Noah's Ark site on Mount Cudi (Judi) - Turkey

3D Model

The longstanding traditional site for the resting place of Noah’s Ark described in the Bible in Genesis 8 is not the present Mount Ararat, but what is known as Mount Cudi, or Mount Judi. It is part of the “mountains of Ararat” as mentioned in the Bible. It was the site mentioned and visited by numerous early Jewish and Christian historians and pilgrims.

In Tractate Sanhedrin by Rabbi Papa (AD 300-375) we are told it was climbed by Assyrian King Sennacherib on his return from campaigns in Israel. He retrieved a piece of the ark (as was common for visitors to do), and had fashioned it into an idol of worship. Stories tell us he was in the temple praying to the idol and said if he was given victory in his next campaigns, he would sacrifice his two sons to it. His sons overhearing this slew him in the temple and fled into the region of Ararat.

Many of the structures seen in the image are chapels and dwellings built by monks and pilgrims over time, including a monastery destroyed by lightning in AD 776.