Relic reveals Noah's ark was circular

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SlyPokerDog

SlyPokerDog

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According to newly translated instructions inscribed in ancient Babylonian on a clay tablet telling the story of the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family and the animals from god's watery wrath was not the pointy-prowed craft of popular imagination but rather a giant circular reed raft.

The now battered tablet, aged about 3,700 years, was found somewhere in the Middle East by Leonard Simmons, a largely self-educated Londoner who indulged his passion for history while serving in the RAF from 1945 to 1948.

There are dozens of ancient tablets that have been found which describe the flood story but Finkel says this one is the first to describe the vessel's shape.

"In all the images ever made people assumed the ark was, in effect, an ocean-going boat, with a pointed stem and stern for riding the waves – so that is how they portrayed it," said Finkel. "But the ark didn't have to go anywhere, it just had to float, and the instructions are for a type of craft which they knew very well. It's still sometimes used in Iran and Iraq today, a type of round coracle which they would have known exactly how to use to transport animals across a river or floods."

Finkel's research throws light on the familiar Mesopotamian story, which became the account in Genesis, in the Old Testament, of Noah and the ark that saved his menagerie from the waters which drowned every other living thing on earth.

In his translation, the god who has decided to spare one just man speaks to Atram-Hasis, a Sumerian king who lived before the flood and who is the Noah figure in earlier versions of the ark story. "Wall, wall! Reed wall, reed wall! Atram-Hasis, pay heed to my advice, that you may live forever! Destroy your house, build a boat; despise possessions And save life! Draw out the boat that you will built with a circular design; Let its length and breadth be the same."

The tablet goes on to command the use of plaited palm fibre, waterproofed with bitumen, before the construction of cabins for the people and wild animals.

It ends with the dramatic command of Atram-Hasis to the unfortunate boat builder whom he leaves behind to meet his fate, about sealing up the door once everyone else is safely inside: "When I shall have gone into the boat, Caulk the frame of the door!"

Fortunes were spent in the 19th century by biblical archaeology enthusiasts in hunts for evidence of Noah's flood. The Mesopotamian flood myth was incorporated into the great poetic epic Gilgamesh, and Finkel, curator of the recent British Museum exhibition on ancient Babylon, believes that it was during the Babylonian captivity that the exiled Jews learned the story, brought it home with them, and incorporated it into the Old Testament.

Despite its unique status, Simmons' tablet – which has been dated to around 1,700 BC and is only a few centuries younger than the oldest known account – was very nearly overlooked.

"When my dad eventually came home, he shipped a whole tea chest of this kind of stuff home – seals, tablets, bits of pottery," said Douglas. "He would have picked them up in bazaars, or when people knew he was interested in this sort of thing, they would have brought them to him and earned a few bob."

Simmons senior became a scenery worker at the BBC, but kept up his love of history, and was very disappointed when academics dismissed treasures of his as commonplace and worthless. His son took the tablet to a British Museum open day, where Finkel "took one look at it and nearly fell off his chair" with excitement.

"It is the most extraordinary thing," Simmons said of the tablet. "You hold it in your hand, and you instantly get a feeling that you are directly connected to a very ancient past – and it gives you a shiver down your spine."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/01/noahs-ark-was-circular
 
All this time I was thinking there's no way you can stick countless types of beetles, ants, giraffes, kangaroos and polar bears on a pointy ship.

But a round, reedy ship....it all makes sense now.
 
mook said:
All this time I was thinking there's no way you can stick countless types of beetles, ants, giraffes, kangaroos and polar bears on a pointy ship.

But a round, reedy ship....it all makes sense now.
Click to expand...

rofl
 
Noah, the only 'human' to live to 950 years old.

This is fairy tale crap. It's 2010 people! get with it.
 
mook said:
All this time I was thinking there's no way you can stick countless types of beetles, ants, giraffes, kangaroos and polar bears on a pointy ship.

But a round, reedy ship....it all makes sense now.
Click to expand...

I see your point...............the ancient Sumerians..........round, reedy, of course.
 
mook said:
All this time I was thinking there's no way you can stick countless types of beetles, ants, giraffes, kangaroos and polar bears on a pointy ship.

But a round, reedy ship....it all makes sense now.
Click to expand...

:biglaugh:
 
Great quote -

The Mesopotamian flood myth was incorporated into the great poetic epic Gilgamesh, and Finkel, curator of the recent British Museum exhibition on ancient Babylon, believes that it was during the Babylonian captivity that the exiled Jews learned the story, brought it home with them, and incorporated it into the Old Testament.
Click to expand...

Just a matter of time before this gets incorporated into the Old Testament...

[video=youtube;u1kqqMXWEFs]
 
Fez W. Bush said:
Noah, the only 'human' to live to 950 years old.

This is fairy tale crap. It's 2010 people! get with it.
Click to expand...

Let's wait to see how old Keith Richards lives to be before we call it "fairy tale crap". He's the undead.
 
Fez W. Bush said:
Noah, the only 'human' to live to 950 years old.

This is fairy tale crap. It's 2010 people! get with it.
Click to expand...

not to get into a religious/non religious argument with you. But The Bible has Methusalah (sp?) as living to 969 years, so if you are quoting this article (I didnt read it) that part is incorrect in the article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methuselah
 
How do you get round from "300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high?"
 
BlazerWookee said:
How do you get round from "300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high?"
Click to expand...

Typo. It was supposed to say, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits deep and 300 cubits wide.

Just remember, when building your arc, measure twice, cut once.

BNM
 
Why was the ark round?

So Noah wouldn't get cornered by the devil.
 
Fez W. Bush said:
Or sea monsters.

They were a legitimate hazard in that era.


....Sea monsters
Click to expand...

But if he couldn't control it, how did he keep from floating off the end of the earth, after all, it was flat then.....:devilwink:
 
If I were building an ark, I'd make it round too. And engineer a donut hole in the middle.

You're going to be shoveling several tons of feces every day. Might as well make it as easy as possible to get to the edge of the boat to throw it over. Maybe even line up the animals so their asses hang over the side?
 
Fez W. Bush said:
Or sea monsters.

They were a legitimate hazard in that era.


....Sea monsters
Click to expand...

Oddly enough...

Is the Loch Ness Monster dead?

Fears are being raised for the famous creature following a lack of 'credible' sightings during the past year.

The Loch Ness Monster may be dead, according to a leading Nessie enthusiast.

Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, said only one sighting - made just off the Clansman Hotel on June 6 last year - was judged in his opinion to have been the only ‘credible’ report of the monster in 2009.

Mr Campbell stated such reports are increasingly rare. He added: "That's why we're so relieved to have heard about this sighting. In June, when it was reported, nobody had seen anything for a year. If it hadn't been for that one, we would have been really, really worried. There is an embarrassment factor to seeing Nessie. The first thing people say to you is, 'Had you had a drink?'"
Click to expand...

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/highlands-islands/148214-is-the-loch-ness-monster-dead/

First Michael Jackson, now Nessie. RIP, we hardly knew ya (and rarely saw ya)
 
This isn't the first time that the Christians stole a story from another group and then godified it and put it in their bible. This was probably a story about some dude who survived a pretty normal flood. Just like how Jesus was based off of a Jewish hero who fought against the Romans.
 
Fez W. Bush said:
Ah, Nessie, our underwater ally.
Click to expand...

I thought Aquaman was our underwater ally.

I wonder how long Nessie can be out of water and if he can catch a basketball in his mouth? Might solve our problems at center. He can live in the Willamette river between games.
 
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