Mount Ararat 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." The 13th century Franciscan missionary 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. The 14th century English traveler John Mandeville is another early author who mentioned Mount Ararat, "where Noah's ship rested, and it is still there." Most Christians identify Mount Ararat with the biblical "mountains of Ararat," despite the fact that six other landing places have been proposed,
Caucasus Mountains over 4,500 m height with 300 m prominence. Mount Ararat (5,137 m) in Turkey is just south of the lesser Caucasus. The climate of the Caucasus varies both vertically (according to elevation) and horizontally (by latitude and location). Temperature generally decreases as elevation rises. Average annual temperature in Sukhumi, Abkhazia at sea level is while on the slopes of Mt.Kazbek at an elevation of , average annual temperature falls to. The northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range are 3 °C (5.4 °F) colder than the southern slopes. The highlands of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and