Mount SinaiAmid the high mountains of Egypt's southern Sinai Peninsula stands Jebel Musa, "Mount Moses," revered by most Christians and Muslims as Mount Sinai. (Jewish tradition holds that Mount Sinai should remain terra incognita, unlocated, and does not associate it with this mountain.) In this fascinating study, Joseph Hobbs draws on geography and archaeology, Biblical and Quranic accounts, and the experiences of people ranging from Christian monks to Bedouin shepherds to casual tourists to explore why this mountain came to be revered as a sacred place and how that very perception now threatens its fragile ecology and its sense of holy solitude. After discussing the physical characteristics of Jebel Musa and the debate that selected it as the most probable Mount Sinai, Hobbs fully describes all Christian and Muslim sacred sites around the mountain. He views Mount Sinai from the perspectives of the centuries-long inhabitants of the region--the monks of the Monastery of St. Katherine and the Jabaliya Bedouins--and of tourists and pilgrims, from medieval Europeans to modern travelers dispirited by Western industrialization. Hobbs concludes his account with the recent international debate over whether to build a cable car on Mount Sinai and with an unflinching description of the negative impact of tourism on the delicate desert environment. His book raises important, troubling questions for everyone concerned about the fate of the earth's wild and sacred places. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 73
... garden and does wrong and is caught , he is prosecuted . Every step he took from the public trail to the garden wall would be counted . He might be fined one camel for this . For mounting the wall he would be fined another camel ...
... garden encampments at nightfall to prepare meals . Garden shade is re- placed by darkness and cricket song , and families stay up visiting and relax- ing . They retire to stone houses , some of them simple rock circles without roofs ...
... garden and outside its wall , in an igneous intrusion under the shade of a huge boulder , he excavated a second pool which serves as the principal supply of irrigation for his crops below . Mahmuud has come to terms with the wildlife of ...
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
Five | 14 |
YOU WILL WORSHIP GOD ON THIS MOUNTAIN | 32 |
Copyright | |
11 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
References to this book
Managing Sacred Sites: Service Provision and Visitor Experience Myra Shackley,Myra L. Shackley No preview available - 2001 |