It was generally--we might say universally--believed by all Christians, almost of all ages, before the days of the higher critics, that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) was written by Moses. It is not improbable that when he composed or compiled the book of Genesis he was in possession of oral traditions and traditional documents, handed down to his time from these sources. It is one of these older written accounts which states that the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. Another old tradition handed down and preserved in writing is that of another Moses. Moses of Khorene, the Armenian Herodotus, who states that this central part of Armenia was formerly called Ararat. The author of the Book of Genesis is accurate and precise in his knowledge of the fact that Ararat is the name of the country upon whose mountains the tempest-tossed vessel of the Patriarch rested. Whether his knowledge was due to Divine inspiration, or to a historical fact preserved and handed down to his time (it may be both), we cannot tell. But the accuracy of the statement, which stood the criticisms of centuries, and especially this age of criticism, had a rightful claim to acceptance by all. Ararat is also mentioned in three other books of the Old Testament, namely, II Kings 19:37, Isaiah 37:36, and Jeremiah 51:27. The first two passages are identical in import and speak of the escape of Adrammelech and Sharezer “into the land of Ararat” after having committed the crime of patricide. In the third passage, Jeremiah summons the forces of Armenia to join the Medes to overthrow Babylon in these words: “Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her (Babylon), call together against her the Kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashchenaz.... Prepare against her the nations with the Kings of the Medes.” The following is from an inscription of Assur-Natsir-Pal the King of Assyria, and the date of his reign is assigned by Prof. Sayce from B.C. 883 to 858. “The cities of Khatu, Khotaru, Nistun, Irbidi ... the cities of Qurkhi which in sight of the mountains, of M’su, Arua and Arardhi, mighty mountains, are situated, I captured.” Professor Sayce remarks that “Arardhi seems to be the earliest form of Urardhu (of later Assyrian inscriptions), the Biblical Ararat.”[6] The passages from the Bible and the Assyrian inscriptions show beyond doubt that Ararat was the earliest name of Armenia, and it was not the name of a mountain; and that the ark of Noah rested upon “the mountains of” Ararat or Armenia.