ararat represent..."<ref name="Shirinian" /> "mount Ararat is the symbol of banal irredentism for the territories of Western Armenia"{{sfn|Adriaans|2011|p=48}}}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Jerry L.|title=Crossing Borders – Confronting History: Intercultural Adjustment in the Post-Cold War World|date=2000|publisher=University Press of America|location=Lanham, Maryland|isbn=978-0-7618-1536-5|pages=6–7|quote=Armenians view Mount Ararat as both a symbol of the Genocide and loss of hallowed land.}}</ref> The mountain features prominently in [[Armenian diaspora|diaspora Armenian]] homes as a "bittersweet reminder of homeland and national aspirations."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Goldman|first1=Ari L.|author-link1=Ari L. Goldman|title=A History Full of Anguish and Agony; The Armenians, Still 'Like Job's People'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/18/weekinreview/world-history-full-anguish-agony-armenians-still-like-job-s-people.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=18 December 1988|access-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723004504/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/18/weekinreview/world-history-full-anguish-agony-armenians-still-like-job-s-people.html|archive-date=23 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Ararat symbolizes Armenian claims to "lost lands".<ref name="Avakyan">{{cite journal|last1=Avakyan|first1=K. R.|title=Աշոտ Մելքոնյան, Արարատ. Հայոց անմահության խորհուրդը [Ashot Melkonyan, Ararat. Symbol of Armenian Immortality]|journal=[[Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri]]|volume=1|date=2009|issue=1|pages=252–257|url=http://lraber.asj-oa.am/542/|language=hy|quote=Պատմական ճակատագրի բերումով Արարատ-Մասիսը ոչ միայն վեհության, անհասանելիության, կատարելության մարմնավորում է, այլև 1915 թ. հայոց մեծ եղեռնից ու հայ ժողովրդի հայրենազրկումից հետո՝ բռնազավթված հայրենիքի և այն նորեն իր արդար զավակներին վերադարձելու համոզումի անկրկնելի խորհրդանիշ, աշխարհասփյուռ հայության միասնականության փարոս» (էջ 8):|access-date=2015-11-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118131544/http://lraber.asj-oa.am/542/|archive-date=2015-11-18|url-status=live}}</ref> Adriaans noted that Ararat is featured as a sanctified territory for the Armenians in everyday banal irredentism.{{sfn|Adriaans|2011|p=40}} 

[[File:Ararat is and remains Armenian.jpg|thumb|[[Lebanese Armenians]] protesting Turkish Prime Minister [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan|Erdoğan]]'s visit to Beirut in November 2010.<ref>{{cite news|title=Armenian protest against Erdogan visit turns violent|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Nov/26/Armenian-protest-against-Erdogan-visit-turns-violent.ashx#axzz2XWWLJBKD|access-date=28 June 2013|newspaper=[[The Daily Star (Lebanon)|The Daily Star]]|date=26 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620161202/http://www.dailystar.com.lb//News/Lebanon-News/2010/Nov-26/61762-armenian-protest-against-erdogan-visit-turns-violent.ashx |archive-date=20 June 2019}}</ref> The poster reads "Ararat is and remains Armenian".<ref>{{cite web |title=Բախումներ Լիբանանում՝ ընդդեմ Էրդողանի այցի [Clashes in Lebanon against Erdogan's visit] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsDjhAQBaKg |publisher=VOA Armenian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415163918/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsDjhAQBaKg |archive-date=15 April 2016 |language=hy |date=November 25, 2010}}</ref>]]

Turkish analysts argue that regular references to the Armenian Genocide and Mount Ararat "clearly indicate" that the border with Turkey is contested in Armenia.<ref name="Balci"/> Since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Armenian government has not made official claims to any Turkish territory,<ref name="Balci"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Phillips|first=David L.|title=Unsilencing the Past: Track Two Diplomacy and Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation|year=2005|publisher=Berghahn Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-84545-007-6|page=68}}</ref> however the Armenian government has avoided "an explicit and formal recognition of the existing Turkish-Armenian border".<ref>{{cite news|last=Danielyan|first=Emil|title=Erdogan Demands Apology From Armenia|url=http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24280096.html|date=28 July 2011|agency=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118092341/http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24280096.html|archive-date=18 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In a 2010 interview with ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', Armenian President [[Serzh Sargsyan]] was asked whether Armenia wants "Mount Ararat back". Sargsyan, in response, said that "No one can take Mount Ararat from us; we keep it in our hearts. Wherever Armenians live in the world today, you will find a picture of Mount Ararat in their homes. And I feel certain that a time will come when Mount Ararat is no longer a symbol of the separation between our peoples, but an emblem of understanding. But let me make this clear: Never has a representative of Armenia made territorial demands. Turkey alleges this—perhaps out of its own bad conscience?"<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bidder|first1=Benjamin|title=Serge Sarkisian on Armenian-Turkish Relations: 'We Wanted to Break Through Centuries of Hostility'|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/serge-sarkisian-on-armenian-turkish-relations-we-wanted-to-break-through-centuries-of-hostility-a-687387-2.html|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|date=6 April 2010|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118110625/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/serge-sarkisian-on-armenian-turkish-relations-we-wanted-to-break-through-centuries-of-hostility-a-687387-2.html|archive-date=18 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

The most prominent party to lay claims to eastern Turkey is the nationalist [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation]] (Dashnaktsutyun). which claims it as part of what it considers [[United Armenia]].<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite book|last=Harutyunyan|first=Arus|title=Contesting National Identities in an Ethnically Homogeneous State: The Case of Armenian Democratization|year=2009|publisher=Western Michigan University|location=Kalamazoo, Michigan|isbn=978-1-109-12012-7|page=89}}</ref> In various settings, several notable individuals such as German historian [[Tessa Hofmann]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Return of ruins of Ani and of Mount Ararat could be considered as convincing gesture of Turkey's apologies: Tessa Hofmann|url=http://armenpress.am/eng/news/801959/return-of-ruins-of-ani-and-of-mount-ararat-could-be-considered-as-convincing-gesture-of-turkey%E2%80%99s.html|agency=[[Armenpress]]|date=16 April 2015|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023420/http://armenpress.am/eng/news/801959/return-of-ruins-of-ani-and-of-mount-ararat-could-be-considered-as-convincing-gesture-of-turkey%E2%80%99s.html|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Slovak conservative politician [[František Mikloško]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Frantisek Miklosko demands that Turkey return Biblical Mount Ararat to Armenians|url=http://panarmenian.net/eng/news/53489|agency=[[PanARMENIAN.Net]]|date=14 September 2010|access-date=6 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117022013/http://panarmenian.net/eng/news/53489|archive-date=17 November 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Lithuanian political scientist and Soviet dissident [[Aleksandras Štromas]] have spoken in support of Armenian claims over Mt.&nbsp;Ararat.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shtromas|first1=Alexander|author-link1=Aleksandras Štromas|editor1-last=Faulkner|editor1-first=Robert K.|editor2-last=Mahoney|editor2-first=Daniel J.|title=Totalitarianism and the Prospects for World Order: Closing the Door on the Twentieth Century|date=2003|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-0534-4|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fTt6lJOEEFcC&pg=PA387 387]}}</ref>

==Cultural depictions==
[[File:Stamp Armenia1992 1-3.jpg|thumb|The first stamps issued by independent Armenia in 1992<ref name="Arm stamp"/>]]
[[File:Ararat brandy (cognac) bottles.jpg|thumb|The mountain is notably featured on the [[Ararat (brandy)|Ararat]] brandy.]]

[[Levon Abrahamian]] noted that Ararat is visually present for Armenians in reality (it can be seen from many houses in Yerevan and settlements in the Ararat plain), symbolically (through many visual representations, such as on Armenia's coats of arms), and culturally—in numerous and various nostalgic poetical, political, architectural representation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Abrahamian|first1=Levon|editor1-last=Grant|editor1-first=Bruce|editor2-last=Yalçın-Heckmann|editor2-first=Lale|title=Caucasus Paradigms: Anthropologies, Histories and the Making of a World Area|contribution=Dancing around the mountain: Armenian identity through rites of solidarity|date=2007|publisher=Lit Verlag|location=Berlin|isbn=9783825899066|pages=167–188|url=https://www.academia.edu/10712639}}</ref> The first three postage stamps issued by Armenia in 1992 after achieving independence from the Soviet Union depicted Mount Ararat.<ref name="Arm stamp"/>

Mount Ararat has been depicted on five [[Armenian dram]] banknotes issued sice 1993.{{efn|[[Central Bank of Armenia]] banknotes: 
:[https://www.cba.am/en/10.1993 10 dram] (1993–2004)<!-- https://archive.today/Qdxts-->
:[https://www.cba.am/en/100.93.98 100 dram] (1993–2004)<!-- https://archive.today/20251002124811/https://www.cba.am/en/100.93.98 -->
:[https://www.cba.am/en/500.93 500 dram] (1993–2005)<!-- https://archive.today/20251002124809/https://www.cba.am/en/500.93 -->
:[https://www.cba.am/en/50000.2001 50,000 dram] (2001–) <!-- https://archive.today/20251002124813/https://www.cba.am/en/50000.2001 -->
:[https://www.cba.am/en/50000.2018 50,000 dram] (2018–)<!-- https://archive.today/20251002124823/https://www.cba.am/en/50000.2018 --> }}
It was also depicted on the reverse of the 100 [[Turkish lira]] banknotes of 1972–1986.{{efn|[[Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey]]. Banknote Museum: 6. Emission Group – One Hundred Turkish Lira – [https://web.archive.org/web/20090204092533/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E6/226.htm I. Series], [https://web.archive.org/web/20090204092534/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E6/228.htm II. Series] & [https://web.archive.org/web/20090204092539/http://www.tcmb.gov.tr/yeni/banknote/E6/230.htm III. Series].}}

Ararat is depicted on the logo of Armenia's leading university, the [[Yerevan State University]],<ref>{{cite web |title=YSU Coat of Arms |url=https://www.ysu.am/en/eph-gerbe |publisher=ysu.am |archive-url=https://archive.today/20251002125533/https://www.ysu.am/en/eph-gerbe |archive-date=2 October 2025}}</ref> and the logo of [[Armavia]], Armenia's now defunct [[flag carrier]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.aravot.am/2013/04/05/153426/|title=Did Siberia Develop Armavia, and Did Baghdasarov Ruin It?|date=April 5, 2013|website=[[Aravot]]}}</ref>

The [[Ararat (brandy)|Ararat]] brandy, produced by the [[Yerevan Brandy Company]] since 1887, is considered the most prestigious Eastern European brandy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ermochkine|first1=Nicholas|last2=Iglikowski|first2=Peter|title=40 Degrees East: An Anatomy of Vodka|date=2003|publisher=[[Nova Science Publishers]]|location=New York|isbn=978-1-59033-594-9|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=uWB2ZyTO7_sC&pg=PA121 121]|quote=Undoubtedly the top of the tops of East European brandies is the Armenian brandy called Ararat...}}</ref> Hotels in Yerevan often advertise the visibility of Ararat from their rooms, which is seen as a major advantage for tourists.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ritman|first1=Alex|title=My Kind of Place: Yerevan has thrived through conquest|url=https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/travel/my-kind-of-place-yerevan-has-thrived-through-conquest-1.355086|work=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)|The National]]|date=17 August 2012|access-date=2 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103072520/https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/travel/my-kind-of-place-yerevan-has-thrived-through-conquest-1.355086|archive-date=3 January 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[[Radisson Blu Hotel, Yerevan]]. {{cite web|title=Radisson Blu Hotel, Yerevan|url=https://www.radissonblu.com/en/hotel-yerevan|website=radissonblu.com|quote=Our magnificent hilltop setting provides beautiful views of Yerevan city center against the backdrop of Mount Ararat...|access-date=2018-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103072556/https://www.radissonblu.com/en/hotel-yerevan|archive-date=2018-01-03|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[[Ani Plaza Hotel]]. {{cite web|title=Ani Plaza: Hotel in Yerevan, Armenia|url=http://anihotel.com/|website=anihotel.com|quote=The guest rooms offer a spectacular view over the city: one can admire the famous Mount Ararat – the symbol of Armenia...|access-date=2018-01-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103072758/http://anihotel.com/|archive-date=2018-01-03|url-status=live}}</ref>

===In visual art===
;Armenian
According to a 1963 source, the first Armenian artist to depict the mountain was [[Ivan Aivazovsky]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sarkssian|first=M. S.|title=Հովհաննես Այվազովսկին և հայ մշակույթը [Hovhannes Ayvazovsky and Armenian Culture]|journal=[[Patma-Banasirakan Handes]]|volume=4|year=1963|issue=4|pages=25–38|url=http://hpj.asj-oa.am/551/|language=hy|quote=Դեռևս 1860–ակա ն թթ. Անդրկովկասում կատարած ճանապարհորդության ժամանակ և դրանից հետո Այվազովսկին նկարում է Արարատի և Սևանի գեղատեսիլ բնության պատկերներ։ Մինչ այդ հայ նկարիչներից ոչ ոք չէր տվել Արարատը և Արարատյան դաշտը պատկերող կտավներ։|access-date=2015-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104021/http://hpj.asj-oa.am/551/|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=live}}</ref> who created a painting of Ararat during his visit to Armenia in 1868.<ref>{{cite web|last=Khachatrian|first=Shahen|title="Поэт моря" ["The Sea Poet"]|url=http://www.smr.ru/centre/win/artists/aivaz/biogr_aivaz.htm|publisher=Center of Spiritual Culture, [[:ru:Самарский государственный аэрокосмический университет|Leading and National Research Samara State Aerospace University]]|author-link=Shahen Khachatrian|language=ru|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319042232/http://www.smr.ru/centre/win/artists/aivaz/biogr_aivaz.htm|archive-date=19 March 2014}}</ref> However, a late 17th century map by [[Eremia Chelebi]], an Ottoman Armenian, depicting Ararat was later discovered.<ref name="Eremia"/> Other major Armenians artists who painted Ararat include [[Yeghishe Tadevosyan]], [[Gevorg Bashinjaghian]], [[Martiros Saryan]], and [[Panos Terlemezian]].<ref name=artists>{{cite web|title='Ararat. The Holy Mount' exhibition opens at Armenia's National Gallery|date=October 15, 2019|url=https://en.armradio.am/2019/10/15/ararat-the-holy-mount-exhibition-opens-at-armenias-national-gallery/|website=[[Public Radion of Armenia]]  |archive-url=https://archive.today/20251002125822/https://en.armradio.am/2019/10/15/ararat-the-holy-mount-exhibition-opens-at-armenias-national-gallery/ |archive-date=2 October 2025}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="80px">
File:Chelebi Ararat.jpg|Ararat depicted vertically ''(right)'' on a [[:File:Mapasf.png|1691 map]] by [[:tr:Eremya Çelebi|Eremya Çelebi]] along with [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral]] and other churches of [[Vagharshapat]].<ref name="Eremia">{{cite book |last1=Goshgarian |first1=Rachel  |editor1-last=Evans |editor1-first=Helen C. |editor1-link=Helen C. Evans |title=Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages |date=2018 |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] and [[Yale University Press]] |isbn=9781588396600 |oclc=1028910888 |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Armenia_Art_Religion_and_Trade_in_the_Middle_Ages |chapter=Armenian Global Connections in the Early Modern Period |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ezNtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA174 174] }}</ref> 
File:Valley of Mount Ararat by Ivan Aivazovsky (1882).jpg|[[Ivan Aivazovsky]], ''Valley of Mount Ararat'', 1882
File:Y. Tadevosyan. Mounth Ararat from Ejmiadzin.jpg|[[Yeghishe Tadevosyan]], ''Ararat from Ejmiatsin'', 1895
File:Bashindzhagian ararat.jpg|[[Gevorg Bashinjaghian]], 1912
File:Արարատը աշնանը (1929).jpg|[[Panos Terlemezian]], 1929
</gallery>

Ararat was depicted by non-Armenians, often in the books of European travelers in the 18th–19th centuries who visited Armenia. 
<gallery mode="packed" heights="100px">
File:Tournefort Ararat from Ejmiatsin.png|[[Joseph Pitton de Tournefort]], 1718
File:Mikhail Ivanov — View of three churches against the backdrop of Mount Ararat in Armenia.jpg|A 1783 watercolor of the churches of Etchmiadzin with Ararat by [[Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Иванов Михаил (1748-1823). Вид трёх церквей на фоне горы Арарат в Армении.1783 |url=https://my.tretyakov.ru/app/masterpiece/51632 |publisher=[[Tretyakov Gallery]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231213084134/https://my.tretyakov.ru/app/masterpiece/51632 |archive-date=13 December 2023 |language=ru }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Krylova |first1=Margarita |title=Creative Discoveries of the Russian Artist-travelers |url=https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/articles/2-2010-27/creative-discoveries-russian-artist-travelers |publisher=[[Tretyakov Gallery]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330171936/https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/articles/2-2010-27/creative-discoveries-russian-artist-travelers |archive-date=30 March 2023 |date=2010 }}</ref>{{efn|[[Ivan Aivazovsky]] subsequently offered [[:File:View of Echmiadzin in Armenia Mikhail Ivanov.jpg|his version]] based on Ivanov's original.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mitrevski |first1=George |title=Aivazovsky, I. K. View of Echmiadzin in Armenia. 1783 - 1823 |url=https://www.pelister.org/russian/art/targetArt.php?file=00237 |publisher=[[Auburn University]] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231213083608/https://www.pelister.org/russian/art/targetArt.php?file=00237 |archive-date=13 December 2023 |access-date=15 December 2023 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>}}
File:"View of the Fortress of Erivan and Ararat" by Robert Ker Porter.png|[[Robert Ker Porter]], 1821
File:View of Ararat and the Monastery of Echmiadzin.png|"View of Ararat and the [[Etchmiadzin Cathedral|Monastery of Echmiadzin]]", from the 1846 English translation of [[Friedrich Parrot]]'s ''Journey to Ararat''
File:Siege of Erivan Fortress on 1 October 1827.jpg|1827 [[Capture of Erivan]] by Russia, [[Franz Roubaud]] (1893)
File:"Great and Little Ararat from the North-East" by James Bryce.png|[[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|James Bryce]], 1877
File:"Ararat from the lake at Edgmiatsin" Lynch.png|[[H. F. B. Lynch]], 1901
File:Snow-capped mountains by Kengerli (1916).jpg|[[Bahruz Kangarli]] (1916)
</gallery>

===In literature===
[[Rouben Paul Adalian]] suggested that "there is probably more poetry written about Mount Ararat than any other mountain on earth".<ref name="Adalian"/> Travel writer Rick Antonson described Ararat as the "most fabled mountain in the world".{{sfn|Antonson|2016}}

====Armenian====
[[File:St Vartan New York door Ararat.jpg|thumb|upright|Ararat depicted on the wooden door of [[St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral]] in New York City.]]
[[File:Paintings of My Ararat at the Yerevan Vernissage2.jpg|thumb|Paintings of Mount Ararat for sale at the [[Yerevan Vernissage]].]]

Mount Ararat is featured prominently in Armenian literature. According to Meliné Karakashian, Armenian poets "attribute to it symbolic meanings of unity, freedom, and independence".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Karakashian|first1=Meliné|title=Armenia: A Country's History of Challenges|journal=[[Journal of Social Issues]]|date=1998|volume=54|issue=2|pages=381–392|doi=10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01225.x}}</ref> According to Kevork Bardakjian, in Armenian literature, Ararat "epitomizes Armenia and Armenian suffering and aspirations, especially the consequences of the 1915 genocide: almost total annihilation, loss of a unique culture and land [...] and an implicit determination never to recognize the new political borders".<ref name="Bardakjian">{{cite book|editor-last=Bardakjian|editor-first=Kevork B.|title=A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, 1500–1920: With an Introductory History|contribution=Hovhannes Širaz|date=2000|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0814327470|page=227|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bR7hMqV3Ij0C&pg=PA227|access-date=2016-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128072237/https://books.google.com/books?id=bR7hMqV3Ij0C&pg=PA227|archive-date=2019-01-28|url-status=live}}</ref>

The last two lines of [[Yeghishe Charents]]'s 1920 poem "I Love My Armenia" ([[:hy:s:Ես իմ անուշ Հայաստանի|Ես իմ անուշ Հայաստանի]]) read: "And in the entire world you will not find a mountaintop like Ararat's. / Like an unreachable peak of glory I love my Mount Masis."<!--Աշխա՛րհ անցի՛ր, Արարատի նման ճերմակ գագաթ չկա․<br />Ինչպես անհաս փառքի ճամփա՝ ես իմ Մասիս սա՛րն եմ սիրում։--><ref>{{cite journal|title=I Love My Armenia by Yeghishe Charents|journal=[[Ararat Quarterly|Ararat]]|date=1960|volume=15|page=46}}</ref> In a 1926<ref>{{cite news|last=Ter-Khachatryan |first=Yervand |title=Բանաստեղծը Ռավեննայում |url=http://www.azg.am/AM/culture/2014121201 |work=[[Azg (daily)|Azg]] |date=11 December 2014 |language=hy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411092550/http://www.azg.am/AM/culture/2014121201 |archive-date=April 11, 2016 }}</ref> poem dedicated to the mountain [[Avetik Isahakyan]] wrote: "Ages as though in second came,&nbsp;/ Touched the grey crest of Ararat,&nbsp;/ And passed by...! [...] It's now your turn; you too, now,&nbsp;/ Stare at its high and lordly brow,&nbsp;/ And pass by...!"<ref>{{cite book|last=Chrysanthopoulos|first=Leonidas|title=Caucasus Chronicles: Nation-building and Diplomacy in Armenia, 1993–1994|date=2002|publisher=Gomidas Institute|isbn=978-1-884630-05-7|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=cELfINDAH0oC&pg=PA21 21]}}</ref>

Ararat is the most frequently cited symbol in the poetry of [[Hovhannes Shiraz]].<ref name="Bardakjian"/> In collection of poems, ''Knar Hayastani'' (Lyre of Armenia) published in 1958, there are many poems "with very strong nationalist overtones, especially with respect to Mount Ararat (in Turkey) and the irredentism it entailed". In one such poem, "Ktak" (Bequest), Shiraz bequeaths his son Mt.&nbsp;Ararat to "keep it forever,&nbsp;/ As the language of us Armenians, as the pillar of your father's home".{{sfn|Panossian|2006|p=335}} A group of four Armenians buried Shiraz's heart at the summit of Ararat in 2006.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shakhramanyan |first1=Yana |title=Նրանք ամփոփել են Շիրազի սիրտն Արարատի գագաթին |url=https://mediamax.am/am/news/special-report/49279/ |work=mediamax.am |date=November 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205072501/https://mediamax.am/am/news/special-report/49279/ |archive-date=5 February 2023 |language=hy}}</ref>

The first lines of [[Paruyr Sevak]]'s 1961 poem "We Are Few..." ([[:hy:s:Քիչ ենք, բայց հայ ենք|Քիչ ենք, բայց հայ ենք]]) read: "We are few, but they say of us we are Armenians.&nbsp;/ We do not think ourselves superior to anyone.&nbsp;/ Clearly we shall have to accept&nbsp;/ That we, and only we, have an Ararat".<!--- Մենք քիչ ենք‚ սակայն մեզ հայ են ասում։<br />Մենք մեզ ո՛չ ոքից չենք գերադասում։<br />Պարզապես մենք էլ պի՛տի ընդունենք‚<br />Որ մե՛նք‚ միայն մե˜նք Արարատ ունենք --><ref>{{cite journal|title=We Are Few... by Barouyr Sevak|journal=[[Ararat Quarterly|Ararat]]|date=1978|volume=21–22|page=5}}</ref>

====Non-Armenian====
English Romantic poet [[William Wordsworth]] imagines seeing the ark in the poem "Sky-prospect&nbsp;— From the Plain of France".<ref>{{cite book|last=Jeffrey|first=David L.|title=A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature|date=1992|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=9780802836342|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbibl0000unse/page/287 287]|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofbibl0000unse/page/287}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wordsworth|first1=William|author-link1=William Wordsworth|title=The Sonnets of William Wordsworth: Collected in One Volume, with a Few Additional Ones, Now First Published|date=1838|publisher=E. Moxon|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0FkJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA209 209]}}</ref>

In his ''[[A Journey to Arzrum|Journey to Arzrum]]'' ([[:ru:s:Путешествие в Арзрум во время похода 1829 года (Пушкин)|Путешествие в Арзрум]]; 1835–36), the celebrated Russian poet [[Alexander Pushkin|Aleksandr Pushkin]] recounted his travels to the [[Caucasus]] and Armenia at the time of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|Russo-Turkish War of 1828–29]]. He wrote the following about his observations of Ararat:
{{Quote frame |I went out of the tent into the fresh morning air. The sun was rising. Against the clear sky one could see a white-snowcapped, twin-peaked mountain. 'What mountain is that?' I asked, stretching myself, and heard the answer: 'That's Ararat.' What a powerful effect a few syllables can have! Avidly I looked at the Biblical mountain, saw the ark moored to its peak with the hope of regeneration and life, saw both the raven and dove, flying forth, the symbols of punishment and reconciliation...<ref>{{cite book|first=Aleksandr|last=Pushkin|author-link=Alexander Pushkin|translator=Birgitta Ingemanson|title=A Journey to Arzrum|location=Ann Arbor|publisher=Ardis|year=1974|isbn=978-0882330679|page=[https://archive.org/details/journeytoarzrum0000push/page/50 50]|url=https://archive.org/details/journeytoarzrum0000push/page/50}}</ref> }}

[[Russian symbolism|Russian Symbolist]] poet [[Valery Bryusov]] often referred to Ararat in his poetry and dedicated two poems to the mountain,{{efn|"К Арарату" ("To Ararat") and "Арарат из Эривани" ("Ararat from Erivan")}} which were published in 1917. Bryusov saw Ararat as the embodiment of antiquity of the Armenian people and their culture.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dmitriev|first=Vladimir Alekseevich|editor-last=Bogush|editor-first=V. A.|title=Первая мировая война в исторических судьбах Европы : сб. материалов Междунар. науч. конф., г. Вилейка, 18 окт. 2014 г.|date=2014|publisher=[[Belarusian State University]]|location=Minsk|page=404|chapter-url=http://www.hist.bsu.by/images/stories/files/nauka/konf/1ww/Dmitriev.pdf|language=ru|chapter=Древнеармянские сюжеты в творчестве В.Я. Брюсова: к вопросу о влиянии событий Первой мировой войны на русскую литературу начала XX в.|quote=Для В. Брюсова Арарат — это прежде всего символ, олицетворяющий древность армянского народа и его культуры...}}</ref>

Russian poet [[Osip Mandelstam]] wrote fondly of Ararat during his 1933 travels in Armenia. "I have cultivated in myself a sixth sense, an 'Ararat' sense", the poet wrote, "the sense of an attraction to a mountain."<ref>{{cite book|last=Mandelstam|first=Osip|author-link=Osip Mandelstam|translator=Sidney Monas|title=A Journey to Armenia|year=2011|location=London|publisher=Notting Hill Editions|isbn=9781907903472|page=91}}</ref>

During his travels to Armenia, Soviet Russian writer [[Vasily Grossman]] observed Mount Ararat from Yerevan standing "high in the blue sky". He wrote that "with its gentle, tender contours, it seems to grow not out of the earth but out of the sky, as if it has condensed from its white clouds and its deep blue. It is this snowy mountain, this bluish-white sunlit mountain that shone in the eyes of those who wrote the Bible."<ref>{{cite book|last=Grossman|first=Vasily|author-link=Vasily Grossman|translator=Robert Chandler|translator2=Elizabeth Chandler|others=Introduction by Robert Chandler and Yury Bit-Yunan|title=An Armenian Sketchbook|year=2013|location=New York|publisher=[[New York Review Books]]|isbn=9781590176184|page=24}}</ref>

In ''The Maximus Poems'' (1953) American poet [[Charles Olson]], who grew up near the Armenian neighborhood in [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], compares the Ararat Hill near his childhood home to the mountain and "imagines he can capture an Armenian's immigrant perspective: the view of Ararat Hill as Mount Ararat".<ref>{{cite book|last=Siraganian|first=Lisa|title=Modernism's Other Work: The Art Object's Political Life|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-979655-7|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=2SYokPsnTRsC&pg=PA156 156]}}</ref>

The world renowned Turkish-Kurdish writer [[Yaşar Kemal]]'s 1970 book entitled ''[[Ağrı Dağı Efsanesi]]'' (''The Legend of Mount Ararat'') is about a local myth about a poor boy and the governor's daughter. There is also an [[Ağrı Dağı Efsanesi|opera]] (1971) and [[:tr:Ağrı Dağı Efsanesi (film)|a film (1975)]] based on that novel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kultur.istanbul/hafizalara-kazinan-rolleriyle-fatma-girik/|lang=tr|title=Hafizalara kazinan rolleriyle Fatma Girik|trans-title=Fatma Girik with her memorable roles|date=25 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.milliyet.com.tr/kultur-sanat/belki-sulh-oluruz-kilic-ortadan-bir-kalksa-7202906|title=Belki sulh oluruz, kılıç ortadan bir kalksa|trans-title=Maybe we can make peace, if only the sword would be removed|lang=tr|date=6 October 2024}}</ref>

In the 1984 science fiction novel ''Orion'' by [[Ben Bova]], part three entitled "Flood" is set at an unspecified valley at the foot of Mount Ararat. The antagonist, Ahriman, floods the valley by melting the snow caps of the mountain in a bid to stop the invention of agriculture by a band of [[Epipalaeolithic]] hunter-gatherers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bova |first=Ben |title=Orion |publisher=Tor Books |year=1984 |isbn=9780812532470}}</ref>

Several major episodes in the supernatural spy novel ''[[Declare]]'' (2001) by [[Tim Powers]] take place on Mount Ararat, which is the focal point of supernatural happenings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Declare |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tim-powers/declare/ |website=[[Kirkus Reviews]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203063442/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tim-powers/declare/ |archive-date=3 December 2024 |date=December 15, 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Farrell |first1=Eleanor M. |title=Reviews: Declare |url=https://www.mythsoc.org/reviews/declare-powers.htm |publisher=[[Mythopoeic Society]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919164654/https://www.mythsoc.org/reviews/declare-powers.htm |archive-date=19 September 2024}}</ref>

===In popular culture===
{{multiple image
 | align = right
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 200
 | image1 = Arc-tcharents.JPG
 | image2 = Mount Ararat from Charents' Arch 1.jpg
 | caption2 = The [[Arch of Charents]], in [[Voghjaberd]], is an iconic site offering a panoramic view of the mountain. It was designed by [[Rafayel Israyelian]] and built in 1957.<ref name="Babayan">{{cite book |last1=Babayan |first1=L. |title=[[Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia]] Volume 4 |date=1978 |pages=[https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_4.djvu/419 419]-[https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_4.djvu/420 420] |language=hy |chapter=Իսրայելյան Ռաֆայել [Israyelian Rafayel]}}</ref>
}}

;In music
* "Holy Mountains", the 8th track of the album ''[[Hypnotize (album)|Hypnotize]]'' (2005) by [[System of a Down]], an American rock band composed of four Armenian Americans, "references Mount Ararat [...] and details that the souls lost to the Armenian Genocide have returned to rest here".<ref>{{cite web|title=System of a Down – Holy Mountains Lyrics|url=https://genius.com/System-of-a-down-holy-mountains-lyrics|website=[[Genius (website)|genius.com]]|access-date=2017-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106185248/https://genius.com/System-of-a-down-holy-mountains-lyrics|archive-date=2018-11-06|url-status=live}}</ref>
* "Here's to You Ararat" is a song from the 2006 album ''How Much is Yours'' of [[Arto Tunçboyacıyan]]'s Armenian Navy Band.<ref>{{cite web|title=Arto Tuncboyaciyan – Ararat| date=6 October 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjD4uctOx1c|publisher=Sharm Holding production|access-date=2016-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714125937/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjD4uctOx1c|archive-date=2014-07-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

;In film
* The 2002 film ''[[Ararat (film)|Ararat]]'' by Armenian-[[Canadians|Canadian]] filmmaker [[Atom Egoyan]] features Mount Ararat prominently in its symbolism.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hogikyan|first1=Nellie|editor1-last=Burwell|editor1-first=Jennifer|editor2-last=Tschofen|editor2-first=Monique|title=Image and Territory: Essays on Atom Egoyan|date=2007|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|isbn=978-0-88920-487-4|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=o7qfCxX_whgC&pg=PA202 202]|chapter=Atom Egoyan's Post-exilic Imaginary: Representing Homeland, Imagining Family}}</ref>
* The 2011 documentary film ''[[Journey to Ararat]]'' on Parrot and Abovian's expedition to Ararat was produced in Estonia by filmmaker [[Riho Västrik]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/11879|title=Nights are long and dark|work=Looduskalender.ee|date=29 March 2014|access-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011233130/http://www.looduskalender.ee/en/node/11879|archive-date=11 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Ter-Sahakian|first=Karine|url=http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/details/177415/|title=Armenian community of Estonia: A look into the future|work=[[PanARMENIAN.Net]]|date=29 March 2014|access-date=11 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012043647/http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/details/177415/|archive-date=12 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> It was screened at the [[Yerevan International Film Festival|Golden Apricot International Film Festival]] in [[Yerevan]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title='Journey to Ararat' Documentary Film|url=http://www.gaiff.am/en/1372752465|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706103230/http://www.gaiff.am/en/1372752465|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-07-06|work=[[Yerevan International Film Festival|Golden Apricot International Film Festival]]|date=July 2013}}</ref>

==Places named for Ararat==
;In Armenia
*In Armenia, four settlements are named after the mountain's two names: Ararat and Masis. All are located in the [[Ararat Plain]]. First, the village of Davalu was renamed [[Ararat (village), Armenia|Ararat]] in 1935, followed by Tokhanshalu being renamed [[Masis (village)|Masis]] in 1945, and the workers town of Davalu's nearby cement factory also being renamed [[Ararat, Armenia|Ararat]] in 1947 (granted a city status in 1962). The [[railway town]] of Ulukhanlu was renamed Masis in 1950, while the former village/town of Ulukhanlu, renamed Hrazdan and then Masis in 1969. The two merged to form the [[urban-type settlement]] of [[Masis, Armenia|Masis]], the current town, in 1971.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hakobian |first1=T. Kh. |last2=Melik-Bakhshian |first2=St. T. |last3=Barseghian |first3=H. Kh. |authorlink1=Tadevos Hakobyan |authorlink2=:hy:Ստեփան Մելիք-Բախշյան |authorlink3=:hy:Հովհաննես Բարսեղյան |title=Հայաստանի և հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան [Dictionary of Toponyms of Armenia and Surrounding Regions] |date=1988 |publisher=Yerevan University Press }} ''Vol. I'', pp. [http://www.nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=61&dt=HY_HY&query=%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%BF 395]-[http://www.nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=61&dt=HY_HY&pageNumber=428 396]; ''Vol. III'', pp. [http://www.nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=61&dt=HY_HY&query=%D5%B4%D5%A1%D5%BD%D5%AB%D5%BD 702]-[http://www.nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=61&dt=HY_HY&query=%D5%B4%D5%A1%D5%BD%D5%AB%D5%BD%D5%AB+%D5%B7%D6%80%D5%BB%D5%A1%D5%B6 703]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ghukasian |first1=B. |title=[[Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia]] |date=1981 |page=[https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_7.djvu/268 268] |language=hy |chapter=Մասիս [Masis]}}</ref>
*In the Soviet and early post-Soviet period there were administrative divisions (''shrjan'' or ''[[Raion#Raions in the Soviet Union|raion]]'') called Ararat ([[Vedi]] until 1968) and Masis, formed in 1930 and 1968, respectively. They became a part of the [[Ararat Province|province (''marz'') of Ararat]] in the 1995.<ref>{{cite web |title=Հայաստանի Հանրապետության վարչատարածքային բաժանման մասին օրենք[Republic of Armenia Law on Administrative-Territorial Division] |url=http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2243&lang=arm |website=parliament.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726072914/http://www.parliament.am/legislation.php?sel=show&ID=2243&lang=arm |archive-date=26 July 2022 |language=hy |date=7 November 1995 |quote=Արարատի մարզն ընդգրկում է Արարատի, Արտաշատի եւ Մաuիuի նախկին վարչական շրջանների տարածքները:}}</ref>
*The name is also used in two dioceses of the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]: the [[Araratian Pontifical Diocese]] and the [[:hy:Մասյացոտնի թեմ|Diocese of Masyatsotn]], encompassing capital Yerevan and the [[Ararat province]], respectively.<ref>{{cite web |title=Արարատյան Հայրապետական Թեմ [Araratian Pontifical Diocese] |url=http://www.armenianreligion-am.armin.am/am/Encyclopedia_of_armenian_religion_Araratyan_Hayrapetakan_tem |publisher=Institute for Armenian Studies of [[Yerevan State University]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022141446/http://www.armenianreligion-am.armin.am/am/Encyclopedia_of_armenian_religion_Araratyan_Hayrapetakan_tem |archive-date=22 October 2022 |language=hy <!-- |quote=Արարատյան հայրապետական թեմը ներկայումս իր մեջ ներառում է Երևան քաղաքը, Արարատի մարզը և Սևանի վանքը: --> }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Հայրապետական սրբատառ կոնդակով հիմնվեց Մասյացոտնի թեմը [The diocese of Masyatsotn was founded with the patriarchal canon] |url=https://hetq.am/hy/article/126165 |work=[[Hetq]] |date=11 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022141619/https://hetq.am/hy/article/126165 |archive-date=22 October 2022 |language=hy <!--|quote=Karekin the Second Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians and with the Patriarchal canon, on January 11, Masyatsotn Diocese was founded in Ararat Marz, Armenia. -->}}</ref>

;Elsewhere
*The Turkish [[Ağrı Province|province of Ağrı]] was named after the Turkish name of the mountain in 1927, while the provincial capital city of Karaköse was renamed to [[Ağrı]] in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Nişanyan|first1=Sevan|author-link1=Sevan Nişanyan|title=Ağrı il – Merkez – Ağrı|url=https://nisanyanyeradlari.com/?yer=36467&haritasi=a%C4%9Fr%C4%B1|website=Index Anatolicus|language=tr|date=2010|access-date=7 December 2023}}</ref>
*In the United States, a [[Ararat River|river]] in Virginia and North Carolina was named Ararat after the mountain no later than 1770. An [[Ararat, North Carolina|unincorporated community]] in North Carolina was later named after the river.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Powell |first1=William S. |last2=Hill |first2=Michael |title=The North Carolina Gazetteer, 2nd Ed: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places and Their History |date=2010 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9780807898291 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KFvqCQAAQBAJ&dq=Ararat+North+Carolina+biblical&pg=PA13 13]}}</ref> A [[Ararat Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania|township]] (formed in 1852)<ref>{{cite web|title=Township Incorporations, 1790 to 1853|url=http://www.susqcohistsoc.org/incorp.htm|publisher=Susquehanna County Historical Society|accessdate=12 February 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623133749/http://www.susqcohistsoc.org/incorp.htm|archivedate=June 23, 2015 }}</ref> and a [[Mount Ararat (Pennsylvania)|mountain]] in Pennsylvania are called Ararat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Blackman |first1=Emily C. |author-link1=Emily C. Blackman |title=History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania |date=1873 |publisher=Claxton, Remsen, & Haffelfinger |location=Philadelphia |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofsusqueh00blac/page/474 <!-- quote=Pennsylvania mt ararat. --> 474] |quote=...the locality he selected did not belie in natural features its namesake of Noah's time.}}</ref>
*In the Australian state of [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], a [[Ararat, Victoria|city]] was named Ararat in 1840. Its local government area is also called [[Rural City of Ararat|Ararat]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Municipality of Ararat, Victoria |url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/2243 |publisher=[[Museums Victoria]] <!-- |quote=In 1840 Wills camped near a large bald mountain which he named Mount Ararat, for 'Like the Ark, we rested there'. --> |access-date=2018-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831002616/https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2243 |archive-date=2018-08-31 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Molony |first1=John |author-link1=John Molony |title=The Native-born: The First White Australians |date=2000 |publisher=Melbourne University Publish |isbn=9780522849035 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d5ZYuHbwP0EC&dq=like+the+Ark+we+rested+victoria&pg=PA138 138]}}</ref>
*[[96205 Ararat]] is an [[asteroid]] [[Meanings of asteroid names|named in the mountain's honor]]. It was discovered in 1992 by [[Freimut Börngen]] and [[Lutz D. Schmadel]] at [[Karl Schwarzschild Observatory|Tautenburg Observatory]] in Germany. The name was proposed by Börngen.<ref>{{cite web |title=96205 Ararat (1992 ST16) |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=96205#content |website=ssd.jpl.nasa.gov |publisher=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] ([[NASA]]) |access-date=2018-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611085432/http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=96205#content |archive-date=2011-06-11 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===States===
*Besides Ararat being the Hebrew version of [[Urartu]],{{sfn|Arnold|2008|p=104}} this Iron Age state is often referred to as the "Araratian Kingdom" or the "Kingdom of Ararat" ({{Langx|hy|Արարատյան թագավորություն}}, ''Arartyan t'agavorut'yun'') in Armenian historiography.<ref>{{cite web |title=Erebuni Museum |url=http://www.armenianheritage.org/en/monument/Erebunimuseum/282 |website=armenianheritage.org |publisher=Armenia Monuments Awareness Project |quote=...Urartu, mentioned in Armenian written records as the Land of Arartu or Araratian Kingdom (the Kingdom of Ararat).... |access-date=2018-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904230016/http://www.armenianheritage.org/en/monument/Erebunimuseum/282 |archive-date=2018-09-04 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> [[Levon Abrahamian]] argues that this name gives it a "biblical and an Armenian touch."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abrahamian |first1=Levon |authorlink=Levon Abrahamian|title=Armenian Identity in a Changing World |date=2006 |publisher=Mazda Publishers |isbn=9781568591858 |page=11}}</ref>
*The [[First Republic of Armenia]], the first modern Armenian state that existed between 1918 and 1920, was sometimes called the Araratian Republic or the Republic of Ararat ({{langx|hy|Արարատյան Հանրապետություն}}, ''Araratyan hanrapetut'yun'')<ref>{{cite news |title=Անդրանիկ. "Իմ զինվորն անզեն ու անձայն վկա չի դառնա" |url=https://republic.mediamax.am/story/35/ |work=mediamax.am |date=13 July 2018 |language=hy <!-- |quote=«Հայաստանի Հանրապետություն» խոսքն էլ ընդունելի չէր շատերի համար, եղածը սոսկ «Արարատյան Հանրապետություն» էր»,- գրում է Վրացյանը։ --> |access-date=4 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904230051/https://republic.mediamax.am/story/35/ |archive-date=4 September 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mkhitaryan |first1=Lusine |title=Անկախ Հայաստանի անդրանիկ տոնը |url=http://www.hhpress.am/?sub=hodv&hodv=20180525_1&flag=am |work=[[Hayastani Hanrapetutyun]] |date=25 May 2018 |language=hy |access-date=4 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905023001/http://www.hhpress.am/?sub=hodv&hodv=20180525_1&flag=am |archive-date=5 September 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> as it was centered in the [[Ararat plain]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hovannisian|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Hovannisian|title=The Republic of Armenia: The first year, 1918–1919|url=https://archive.org/details/republicofarmeni0000hova|url-access=registration|date=1971|publisher=University of California Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/republicofarmeni0000hova/page/259 259]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Aftandilian|first=Gregory L.|title=Armenia, vision of a republic: the independence lobby in America, 1918–1927|date=1981|publisher=Charles River Books|page=25}}</ref>
*In 1927 the Kurdish nationalist party [[Xoybûn]] led by [[Ihsan Nuri]], fighting an [[Ararat rebellion|uprising]] against the Turkish government, declared the independence of the [[Republic of Ararat]] ({{langx|ku|Komara Agiriyê}}), centered around Mount Ararat.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gunter |first1=Michael M. |author-link1=Michael M. Gunter |title=The A to Z of the Kurds |date=2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810863347 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pHB5F_Y02_gC&dq=1927+uprising+ararat+republic&pg=PA9 9]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Vali |first1=Abbas |title=Essays on the origins of Kurdish nationalism |date=2003 |publisher=Mazda Publishers |isbn=9781568591421 |page=199}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="125px">
File:Ağrı Dağında Kış.jpg|Winter in Mount Ararat.
File:Mount Ararat, Two volcanic cones, Ararat Plain, Armenia.jpg|Mount Ararat and Armenia-Turkey border early in the morning.
File:Aras River, Turkey-Armenia-Iran Border Region.JPG|Seen from the [[International Space Station]], 8 July 2011
File:NEO ararat big.jpg|From the [[Space Shuttle]], 18 March 2001
File:MontArarat.jpg
File:Monasterio Khor Virap, Armenia, 2016-10-01, DD 05.jpg|View of Ararat from [[Khor Virap]], Armenia
File:Khor Virap Monastery and Mount Ararat, Armenia.jpg|View of Ararat with the [[Khor Virap]] in the front, Armenia
File:MountArarat.jpg|View of Ararat from [[Iğdır]], Turkey
File:Ağrı Dağı - Doğubeyazıt, Ağrı.jpg|From Doğubeyazıt
File:Büyük ve Küçük Ağrı Dağı.jpg|From Nakhchivan
File:Raffi kojian-ararat-123321945.jpg|Mt. Ararat from airplane
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Mount Elbrus]]
*[[Mount Judi]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist
|refs =
<ref name="Adalian">{{cite book |last = Adalian |first = Rouben Paul |title = Historical Dictionary of Armenia |year = 2010 |publisher = Scarecrow Press |location = Lanham, Maryland |isbn = 978-0-8108-7450-3 |author-link = Rouben Paul Adalian |page =[https://books.google.com/books?id=QS-vSjHObOYC&pg=PA85 85] }}</ref>

<ref name="iranicaonline">{{cite web |last = de Planhol |first = X. |title = Ararat |url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ararat-mount-pers |website =[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |year = 1986 |access-date = 2015-11-03 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151102042503/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ararat-mount-pers |archive-date = 2015-11-02 |url-status = live }}</ref>

<ref name="Worldwide Destinations">{{cite book |last1=Boniface |first1=Brian |last2=Cooper |first2=Chris |last3=Cooper |first3=Robyn |title = Worldwide Destinations: The Geography of Travel and Tourism |year=2012 |publisher = Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-52277-9 |page=338 |edition=6th |quote = The snow-capped peak of Ararat is a holy mountain and national symbol for Armenians, dominating the horizon in the capital, Erevan, yet it is virtually inaccessible as it lies across the border in Turkey.}}</ref>

<ref name="Fischer">{{cite book |first = Richard James |last = Fischer |title = Historical Genesis: From Adam to Abraham |contribution = Mount Ararat |year=2007 |publisher = University Press of America |isbn=9780761838074 |pages=109–111 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4qX0bQs0eEYC&pg=PA109 |access-date=2016-11-03 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190128072142/https://books.google.com/books?id=4qX0bQs0eEYC&pg=PA109 |archive-date=2019-01-28 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="Arm stamp">{{cite news |last = Healey |first = Barth |title = STAMPS; For Armenia, Rainbows And Eagles in Flight |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/23/style/stamps-for-armenia-rainbows-and-eagles-in-flight.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=23 August 1992 |access-date=11 February 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160805215812/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/23/style/stamps-for-armenia-rainbows-and-eagles-in-flight.html |archive-date = 5 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="William of Rubruck">{{cite book |author = William of Rubruck |author-link = William of Rubruck |translator = W. W. Rockhill |translator-link = William Woodville Rockhill |title = The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World, 1253–55 |year=1998 |publisher=[[Asian Educational Services]] |location = New Delhi |isbn=978-81-206-1338-6 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ELmBrO-ipYIC&pg=PA271 269–270] |quote = [...] mountains in which they say that Noah's ark rests; and there are two mountains, the one greater than the other; and the Araxes flows at their base [...] Many have tried to climb it, but none has been able. [...] An old man gave me quite a good reason why one ought not to try to climb it. They call the mountain Massis [...] "No one," he said, "ought to climb up Massis; it is the mother of the world."}}</ref>

<ref name="SiebertOther2010a">Siebert, L., T. Simkin, and P. Kimberly (2010) ''Volcanoes of the world, 3rd ed.'' University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 551 pp. {{ISBN|978-0-520-26877-7}}.</ref>

<ref name="KarakhanianOther2004a">{{cite journal |last1=Karakhanian|first1=A.S. |last2=Trifonov|first2=V.G. |last3=Philip|first3=H. |last4=Avagyan|first4=A. |last5=Hessami|first5=K. |last6=Jamali|first6=F. |last7=Bayraktutan|first7=M. S. |last8=Bagdassarian|first8=H. |last9=Arakelian|first9=S. |last10=Davtian|first10=V. |last11=Adilkhanyan |first11=A. |title = Active faulting and natural hazards in Armenia, Eastern Turkey and North-Western Iran |journal=[[Tectonophysics (journal)|Tectonophysics]] |year=2004 |volume=380 |issue=3–4 |pages=189–219 |doi = 10.1016/j.tecto.2003.09.020 |bibcode=2004Tectp.380..189K }}</ref>

<ref name="АрутюнянOthers2005a">{{cite journal |last = Haroutiunian |first = R. A. |title = Катастрофическое извержение вулкана Арарат 2 июля 1840 года |trans-title = Catastrophic eruption of volcano Ararat on 2 july, 1840 |journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia: Earth Sciences |year=2005 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=27–35 |url = http://earth.asj-oa.am/3202/ |language=ru |issn=0515-961X |access-date=2015-11-26 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151207231822/http://earth.asj-oa.am/3202/ |archive-date=2015-12-07 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="TaymazOther1991a">{{cite journal |last1=Taymaz |first1=Tuncay |last2=Eyidog̃an |first2=Haluk |last3=Jackson |first3=James |title = Source parameters of large earthquakes in the East Anatolian fault zone (Turkey) |journal=[[Geophysical Journal International]] |year=1991 |volume=106 |issue=3 |pages=537–550 |doi = 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1991.tb06328.x |bibcode=1991GeoJI.106..537T |doi-access=free }}</ref>

<ref name="Shirinian">{{cite book |first=Lorne |last=Shirinian |year=1992 |title = The Republic of Armenia and the rethinking of the North-American Diaspora in literature |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]] |location=[[Lewiston, New York]] |isbn=978-0773496132 |page=78 }}</ref>

<ref name="Balci">{{cite book |last = Balci |first = Bayram |editor1-last=Agadjanian |editor1-first=Alexander |editor2-last=Jödicke |editor2-first=Ansgar |editor3-last = van der Zweerde |editor3-first = Evert |title = Religion, Nation and Democracy in the South Caucasus |contribution = Between ambition and realism: Turkey's engagement in the South Caucasus |year=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-69157-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=axTEBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA260 260] |quote = Armenia has not officially expressed territorial claims in respect of Turkey but the regular references to the genocide and to Mount Ararat, a national symbol for Armenians which is situated in contemporary Turkey, clearly indicates that the border with their eastern neighbour is contested.}}</ref>

<ref name="Peroomian">{{cite book |last=Peroomian |first=Rubina |editor-last=Hovannisian |editor-first=Richard |editor-link = Richard G. Hovannisian |title = The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies |year=2007 |publisher = Transaction Publishers |isbn=9781412835923 |page=113 |chapter = Historical Memory: Threading the Contemporary Literature of Armenia |quote = ...the majestic duo of Sis and Masis (the two peaks of Mount Ararat) that hover above the Erevan landscape are constant reminders of the historical injustice.}}</ref>

<ref name="Delitzsch">{{cite book |last = Delitzsch |first = Franz |author-link = Franz Delitzsch |title = New Commentary on Genesis |year=2001 |publisher = Wipf and Stock Publishers |page =[https://books.google.com/books?id=RrVKAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA274 274] |isbn = 978-1-57910-813-7 |quote = The Armenians call Little Ararat ''sis'' and Great Ararat ''masis'', whence it seems that great, the meaning of ''meds'', is contained in ''ma''.}}</ref>

<ref name="Fürst">[[Julius Fürst]] cited in {{cite book |last1=Exell |first1=Joseph |last2=Jones |first2=William |last3=Barlow |first3=George |last4=Scott |first4 = W. Frank |display-authors=etal |year=1892 |title = The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary }} "...the present Aghri Dagh or the great Ararat (Pers. Kuhi Nuch, i.e. Noah's mountain, in the classics ὁ ἄβος, Armen. massis)..." (Furst.) [https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/phc/genesis-8.html view online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812060822/https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/phc/genesis-8.html |date=2016-08-12 }}</ref>

<ref name="encyclopedia.am">{{cite web |title = Մասիսներ |trans-title = Masisner |url = http://www.encyclopedia.am/pages.php?bId=2&hId=525 |website = encyclopedia.am |language=hy |access-date=2016-06-13 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160816214258/http://www.encyclopedia.am/pages.php?bId=2&hId=525 |archive-date=2016-08-16 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="Hewsen">{{cite book |last = Hewsen |first = Robert H. |author-link = Robert H. Hewsen |title = Armenia: A Historical Atlas |publisher = University of Chicago Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-226-33228-4 |page=15 |contribution = Armenia: The Physical Setting—Mt. Ararat }}</ref>

<ref name="Lottman">{{cite news |last=Lottman |first = Herbert R. |author-link = Herbert Lottman |title = Despite Ages of Captivity, The Armenians Persevere |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/29/archives/despite-ages-of-captivity-the-armenians-persevere-armenia-a-hint-of.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date = 29 February 1976 |page=287 |access-date = 11 February 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160723004452/http://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/29/archives/despite-ages-of-captivity-the-armenians-persevere-armenia-a-hint-of.html |archive-date = 23 July 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

<ref name="JewEnc">{{cite book |last1 = Jastrow |first1 = Morris Jr. |last2=Kent |first2 = Charles Foster |author1-link = Morris Jastrow Jr. |author2-link = Charles Foster Kent |title = Jewish Encyclopedia Volume II |contribution = Ararat |year = 1902 |publisher = Funk & Wagnalls Co. |location = New York, NY |page=[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924091768196#page/n109/mode/2up/search/ararat 73] |quote = The mountain itself is known as Ararat only among Occidental geographers. The Armenians call it Massis, the Turks Aghri Dagh, and the Persians Koh i Nuh, or "the mountain of Noah." |title-link = Jewish Encyclopedia }} [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1711-ararat view online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125000323/http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1711-ararat |date=2015-11-25 }}</ref>

<ref name="vos">{{cite book |first = Howard F. |last=Vos |editor-last=Bromiley |editor-first = Geoffrey W. |editor-link = Geoffrey W. Bromiley |title = [[International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]]: Volume Two: E-J |contribution = Flood (Genesis) |year=1982 |publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-0-8028-3782-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=yklDk6Vv0l4C&dq=ararat&pg=PA319 319] |edition = fully revised }}</ref>

<ref name="Duzer">{{cite book |last1=Van Duzer |first1=Chet |author1-link=Chet van Duzer |title=Martin Waldseemüller's 'Carta marina' of 1516: Study and Transcription of the Long Legends |date=2020 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-22703-6 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-22703-6 |pages=35–37|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-22703-6 }}</ref>

}}

=== Sources ===
==== General works cited in the article ====
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |first=Movses |last=Khorenats'i |author-link=Movses Khorenatsi |translator=[[Robert W. Thomson]] |title=History of the Armenians |date=1978 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts & London |isbn=0-674-39571-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Panossian |first=Razmik |title = The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars |year=2006 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location = New York, NY |isbn=9780231139267 |author-link = Razmik Panossian |url = https://archive.org/details/armeniansfromkin00razm }}
* {{cite book |last=Arnold |first = Bill T. |title = Genesis |year=2008 |publisher = Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-00067-3 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfstnHO_AmgC&pg=PA104 }}
* {{cite thesis |last = Adriaans |first = Rik |title = Sonorous Borders: National Cosmology & the Mediation of Collective Memory in Armenian Ethnopop Music |url = http://dare.uva.nl/cgi/arno/show.cgi?fid=224083 |institution =[[University of Amsterdam]] |pages=24–27 |degree = M.Sc. |year=2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305121009/http://dare.uva.nl/cgi/arno/show.cgi?fid=224083 |archive-date = 2016-03-05 }}
{{refend}}

==== Specific works on Ararat ====
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last = Parrot |first = Friedrich |author-link = Friedrich Parrot |translator = William Desborough Cooley |translator-link = William Desborough Cooley |others = Introduction by Pietro A. Shakarian |title = Journey to Ararat |year=2016 |orig-year=1846 |publisher = [[Gomidas Institute]] |location = London, England |isbn=978-1909382244 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Dwight |first=H.G.O. |author-link = Harrison Gray Otis Dwight |title = Armenian Traditions about Mt. Ararat |journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]] |year=1856 |volume=5 |pages=189–191 |jstor=592222 |doi=10.2307/592222 }}
* {{cite book |last = Bryce |first = James |author-link = James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce |title = Transcaucasia and Ararat: Being Notes of a Vacation Tour in Autumn of 1876 |year = 1877 |publisher = Macmillan & Co. |location = London, England |url = https://archive.org/stream/transcaucasiaara00bryciala }}
* {{cite book |last = Murad |first = Friedrich |title = Ararat und Masis: Studien zur armenischen Altertumskunde und Litteratur |year = 1901 |publisher = [[:de:Universitätsverlag Winter|Carl Winters Universitätsbuchhandlung]] |location = [[Heidelberg]] |url = https://archive.org/details/araratundmasiss00frigoog |language = de }}
* {{cite book |last = Novoseltsev |first = Anatoly |author-link = Anatoly Novoseltsev |title = Европа в древности и средневековье |trans-title = Europe in the antiquity and the Middle Ages |contribution = О местонахождении библейской "горы Арарат" (On the location of the biblical "mountains of Ararat") |year = 1978 |publisher = Nauka |location = Moscow |pages = 61–66 |url = http://annales.info/blacksea/ararat.rar.htm |language = ru }}
* {{cite journal |last = Ketchian |first = Philip K. |title = Climbing Ararat: Then and Now |journal = [[The Armenian Weekly]] |volume = 71 |issue = 52 |date = 24 December 2005 |url = http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/fea12240501.htm |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090908015245/http://www.hairenik.com/armenianweekly/fea12240501.htm |archive-date = 2009-09-08 }}
* {{cite book |last=Melkonyan |first=Ashot |author-link = :hy:Աշոտ Մելքոնյան (պատմաբան) |title = Արարատ. Հայոց անմահության խորհուրդը |trans-title = Ararat: Symbol of Armenian Immortality |year=2008 |publisher = Tigrant Mets Publishing |location = [[Yerevan]] |language=hy }}
* {{cite journal |last=Petrossyan |first=Sargis |title=Արարատյան լեռների հին անունների և անվանադիրների մասին |trans-title=About the Ancient Names and Eponyms of the Ararat Mountains |journal=[[Patma-Banasirakan Handes]] |volume=3 |year=2010 |issue=3 |pages=220–227 |url=http://hpj.asj-oa.am/2877/ }}
* {{cite book |last=Antonson |first=Rick |title=Full Moon over Noah's Ark: An Odyssey to Mount Ararat and Beyond |url=http://skyhorsepublishing.com/titles/496-9781510705654-full-moon-over-noahs-ark |year=2016 |publisher=[[Skyhorse Publishing]] |isbn=9781510705678 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Petrosyan |first=Armen |title=Biblical Mt. Ararat: Two Identifications |journal=Comparative Mythology |year=2016 |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=68–80 |url=http://compmyth.org/journal/index.php/cm/article/view/15 |issn=2409-9899 |access-date=2018-06-11 |archive-date=2019-12-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209191138/https://compmyth.org/journal/index.php/cm/article/view/15 |url-status=dead }}
{{refend}}

==== Books on Armenia with Ararat in their titles ====
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last = Gregory |first = S. M. |title = The land of Ararat: twelve discourses on Armenia, her history and her church |year=1920 |publisher=[[Chiswick Press]] |location = London, England |url = https://archive.org/details/landofararattwel00greguoft }}
* {{cite book |last = Elliott |first = Mabel Evelyn |others = Introduction by John H. Finley |title = Beginning Again at Ararat |year=1924 |publisher = Fleming H. Revell Company |location = New York, NY |url = https://archive.org/details/beginningagainat001962mbp }}
* {{cite book |last=Yeghenian |first = Aghavnie Y. |others = Introduction by Pietro A. Shakarian |title = The Red Flag at Ararat |year=2013 |orig-year=1932 |publisher = Sterndale Classics (Gomidas Institute) |location = London, England |isbn=978-1909382022 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Burney |first1=Charles |last2=Lang |first2=David Marshall |author1-link = Charles A. Burney |author2-link = David Marshall Lang |title = The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus |year=1971 |publisher=Praeger |location = New York, NY }}
* {{cite book |last = Arlen |first = Michael J. |author-link = Michael J. Arlen |title = Passage to Ararat |year=2006 |orig-year=1975 |publisher = Farrar, Straus & Giroux |location = New York, NY |isbn=978-0374530129 }}
* {{cite book |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigor |author-link = Ronald Grigor Suny |title = Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History |year=1993 |publisher = Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0253207739 |url = https://archive.org/details/lookingtowardara00rona }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Walker |editor-first = Christopher J. |editor-link = Christopher J. Walker |title = Visions of Ararat: Writings on Armenia |year=1997 |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] |isbn=9781860641114 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Asher |first1=Armen |last2 = Minasian Asher |first2=Teryl |title = The Peoples of Ararat |year=2009 |publisher = BookSurge Publishing |isbn=978-1439225677 }}
* {{cite book |last=Golden |first=Christopher |author-link = Christopher Golden |title = Ararat |year=2017 |publisher = St. Martin's Press |isbn = 978-1250117052 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Mount Ararat}}
* {{EI2|last1=Streck|first1=M.|last2=Taeschner|first2=F.|title=Ag̲h̲ri̊̊ Dag̲h̲|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/aghri-dagh-SIM_0369?s.num=3&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=Igdir|volume=1}}
* {{cite gvp|name=Ararat|vn=213040|access-date=2021-06-25}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20021219165527/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4996 NASA Earth Observatory page] (archived 19 December 2002)
*[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325952336 The Flora of Agri mountain (Ağrı Dağı'nın Florası)] (PDF)

{{Mountains of Turkey}}
{{Highest points of Asia}}
{{Noah's Ark}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ararat, Mount}}
[[Category:Mount Ararat| ]]
[[Category:Mountains of Turkey]]
[[Category:Stratovolcanoes of Turkey]]
[[Category:Five-thousanders of the Armenian Highlands]]
[[Category:Geography of Western Armenia]]
[[Category:Highest points of countries]]
[[Category:Landforms of Iğdır Province]]
[[Category:Landforms of Ağrı Province]]
[[Category:Mythological mountains]]
[[Category:Sacred mountains]]
[[Category:National symbols of Armenia]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of Turkey]]