Chapter XI. The Foreign Historians Who Mentioned the Flood Described by Moses, From Josephus, Antiquities, Bk. I

[JOSEPHUS] [1] ‘THIS deluge and the ark are mentioned by all who have written histories of the Barbarians, among whom is Berossus the Chaldean. For in narrating the circumstances of the flood, he describes it thus:

‘It is said that there is still a portion of the vessel in Armenia near the mountain of the Cordyaei, and that persons scrape off and carry away some of the pitch. And the people use what they carry away chiefly for charms to avert misfortunes.

‘This is mentioned also by Hieronymus the Egyptian, who wrote The Archaeology of Phoenicia,and by Mnaseas, and several others. Nicolaus also of Damascus gives an account of them in his ninety-sixth book, speaking thus: There is above Minyas a great mountain in Armenia called Baris, to which, as the story goes, many fled for refuge at the time of the deluge and were saved; and a certain man borne on an ark landed on the top of the mountain, and the remains of the timbers were preserved for a long time. Now this must be the same of whom Moses, the Lawgiver of the Jews, wrote.’

So writes Josephus.