Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark (Hebrew: תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: Tevat Noaḥ) is the boat in the Genesis flood narrative through which God spares Noah, his family, and one pair of every animal species in the world from a global deluge. The story in Genesis is based on earlier Mesopotamian flood myths. The myth of the global flood that destroys all life begins to appear in the Old Babylonian Empire period (20th–16th centuries BCE). The version closest to the biblical story of Noah, as well as its most likely source, is that of Utnapishtim in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Scholars note shared themes, dimensions, and language but different causes for the flood. Scholars also link its structure to the Jewish Temple. Religious traditions from Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Gnosticism, Mandaeism, and the Baháʼí Faith each developed distinct interpretations, often assigning spiritual symbolism to the Ark, its construction, or its occupants. Early Christian and Jewish writers, such as Flavius Josephus, believed that Noah's Ark existed. Unsuccessful searches for Noah's Ark have been made from at least the time of Eusebius (c. 275–339 CE). The story is repeated, with variations, in the Quran, where the Ark appears as Safinat Nūḥ (Arabic: سَفِينَةُ نُوحٍ "Noah's ship") and al-fulk (Arabic: الفُلْك). Its cultural legacy endures in literature, theology, art, and large-scale modern reconstructions. Believers in the Ark continue to search for it in modern times, but no scientific evidence that the Ark existed has ever been found, nor is there scientific evidence for a global flood. According to Robert Moore, the boat and the natural disaster as described in the Bible would have been contingent upon physical impossibilities. Some researchers believe that a real (though localized) flood event in West Asia could potentially have inspired the oral and later written narratives; a Persian Gulf flood, or a Black Sea Deluge 7,500 years ago has been proposed as such a historical candidate.