# Noah — The City of God character guide > Noah in The City of God by Augustine of Hippo. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** righteous Noah **First appearance:** 0002-part-i-book-i ## Snapshot The righteous survivor of the Flood, in whom Augustine sees the childhood of God's people and the first pattern of the two cities living side by side. ## Who they are Noah belongs to the early genealogy of the city of God, the man through whom humanity and the covenant were carried past the waters. In Augustine's scheme he marks the age of infancy, before Abraham's call and the law, when the Hebrew tongue was first learned and the family of God was still small. His survival is not just rescue but a template: the city of God persists alongside the world's kingdoms, silent and growing. ## In the story ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-viii) The just man who, with his family, survived the deluge that destroyed the corrupted race. ### [Of Methuselah's Age and the Chronological Discrepancy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xi) His age at the flood (600 years) is part of the chronological calculation. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xiv) His six hundredth year is used as a key example to prove the length of ancient years. ### [Chapter XVI: Of Marriage Between Blood-Relations](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xvi) Offered sacrifices to God after the deluge, illustrating early worship. ### [The Generations of Cain and Seth: The Two Cities Before the Flood](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xx) Tenth from Adam through Seth; his sons repopulate the earth after the deluge, and he is a figure of the heavenly city. ### [Of the fall of the sons of God who were captivated by the daughters of men, whereby all, with the exception of eight persons, deservedly perished in the deluge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxii) Implied as one of the eight persons who survived the deluge. ### [Chapter XXIV: Understanding the 120 Years and the Cause of the Deluge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxiv) Noah is nearly 500 years old when God declares the 120-year span before the flood; the flood comes in his 600th year. ### [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxvi) Noah is commanded by God to build the ark, a figure of the Church and Christ. ### [Of the Ark and the Deluge](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxvii) Builder of the ark, who did not catch the animals but gave them entrance as they came by God's will. ### [Book XVI: The Progress of the Two Cities from Noah to Abraham and Beyond](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-book-xvi) Noah is the central figure in the early part of the chapter, whose prophetic benediction of his sons Shem and Japheth and curse of Canaan prefigure future events. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-i) Noah and his family are the sole survivors of the deluge; he delivers prophetic blessings and curses upon his sons. ### [What was prophetically prefigured in the sons of Noah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-ii) His nakedness prefigures Christ's passion; his sons' actions symbolize the Church's response. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-iii) His three sons are the progenitors of the nations listed. ### [What we are to understand by God’s speaking to the angels](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-vi) His three sons are the progenitors of the seventy-two nations dispersed over the earth. ### [Whether even the remotest islands received their fauna from the animals which were preserved, through the deluge, in the ark.](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-vii) Preserver of the animals in the ark, whose act prefigures the Church's salvation of many nations. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-viii) Mentioned as a possible progenitor of monstrous races, though Augustine ultimately traces them to Adam. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-ix) Mentioned as the patriarch through whom the city of God continued after the deluge. ### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-x) Righteous patriarch whose sons (Shem, Ham, Japheth) repopulate the earth after the flood. ### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xi) Noah is the righteous patriarch whose family alone was saved from the flood; the chapter references the generations from Noah to Heber. ### [Of the era in Abraham’s life from which a new period in the holy succession begins](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xii) His single family was preserved through the deluge to renew the human race, paralleling the preservation of Terah's family. ### [Of the years of Terah, who completed his lifetime in Haran](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xiv) Noah is mentioned as part of the continuous genealogical series from Adam to Abraham, in which every lifespan is recorded. ### [That Rome was founded when the Assyrian kingdom perished, at which time Hezekiah reigned in Judah](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxii) Mentioned as the survivor of the universal flood, from whom all nations descended. ### [XXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xxxviii) Mentioned as a patriarch and prophet whose ark was a prophecy of the present times. ### [Of the liberty proper to man’s nature, and the servitude introduced by sin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/chapters/part-ii-xv) First to use the word 'slave' in Scripture, branding the sin of his son. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters/noah - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_city_of_god_se/characters