Mount Sinai

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(Redirected from Mount Horeb)

For other places named Mount Sinai, see: Mount Sinai (disambiguation)

Image:MountSinaiView.jpg Image:Jabal-musa-location.png

Mount Sinai, also known as "Gebel Musa" or "Jabal Musa" by the Bedouins, is the name of a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula. It is 2,285 metres high and is located in a mountain range in the southern part of the peninsula. It is near a protruding lower bluff known as the Ras Sasafeh (Sufsafeh), and rises almost perpendicularly from the plain. The Monastery of St. Catherine is sited at the foot of the mountain, at an elevation of around 1,200m. There are two principal routes to the summit, only one of which may be ascended at night. By the longer and less steep track it is possible to ascend either on foot or by camel hired from the Bedouin along the way - approximate time on foot two and a half hours. The steep, more direct route ascends the 3,750 "steps of penitence" directly up the ravine behind the monastery and may not be ascended by night. The summit of the mountain has a mosque and an orthodox chapel, neither of which are open to the public. At the summit also is "Moses' cave" where Moses is supposed to have waited to receive the Commandments.

To some scholars it is the same as the Biblical Mount Sinai, though this is not agreed upon.

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