had also the name of Har-Min, and Har-Men, which was precisely of the same signification. The people who lived round it were called Minni and Minyæ; and the region had the name of Armenia from the mountain, which was the great object of reverence in this country. The name is to be found in the prophet Jeremiah, where he is calling together various foreign powers, to make an invasion upon Babylon. Set up a standard in the land; blow the trumpet among the nations ; prepare the nations against her. Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat Minni, and Ashchenaz. By Ararat-Minni is signified the region about Mount Ararat, which was possessed by the Minyæ. The passage is by the Chaldee Paraphrast very justly rendered 999378, Armini, the same as Armenia. From hence the learned Bochart infers with good reason, that the name of Armenia was taken from this Ararat of the Minni, called Ar-Mini. - Videtur Armeniæ vox conflata esse ex '92-97, Har Mini, id est Mons Mini, sive Montana Miniadis. Something similar is to be found in Amos: where the same mountain is
,הר-מונה mentioned under the name of
3 Jeremiah. c. 51. v. 27. Suscitate super eam gentes; annunciate adversus illain regibus Ararath Menni. Vulgate.
* Geog. Sacra. I. 1. c. 3. p. 20. 5 C.4. V. 3.
Munah, or Mountain of the Moon. Jerome takes notice of this passage, and mentions how differently it has been rendered by expositors; a circumstance which must happen when writers are of different countries and of different times. Hieronymus et projiciemiņi inquit in locis Armeniæ, quæ vocantur Armona. Denique Symmachus ita interpretatus est, et projiciemini in Armeniâ: pro quibus LXX montem Remman, Aquila montein Armona, Theodotio montein Mona. ? Bochart, who quotes this passage, at the close asks, What if Mini, Minyas, and Monah, should after all prove to be the same name, only differently expressed? We may safely answer, that they are; and that they relate to the same history. Even the Remman of the LXX is a transposition of the true name; and a mistake for
Ar-Man, the same as Ar-Mini in the Chaldaic Paraphrase, as Ar-Mona of Aquila, Ar-Muna of Amos, and the Mountain Mona of Theodotion, They all signify Mons Lunus, and relate to the
• Hieron, et Theodoretus. See Bochart. Geog. Sacra. 1. 1. c. 3.
1 Bochart supra. p. 20. Θεοδωρητος, απορριφησεσθε εις το ορος το Αρμανα, &c. ο δε Συμμαχος το Αρμανα Αρμενιαν ήρμηνευσεν· ο δε Θεοδοτιων υψηλον ορος. Ιbid.
% This is manifest from the Vulgate, in which it is rendered Et projiciemini in Ar-mon.
Arkite emblem Selene, of which I have before treated.
The most common name given to the moun. tain was Ararat; and by this it has been distinguished by Moses. This is a compound of ArArat, and signifies the Mountain of Descent, and is equivalent to 97-98, of the Hebrews. That the name was a compound of Ar-Arat, is plain from Hatho the Armenian, who mentions it out of composition by the name of Arath. ' In Armenià est altior mons, quam sit in toto orbe terrarum, qui Arath vulgariter nuncupatur; et in cacumine illius montis arca Noæ post diluvium primo stetit. Josephus tells us expressly, that it was called by the natives the Mountain of Descent, which he translates anobarnprov, on account of the Patriarch here first descending from the ark. Αποβατηριον τοπον τέτον Αρμενιοι καλεσιν. .
The same is mentioned by " Eustathius Antiochenus. By Jerome it is styled the place of exit.
names of places, as they were exhibited by the natives. He accordingly calls this mountain in the provincial dialect " Ar-Arat; which would have been rendered Har-Irad by the Hebrews. By this is signified ato@atupov, or place of descent. The region round about was called Araratia, and also Minyas, where the Minyæ resided, of whom I have taken notice before. This probably, after the general migration, was one of the oldest colonies in the world. Nay, it is not impossible, but that the region may have been originally occupied by a people styled Minyæ, who out of a false . zeal adhered to the spot, and would never depart from it. From the similitude which the natives of these parts bore to the Syrians and Arabians, in religion, customs, and language, it appears plainly, that they were one of the 14 Cuthite branches. We
may be assured, that the ark was providentially wafted into Armenia ; as that region. seems to have been particularly well calculated
13 Pro 6798 Mosis reperitur in Codice Samaritano 1997, Hararat. Le Clerc. vol. 1. p. 72.
14 Το γαρ των Αρμενιων εθνος, και το των Συρων και των Aça@wy woramo ono quasar Ele poenveu xh. Strabo. l. 1. p. 70. One of the principal cities in this part of Armenia was Cu-Cousus, which signifies the place of Chus. See Hierocles Eurexdnas. p. 703. Κουκουσος, Κομανα, Αραραθια.
for the reception of the Patriarch's family, and for the repeopling of the world. The soil of the country was very fruitful, and especially of that part where the Patriarch first made his descent: Some have objected to the Mosaic account of the dove and olive, and will not allow that the ark could have rested in Armenia, because travellers of late have discovered no olives in that "country: they therefore infer, that there never were any trees of this sort in that region. In like manner, there may be in these days no balsam at Jericho, nór date' trećs in Babylonia: but it does not follow, that there were none of old. We must not therefore set aside antient histories faithfully transmitted, because the same occurrences do not happen at this day. But the inference is not only trifling, but false. Strabo was a native of Asia Minor; and he speaks of the fertility of Armenia, and especially of the region Gogarene; which he particularly mentions as productive of the olive. 16 Είθ' η Γωγαρηνη Πασα γαρ η χωρά αύτη κάρποις τε και τοις ημερσις δενδροις, και τοις αειθαλεσι πληθυει" φερει δε και Eλαιαν. He had been speaking of various parts of Armenia, and then adds, After these succeeds Gogarene. All