General How Did Noah Build the Ark? - Biblical Archaeology Society

[Lori Jane]

I found this to be an interesting article about Noah's Ark.

How Did Noah Build the Ark? - Biblical Archaeology Society

So does ancient biblical art help us answer the question, “How did Noah build the ark?” It may seem odd, but early Christian and Jewish artists of the early first millennium C.E. portrayed Noah’s ark as a box, often with legs. The earliest depiction of the ark actually comes from the pagan city of Apamea Kibotos, where coins minted during the second and third centuries show Noah and his wife standing inside a box with an open lid. Above the lid is depicted a dove, bearing an olive branch, and a raven (Genesis 8:6–12).

So why does ancient biblical art depict Noah’s ark in this unusual way? The answer has to do with translation. While the original authors of the Pentateuch used distinct Hebrew terms to refer to Noah’s ark (tieveh) and the box-shaped “Ark” of the Covenant (aron), the Hebrew Bible’s Greek translators, who began their work in the third century B.C.E., used a single Greek word, kibotos, meaning an enclosed wooden container used to store valuables, to refer to both objects.

It seems likely, therefore, that early Jewish and Christians artists, working in the early first millennium C.E., were influenced by overly literal interpretations of the translated Hebrew Bible, which suggested to them that Noah’s ark and the Ark of the Covenant were similar in appearance.