Case file · Folklore / legend
Saint Jacob and the wood of Noah's Ark
The 5th-century Armenian 'Epic Histories' attributed to Faustus of Byzantium tell how Saint Jacob of Nisibis tried to climb the mountain of the Ark, was turned back by sleep, and was given a piece of the Ark by an angel; Etchmiadzin shows such a relic today.
470 CE · 40.16, 44.29 · status: legend
The account
The story made Armenia the guardian of the Ark tradition. A monastery at Akhuri on Ararat's slope claimed the spring where Jacob rested until it was destroyed by the 1840 earthquake. Modern Ark expeditions on the Turkish side of Ararat are covered in the Middle East file.
The sceptical view
A pious legend; the relic's age has not been scientifically tested.