SScientists have deciphered the world’s oldest map, carved on a clay tablet some 3,000 years ago, and discovered that it contains the location of Noah’s Ark.
A Babylonian artifact known as Imago Mundi shows a circular diagram with a writing system that used wedge-shaped symbols to explain the early creation of the world.
Researchers at the British Museum, where the tablet is housed, revealed the decipherment last month, and a deeper analysis of the findings revealed references to the Bible in the ancient language.
The back of the tablet acts like a key and explains what the traveler will see on their journey, with one section reading, “Seven Leagues Must Be Passed.” [to] Look at something thick like the vessel of Parsiktu. ”
The word “parsictu” also appears on other ancient Babylonian tablets, specifically to describe the size of a ship needed to survive the Great Flood.
Following the instructions, researchers found a way to Urartu, where an ancient Mesopotamian poem tells of a man and his family landing an ark to save their lives.
The place is the Assyrian word for the Hebrew word “Ararat,” meaning the mountain on which Noah crashed the Biblical ship built for the same purpose.
Dr Irving Finkel, curator of the British Museum, said: “This shows that the stories were the same, and not just that one led to the other, of course, but that from a Babylonian perspective this It also shows that it was a natural thing to do.”
“If you go on this trip, you’ll be able to see the remains of this historic ship.”
Imago Mundi, also known as the Babylonian World Map, was discovered in 1882 in the ancient Babylonian city of Sippar, in present-day Iraq, by the famous archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam.
Imago Mundi has baffled researchers ever since it was discovered in 1882 in what is now known as Iraq.
This ancient document, written in cuneiform, was used only by the Babylonians and contained astronomical events, future predictions, and maps of what was then thought to be the entire “known world.”
At the bottom center of the map is Mesopotamia, surrounded by a circle representing the “Bitter River” that was believed to encircle the entire world.
The tablet has since been damaged, but once had eight triangles drawn on it, which researchers determined represented a mountain, matching the description on the reverse.
yeahNo. 4 “has to travel seven leagues to No. 4,” Dr. Finkel said in a YouTube video.
He went on to explain that this passage continues to explain how the traveler eventually encounters a huge ship.
‘This measurement of Persictu is jarring to Assyriologists, and in fact it is the only other time that anything else is known from a cuneiform tablet, and this is also a rather interesting cuneiform tablet. Yes,” Dr. Finkel said.
“Because it is theoretically a Babylonian version of the description of the ark built by Noah.”
There are instructions on how to read the map on the back of the tablet. In one passage, a traveler travels through the sea and comes to Urartu, where an ancient Mesopotamian poem says a man and his family landed in an ark to save their lives.
The place is the Assyrian word for the Hebrew word “Ararat,” meaning the mountain on which Noah crashed the Biblical ship built for the same purpose.
In the Babylonian version of this story, the god Ea caused a flood that wiped out all humanity except Utnapishtim and his family. At God’s command, Utnapishtim and his family built an ark and filled it with animals.
“In this account, the details are given: God says, “You must do this, this, and this,” and Noah the Babylonian says, “I did this, this, and this.” Yay! And I created these structures as containers of thick parsictu,” said Dr. Finkel.
The story of Gilgamesh’s flood is known from clay tablets from about 3,000 years ago, and the Biblical flood occurred about 5,000 years ago.
Dr. Finkle explained that anyone who traveled the road to Urartu would theoretically see the wooden ribs of the ship atop the mountain “just like the ones in the Bible.”
According to the Bible, the ark settled on Mount Ararat in Turkey after a 150-day flood that submerged the earth and all living creatures not contained within the wooden ship.
And the mountain of problems It features a peak that matches the shape and dimensions of Noah’s Ark.
The dimensions of this ship are said to be “300 cubits, 50 cubits, and 30 cubits,” which corresponds to a maximum length of 515 feet, width of 86 feet, and height of 52 feet.
The idea that the Ark landed in Ararat is shrouded in controversy, with some scientists claiming that this formation was formed by nature and others convinced that it came from a higher power. There is.
A team of experts led by Istanbul Technical University has been excavating the mountain for years and in 2023 will uncover clay, marine materials and seafood that are believed to have been inhabited by humans 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. revealed what he had discovered.
However, Dr Andrew Snelling, a young earth creationist with a PhD, and professors at the University of Sydney, have previously said that Mount Ararat could not have been the site of the Ark because it was not formed until after the floodwaters had receded.
Although considered a historical event, most scholars and archaeologists do not believe in interpreting the story of the Ark literally.
