Ararat is the most famous, but far from the only name of this mountain. This is what European geographers began to call it in the nineteenth century. At the same time, the British traveler James Bryce, who visited here in 1876, noted that the local peoples practically do not call this peak Ararat. Armenians call it Masis, which can be translated as "Great Mountain". The name Agrydag - "Crooked Mountain" is popular in Turkey. But the Persians called her Kuhi-Nuh - "Mount Noah". After all, it was here that the ark of the biblical righteous man moored.
Ararat consists of two peaks - Big Ararat, which is 5165 meters above sea level and Small Ararat (3927 m). Ararat is a volcanic massif. True, the last eruption was recorded long ago - on July 2, 1840. The eruption was accompanied by a powerful earthquake, which resulted in numerous casualties. The monastery of St. Jacob and the village of Arguri were destroyed. Since then, there are no settlements on the slope of the mountain.
In 1916, Russian military pilot Vladimir Roskovitsky filed a report that, flying over Ararat, he noticed the remains of a large ship, which, in the pilot's opinion, could be the very ark. A year later, an expedition headed by Roskovitsky was sent here, during which many photographs were taken. During the years of the revolution, the expedition's report disappeared, it was even questioned whether there was a pilot with the surname Roskovitsky in the Russian army at all?
Despite the fact that Mount Ararat is a symbol of Armenia, since 1921 it has been on the territory of Turkey. This happened after the conclusion of the Kars Treaty. But, the image of Ararat could be seen both on the coat of arms of the Armenian SSR and on the coat of arms of modern Armenia, which was approved in April 1992.
For a long time, the ascent to the top of Ararat was considered by the local peoples not to be a godly occupation. There is a legend about St. James, who several times tried to find Noah's ark on the mountain. Each time such a trip ended in failure - on the way, Jacob fell asleep, and woke up again at the foot of the mountain. Once in a dream, an angel told Jacob that mortals do not need to be on the top of Ararat. But for his labors, Jacob was awarded - an angel gave him a piece of the ark.
The first conquest took place only in 1829, when Armenia was already part of the Russian Empire. The expedition was led by Johann Friedrich Parrot, a famous traveler and naturalist, professor at the University of Dorpat. A number of meteorological observations were carried out here.
However, in our time, many are convinced that no one is destined to visit the highest point of Ararat. And all the photos and videos are nothing more than deception.
As mentioned above, Ararat is a symbol of Armenia. Therefore, in the country the name Ararat is very popular among men. In addition, the most famous football club in Armenia, the brandy-wine-vodka factory in Yerevan, bears this name. And in Lebanon, one of the newspapers published by the Armenian diaspora is named so.
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According to the legend, with the help of water extracted from the glaciers of Ararat, you can call the tetagush bird, which will help people get rid of the locust.