Note 3 — Chapter IV · Locality Legends

In this connection the legend of the village of Nakhitchevan is worth noting. It is situated just to the north of the mountain on the left bank of the Araxes. Armenians believe it to be the place where Noah first landed, and as proof, the name of the village, which means, “the first place of landing,” is cited. One might suppose the name to have been given by the Christians after the conversion to Christianity, were it not that Ptolemy places in the same spot a city named Naxuana which is the exact Greek for the Armenian name. Also Josephus, fifty years before Ptolemy speaks of the place, as quoted by St. Martin: “Les Arméniens appellent ce lieu l’endroit de la descente parce que c’est là que l’arche trouva un endroit de salut, et qu’encore actuellement les indigènes montrent ses débris.”3 Tavernier who traveled through the country along about 1700 speaks of Nakhitchevan as the “oldest city of the world” and gives the tradition.4 But many Jews, who undoubtedly gave the village its name, lived in Armenia, long before the Christian era.