The Ark Before Noah

Decoding the Story of the Flood

By: Irving Finkel

Narrated by: Irving Finkel, Gareth Armstrong

Since the Victorian period, it has been understood that the story of Noah, iconic in the Book of Genesis, and a central motif in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, derives from a much older story that existed centuries before in ancient Babylon. But the relationship between the Babylonian and biblical traditions was shrouded in mystery. Then, in 2009, Irving Finkel, a curator at the British Museum and a world authority on ancient Mesopotamia, found himself playing detective when a member of the public arrived at the museum with an intriguing cuneiform tablet from a family collection. Not only did the tablet reveal a new version of the Babylonian Flood Story; the ancient poet described the size and completely unexpected shape of the ark, and gave detailed boat building specifications. Decoding this ancient message wedge by cuneiform wedge, Dr. Finkel discovered where the Babylonians believed the ark came to rest and developed a new explanation of how the old story ultimately found its way into the Bible. In The Ark Before Noah, Dr. Finkel takes us on an adventurous voyage of discovery, opening the door to an enthralling world of ancient voices and new meanings.

©2014 Irving Finkel (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[Finkel's] conclusions will send ripples into the world of creationism and among ark hunters." ( Guardian)

Volume uneven

Narrator's voice volume varies wildly, sometimes from word to word - one moment he is unintelligibly quiet, the next he is deafeningly loud. Director should have managed this much, much more closely.

Didn’t know what to expect but delightful history

One does has to like biblical study. I do not look at biblical study as a religion but as history. I did t remember who Irving Finkel was until my husband reminded me that we had seen some of his little bits on YouTube called Curators Corner. He’s quite a character and clearly very intelligent but then he is an expert in his field (cuneiform in ancient Mesopotamia at the British Museum. He also has such a great way of presenting things and when he finds something sillypuppy1 or outrageous he has this lovely subtitle way of letting you know his feelings. Love his voice. I listen to books at night and he has the perfect voice to fall asleep to but I always know exactly where I left off to go back to the story.

The telling of the story of the development of the Noah Ark story was fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Again it is written for a certain audience. I am not a scholar but just interested in all kinds of things from history but particularly ancient cultures and how the Bible was written and the historical development of religious myths.

I never understood much about cuneiform but finding out it is some 4500 or so years old and was still being used in some places in the Middle East into the 1st century CE was startling info and led me to the online encyclopedia.

I must admit the first three chapters were quite technical and scholarly and the history and diversity of cuneiform and probably really needed a documentary to follow it. I’m guess I’ll look for that now! However, I think that the rest of the book is very clear in taking about the diversity of the language in Mesopotamia. But once it started on the Noah story, beginning of Chapter 4 it really moved smoothly. It really might have started in chapter 3 but I was burned out by the end of chapter 2. But I am not dinging the book for it.

Very enjoyable to listen to.

Irving Finkel is an excellent reader. He makes his points in a logical, easy to understand way. He's also very funny. I don't doubt he is an expert Assyriologist and obviously an expert on Semitic languages. I would love to learn to read cuneiform just from listening to this book.

However, I disagree that the captive Jews in Babylon incorporated the Sumerian/Assyrian flood story into their Biblical one. Abram of Ur was a contemporary of Noah and Shem and could have gotten the story first hand. Captive Jews like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel were obsessed with keeping and preserving the Law of Moses, which included the Noah's flood story.

Fascinating --and somewhat frustrating

On one hand, it's fascinating archaeology and decryption, on the other hand, Finkel has an agenda so ingrown that I doubt he's even aware of it, and I had to keep reminding myself of this in order to stop arguing with him inside my head (!!).

It's mostly narrated by Finkel himself, who has a pleasing voice and accent but also the bad habit of dropping his voice, both in pitch and volume, as he ends paragraphs - for emphasis, I suspect, and I expect he does it as a lecturer, too - but it's problematic for book narration because the listener has to rewind by x-many seconds and up the volume in order to HEAR what he just dramatically closed with, and that's not always feasible (e.g., driving). Caveat emptor....

Very insightful analysis

Irving Finkel here reads his on book on the Flood tradition, starting with the cuneiform sources. Finkel is one of the foremost scholars in cuneiform studies, and has a very delightful style in talking about the material. I found it an enchanting listen, helped by Finkel's melodious voice. Finkel shows how he thinks through the fragmentary evidence and manages to squeeze an amazing amount of information from them. Highly recommended.