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Primary sources on Mount Ararat and what each contains

Ararat Info · Checked 25 September 2026

This guide lists the sources on which Ararat Info is built and others cited in them, grouped by kind, with a note on what each is good for and where it needs care. Sources marked as read were read by this reference in full or in the relevant chapters. Sources known only through citations in other works are marked as such. Each article on this site lists its own sources with the date they were checked.

The two nineteenth-century foundations

Friedrich Parrot, Reise zum Ararat (Berlin, 1834); English translation by W. D. Cooley, Journey to Ararat (New York, 1846). Read in the English translation. The report of the expedition that made the first recorded ascent in 1829. It contains the three attempts on the summit and the ascent of Little Ararat, the barometric measurements with Fedorov’s comparison readings, and the names of the mountain and its neighbours. It also has lists of rocks and plants and a critical survey of earlier pictures of the mountain. The 1846 edition adds an appendix on the fall of 1840. Care: the translator’s editor corrects the author in footnotes, for example on the origin of the name Agridagh, and numbers can differ from those quoted by other writers.

James Bryce, Transcaucasia and Ararat (3rd ed., London, 1878). Read, chapters VI and VII. Chapter VI is a compact study of the mountain: its names and the history of the ark tradition, its structure and geology (summarising Hermann Abich), snow line and meteorology, plants and animals, the frontier of three empires, the recorded ascents and the earthquake of 1840. Chapter VII narrates Bryce’s own ascent from Aralykh in September 1876. Care: Bryce summarises other men’s measurements. His figure for Parrot’s height, 17,325 feet, differs from the 17,210 feet in the English edition of Parrot’s book.

Other nineteenth-century accounts known through citations

These are cited by Bryce, by Parrot or by the Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia. This reference has not read them.

  • Hermann Abich: papers on the geology of Ararat, including “Ararat in seiner genetischen Bildung” (1870), and an account of his ascent in the Russian Gorny Zhurnal (1846).
  • Spassky-Avtonomov: an account of his ascent (1834, or 1835 in the encyclopedia).
  • Iosif Khodzko (Chodzko): an account of his ascent in the Zapiski (Notes) of the Caucasian branch of the Russian Geographical Society, vol. IV.
  • Dubois de Montpéreux, Voyage au Caucase (as the encyclopedia cites it), and a later paper by Weidenbaum (Caucasian branch, vol. XIII).

The encyclopedia and Bryce disagree about several dates (1834 or 1835, 1850 or 1860). The originals above are where those disagreements could be settled.

Early travellers and their pictures

  • Jean Chardin, Journal du voyage (London, 1686): the earliest views of Ararat known to Parrot, and the name Sahat Toppin cited by Bryce.
  • Tournefort, Relation d’un voyage du Levant (Amsterdam, 1718): the first scientific description of the plant belts, according to the Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia. His drawing of the mountain is exaggerated, according to Parrot.
  • Morier (1813, 1818), Porter (1822), Kotzebue (1819) and Ouseley (1823): travel books with views of the mountain, assessed by Parrot on maps and images.

Medieval and ancient writers

These are known here through Bryce’s quotations. William of Rubruk passed below the mountain in 1254 and called it Massis. Marco Polo wrote that the mountain could not be climbed because of its snow. Bryce quotes Sir John Mandeville’s fanciful account with evident irony. Bryce also cites Josephus, Nicolas of Damascus, Berosus and the Armenian historian Moses of Chorene for the ark tradition and the name Ararat. The biblical passages themselves are Genesis 8:4, 2 Kings 19:37, Isaiah 37:38 and Jeremiah 51:27 (see names of Mount Ararat).

Encyclopedias

«Арарат, горы», Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона (1890–1907). Read. It gives Russian forms of the names, metric heights of its time and a list of ascents. Care: it names Fedorov among Parrot’s summit party, although Parrot says Fedorov stayed at the monastery taking barometer readings. Some of its dates differ from Bryce’s.

Official and modern sources

  • Ağrı Valiliği (Ağrı Governorship), page «Ağrı Dağı» (dated 14.09.2020, citing İ. Alpaslan, Her Yönüyle Ağrı, 1995). Read. The official description of the mountain: heights, names, season, approach line, permission requirement, and transport as described in 2020. Care: some of its content is older than the page date.
  • GoTürkiye, “Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) in Ağrı”. Read. Official tourism portal: heights of both peaks, width of the massif, national park 2004. Care: promotional superlatives.
  • Meteoroloji Genel Müdürlüğü, statistics for Ağrı (1940–2025) and forecasts. Read (statistics). Long-term climate of the provincial station, not of the mountain.
  • T.C. Doğubayazıt Kaymakamlığı, official website. Checked. The district at the mountain’s foot.
  • Doğa Koruma ve Milli Parklar Genel Müdürlüğü (DKMP), Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Checked. National parks authority; its park catalogue was not readable as text on 25 September 2026.
  • Harita Genel Müdürlüğü, GeoPortal. Official maps; not re-read for the current pages.
  • USGS EROS Center, “RBV Images Mount Ararat”. Read. The glacier-area series 1977–2013 and the list of satellite images.
  • University of Tartu library record for Reise zum Ararat. Read. Bibliographic details of the 1834 edition and the expedition members named on its title page.

Sources this reference could not read

The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program and several publishers of scientific journals refused access from this reference’s environment. As a result, the site gives no dates of prehistoric eruptions of Ararat and relies on the USGS summary for the glaciers. Kurdish and modern Armenian names of the mountain await a source that can be cited. When any of these becomes available, the relevant pages will say so.

How to use this guide

Cite the edition you read, not the book in general. Keep an original’s words separate from a later summary of them: Bryce quoting Parrot is Bryce’s evidence, not Parrot’s. When sources disagree on a date or a figure, report both and name each source, as the climbing history and elevation pages do.

Sources

  1. Friedrich Parrot, Journey to Ararat, translated by W. D. Cooley, New York: Harper and Bros., 1846. Internet Archive. Read 25 September 2026.
  2. Friedrich Parrot, Reise zum Ararat, Th. 1–2. Berlin: Haude und Spener, 1834. University of Tartu record. Checked 14 September 2026.
  3. James Bryce, Transcaucasia and Ararat, 3rd ed., London: Macmillan, 1878. Internet Archive. Read 25 September 2026.
  4. «Арарат, горы», Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона (1890–1907). Wikisource. Read 14 September 2026.
  5. Ağrı Valiliği, Ağrı Dağı (page dated 14.09.2020). Checked 14 September 2026.
  6. GoTürkiye, Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) in Ağrı. Checked 14 September 2026.
  7. Meteoroloji Genel Müdürlüğü, statistics page for Ağrı. Read 25 September 2026.
  8. USGS EROS Center, RBV Images Mount Ararat. Checked 14 September 2026.