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, the place where God made the covenant with His people. In this 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. Hobbs concludes his account with the recent international debate over whether to build a cable car on Mount Sinai and with a description of the negative impact of tourism on the delicate desert environment. |
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animals Arabic ash-Shaykh astery at-Tur Basin of Elijah Bedouins Bellorini and Hoade Biblical built Burckhardt cable car Cairo camel camp century Chapel chukar church climb desert Dobson Eckenstein 1921 Edward Palmer Egypt Egyptian pounds Etheria Exodus Father Makarios garden goats Gulf of Suez Har-El hermits high Sinai holy ibex Ibid Israel Israeli Israelites Jabaliya Jabaliya say Jebel Katarina Jebel Musa Jebel Musa's summit Katherine Katriin kilometers land leopard live Mahmuud Mansuur meters Monastery of St monastery's monks monks and Bedouins monks of St Monks today Moses Mount Sinai mountain Muslim Nabi Haruun nearby orchard Perevolotsky pilgrimage pilgrims Plain of ar-Raaha plants Pococke Prophet Rabinowitz Ras Safsaafa red granite Richard Pococke Ritter rock route Shaykh Shefik Skrobucha spiritual stone summit of Jebel Tinya Tischendorf tradition travelers trees tribes valley visited visitors Wadi Wadi Abu Wadi ad-Dayr Wadi al-Arba'iin Wadi Feiran wild wilderness wrote Yahweh