Mountain of
the ark.
Place of
descent.
Progress of
knowledge
in the old
world.
Mesezousar, or mountain of the ark.1 In the Hebrew, we meet
with Har-Irad, or mountain of descent,2 and Shamanim (mountain
of the eight), all denoting that the Patriarch first touched
the earth at this place. As a farther commemoration of this
important event, we find at the foot of the mountain in question,
a district and town called Arnohwote, or Noah placed foot,3
also a spot called Akhooree, that is, he (Noah) planted a vineyard,
4 and in the same vicinity was built the city of Nakhchivan,
probably the Aporateeion of Josephus ;5 the place from which
the first colonies emigrated, taking with them the knowledge
that had existed in the former world.
The extent of this knowledge may be fairly presumed to
have been considerable, having been acquired during sixteen
centuries; unless we suppose that man in his original state,
although possessing in an eminent degree the requisite powers
of body and mind, continued for so long a period without
instruction, or the benefit of experience. This, however, would
be incompatible with his nature, his wants, and his aptitude for
learning and improvement. Indeed we are warranted in
believing that the reverse was the case. A knowledge of the
animal and vegetable world, had, as we know, been imparted
to mankind at the creation ;6 and, amongst those nations who
have had the least intercourse with the rest of the world, it may
be seen that a clear stream of knowledge has descended through
succeeding generations. The arts of life evidently belonged
to the earliest state of the old world: the Cainites, for
instance, who were by many years the older of the two sections
of mankind, invented weights and measures,7 and worked in
metals,8 being artists in general.9 They were likewise mu1
Tavernier’s Travels, book I., ch. ii.
2 Bryant’s Mythology, vol. I I I ., p. 5.
3 Derived, according to Moses Choronensis, from the Armenian words
—Ar, placed ; Noli, Noah ; and wote, foot.
4 From the Armenian—Akh, he planted; and oor, vines. No. V I I I .,
p. 339, of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
5 Or Apobaterion: Antiq., lib. I., c. iii., sec. 5.
6 Gen., chap. L, v. 27 ; chap. I I ., v. 19, 20.
, 7 Jos., lib. I ., c. ii. s. 2. 8 Gen., chap. IV., v. 22.
9 Tubal Cain, translated into English, is brassfounder or artist.
sicians,1 and also acquainted with the more ordinary arts of life.
They were shepherds,2 agriculturists, and architects ; they were
also skilled in the formation of defensive works; for they constructed
the fortified city of Hanock or Enoch ; and they were
the first who made the sword.3
A very advanced state of science was no doubt the result of Knowledge
that knowledge which had been imparted by the Creator to Adam.
Adam, who, it will be remembered, lived during three-fourths
of the whole antediluvian period, to transmit this knowledge to
his descendants. We are therefore warranted in believing that
the progress of the antediluvians must have exceeded any
estimate founded upon the present life of man.
We are informed that Seth’s line persevered in the worship
of the true God, and in the contemplation of His wisdom, also
in the study of the motions of the heavenly bodies, the result
of which, it appears, they engraved on two pillars, one of
stone, the other of brick;4 and it is added, that Enoch was Seth’s line
the promoter of new inventions or discoveries, as astrology, astronomy,
or astronomy.5 Even if these circumstances had not been
noticed by Josephus6 and other ancient writers, we could not
doubt that some kind of knowledge of the latter science must
have existed almost from the origin of the human race;
indeed, the concerns of life, even in the very rudest state
of society, would have rendered this indispensable, and the
necessity would be still greater in the agricultural state, in
order to ascertain the duration of the seasons, and regulate the
operations connected with seed-time and harvest, as objects
of this nature could not be accomplished without daily observations
: these attentively made, must, in the course of time,
have enabled the ancients to determine the motions of the
heavenly bodies with considerable precision,7 without any other
assistance than such as was derived from the fields as an horizon,
1 Gen., chap. IV ., v. 21. 2 Verse 20.
8 Gen., chap. IV ., v. 17. 2 2 ; Jos., lib. I., c. ii.
4 Georgius Cedrenus, p. 16. Bekker, Bonn, 1838.
5 Euseb. Prsep., lib. IX ., c. 17, p. 419.
6 Ant., lib. I . , c. ii., sec. 3.
7 Historical Account of Astronomy, by John Narrien, Esq., F.R.A.S. and
F.R.S., pp. 38, 55, &c.