Is Godin Tepe Aratta?

I recently added a page called Is Godin Tepe Aratta? under the Aratta navigation menu. Basically, the premise of my latest research and book, Seven Mountains to Aratta, proposes the Biblical mountains of Ararat and Sumerian Aratta are likely the same location, therefore where Noah’s Ark landed.

Lugalbanda’s mountain cave

Lugalbanda’s mountain cave location

Lugalbanda was a leader and most likely son of Enmerkar (Nimrod?), as inscribed on ancient Sumerian clay tablets. I consider the location of Lugalbanda’s mountain cave important, because it helps to confirm the “seven mountains” route mentioned in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta Sumerian text, where Aratta’s location is described as coming from Uruk to Susa, following a river and over seven mountains to Aratta (Godin Tepe?).

Many consider the Sumerian texts like the Epic of Gilgamesh, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave and others as myths. I think the details provided in these ancient texts point to actual people, places and events. For example, read the following excerpts from Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave:

"Five days passed. On they sixth day they bathed. ...... on the seventh day they entered the mountains."

The number of days to walk from Uruk to Susa and reach the foothills of the Zagros mountains would be approximately 1 week if they averaged around 25 miles walking per day.

"Lugalbanda, the eighth of them, ...... was washed in water. In awed silence he went forward, ...... he marched with the troops. When they had covered half the way, covered half the way, a sickness befell him there, 'head sickness' befell him."
Lugalbanda cave
Yafteh Cave 1/2 way between Susa and Godin Tepe (Aratta?).  A good match for the cave where Lugalbanda may have stayed. (Credit Google Maps for background image)

Note Yafteh cave located at 33.567028, 48.273917 is approximately half-way between Susa and Godin Tepe (southwest of Alvand mountain), where I believe Aratta was located. Yafteh is a very famous and well-known cave dating back to the Paleolithic period. Some relate the name Yafteh with Japtheh, one of Noah’s sons.

Though speculative, Lugalbanda may have stayed in Yafteh cave on the way to Aratta.

Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave (full text)

I have a page about Godin Tepe as the possible location of Aratta under the navigation menu (Aratta).

How I Got Involved in the Search for Noah’s Ark

I became interested in the search for Noah’s Ark in the mid-1970’s after my mother bought me the book Noah’s Ark I Touched It by Fernand Navarra. Around 1986-87, I got in touch with Dr. Charles Willis and participated in my first expedition to Mount Ararat in Turkey in 1988.

BJCorbin
B.J. on Mt. Ararat, Turkey (photo by Ross Mehan 1988)

I returned to Mt. Ararat three more times in 1989, 1990 and 1998, before moving my research focus to the Zagros Mountains of Iran. My website is bjcorbin.com and my new book is called Seven Mountains to Aratta: Searching for Noah’s Ark in Iran.

More information is available under the navigation menu category About B.J. and Searching for Noah’s Ark. There are two pages, one for my current research in Iran and another for my earlier research in Turkey.