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,
Ararat Plain 4000 BC. Ararat Plain The Ararat plain ( "Araratyan dasht") is one of the largest of the Armenian Plateau. It stretches west of the Sevan basin, at the foothills of the Geghama mountains. In the north, the plain borders on Mount Aragats, and Mount Ararat in the south. It is divided into two sections by the Aras River, the northern part located in Armenia, and the southern part in Turkey. The Medieval Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi recorded in his "History of Armenia" that the Ararat plain was named after King Ara the Handsome, the great-grandson of Amasya. The Ararat plain