Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, located just outside the walls of the Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

first for the

City of David "City of David" is a biblical and religious epithet for the ancient city of Jerusalem. It may also refer to: * City of David (archaeological site) - an archaeological excavation associated with ancient Jerusalem * Jerusalem Walls National Park ...

(, ; , ) and later for the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...

, but its meaning has shifted and it is now used as the name of ancient Jerusalem's Western Hill. In a wider sense, the term Zion is also used for the entire

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

Etymology

The

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

of the word ''

Zion Zion ( he, צִיּוֹן ''Ṣīyyōn'', LXX , also variously transliterated ''Sion'', ''Tzion'', ''Tsion'', ''Tsiyyon'') is a placename in the Hebrew Bible used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Israel as a whole (see Names ...

'' is uncertain. Mentioned in the Bible in the

Book of Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshu ...

(2 Samuel 5:7) as the name of the

Jebusite The Jebusites (; ISO 259-3 ''Ybusi'') were, according to the books of Joshua and Samuel from the Tanakh, a Canaanite tribe that inhabited Jerusalem, then called Jebus (Hebrew: ''Yəḇūs'', "trampled place") prior to the conquest initiated by ...

fortress conquered by

King David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, its origin likely predates the

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

s. If Semitic, it may be associated with the Hebrew root ''ṣiyyôn'' ("castle"). Though not spoken in

until 1,700 years later, the name is similar in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and may be connected to the root ''ṣiyya'' ("dry land") or the Arabic ''šanā'' ("protect" or "citadel"). It might also be related to the Arabic root ''ṣahî'' ("ascend to the top") or ''ṣuhhay'' ("tower" or "the top of the mountain"). A non-Semitic relationship to the

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

word ''šeya'' ("river" or "brook") has also been suggested. Jerusalem Dormitio Church BW 1

''Sahyun'' ( ar, صهيون, ''Ṣahyūn'' or ''Ṣihyūn'') is the word for Zion in Arabic and

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

. A valley called ''Wâdi Sahyûn'' (''

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

'' being the Arabic for "valley") seemingly preserves the name and is located approximately one and three-quarter miles () from the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem ( he, הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָה, translit=ha-ir ha-atiqah; ar, البلدة القديمة, translit=al-Balda al-Qadimah; ) is a walled area in East Jerusalem. The Old City is traditionally divided into ...

Jaffa Gate Jaffa Gate ( he, שער יפו, Sha'ar Yafo; ar, باب الخليل, Bāb al-Khalīl, "Hebron Gate") is one of the seven main open Gates of the Old City of Jerusalem. The name Jaffa Gate is currently used for both the historical Ottoman gate ...

. The phrase ''Har Tzion'', lit. "Mount Zion", appears nine times in the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''

Tzadi Tsade (also spelled , , , , tzadi, sadhe, tzaddik) is the eighteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician ṣādē , Hebrew ṣādi , Aramaic ṣāḏē , Syriac ṣāḏē ܨ, Ge'ez ṣädäy ጸ, and Arabic . Its oldest phoneti ...

and not

Zayin Zayin (also spelled zain or zayn or simply zay) is the seventh letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician Zayin , Hebrew Zayin , Yiddish Zoyen , Aramaic Zain , Syriac Zayn ܙ, and Arabic Zayn or Zāy . It represents the sound . The Ph ...

The three different locations

The name ''Mount Zion'' referred successively to three locations, as Jerusalemites preserved the time-honoured name, but shifted the location they venerated as the focal point of biblical Jerusalem to the site considered most appropriate in their own time.

Lower Eastern Hill (City of David)

At first, Mount Zion was the name given to the

fortified city on the lower part of ancient Jerusalem's Eastern Hill, also known as the

. According to the

, Mount Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress called the "stronghold of Zion" that was conquered by

, then renamed and partially rebuilt by him as the "City of David", where he erected his

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

Upper Eastern Hill (Temple Mount)

Once the

First Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th ...

was erected at the top of the Eastern Hill, the name "Mount Zion" migrated there too. After the conquest of the Jebusite city, its built-up area expanded northward towards the uppermost part of the same, Eastern Hill. This highest part became the site of

Solomon's Temple Solomon's Temple, also known as the First Temple (, , ), was the Temple in Jerusalem between the 10th century BC and . According to the Hebrew Bible, it was commissioned by Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited by th ...

. The identification of the pre-Israelite (Jebusite) and Israelite towns on the Eastern Hill is based on the existence of only one perennial water source in the area, the

Gihon Spring Gihon Spring () or Fountain of the Virgin, also known as Saint Mary's Pool, A.H. Sayce, "The Inscription at the Pool of Siloam," ''Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement'' 13.2 (April 1881): ( editio princeps), p72/ref> is a spring in the ...

, and on archaeological excavations revealing sections of the Bronze Age and Iron Age city walls and water systems. The "Mount Zion" mentioned in the later parts of the

Book of Isaiah The Book of Isaiah ( he, ספר ישעיהו, ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC ...

(), in the

Book of Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

, and the

First Book of Maccabees The First Book of Maccabees, also known as First Maccabees (written in shorthand as 1 Maccabees or 1 Macc.), is a book written in Hebrew by an anonymousRappaport, U., ''47. 1 Maccabees'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)The Oxford Bible Comme ...

(c. 2nd century BCE; ) seems to refer to the top of the hill, generally known as the

Western Hill (today's Mount Zion)

The last shift of the name Mount Zion was to the Western Hill, which is more dominant than the Eastern Hill and seemed to first-century CE Jerusalemites the worthier location for the by-then lost palace of King David. The Western Hill is what today is called Mount Zion. In the second half of the First Temple period, the city expanded westward and its defensive walls were extended to include the entire Western Hill behind them.

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir"; Biblical Hebrew: ''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar''), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling ...

destroyed the city almost completely around

586 BCE The year 586 BC was a year of the Roman calendar, pre-Julian Roman calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as year 168 ''Ab urbe condita'' . The denomination 586 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Do ...

, severing the continuity of historical memory. A long period of rebuilding followed, ending with Jerusalem's second total destruction at the hands of the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

in 70 CE.

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

, the first-century CE historian who knew the city as it was before this second catastrophic event, identified Mount Zion as being the Western Hill, separated from the lower, Eastern Hill, by what he calls the "

Tyropoeon Valley Tyropoeon Valley (Greek: i.e., "Valley of the Cheesemakers") is the name given by Josephus the historianWars 5.140 to the valley or rugged ravine, in the Old City of Jerusalem, which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion and em ...

". It must however be said that Josephus never used the name "Mount Zion" in any of his writings, but described the "Citadel" of King David as being situated on the higher and longer hill, thus pointing at the Western Hill as what the Bible calls Mount Zion.

History since the Late Roman period

At the end of the Roman period, a synagogue was built at the entrance of the structure known as David's Tomb, probably based on the belief that David brought the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant,; Ge'ez: also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, is an alleged artifact believed to be the most sacred relic of the Israelites, which is described as a wooden chest, covered in pure gold, with an e ...

here from

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...

and

Kiryat Ye'arim ( he, קִרְיַת יְעָרִים), also known as Telz-Stone, is an strictly Orthodox town in the Jerusalem District of Israel. It is located in the approximate area of an ancient place mentioned in the Bible, from which it takes its name. ...

before the construction of the Temple. During the

1948 war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

, Mount Zion was conquered by the

Harel Brigade Harel Brigade (, ''Hativat Harel'') is a reserve brigade of the Israel Defense Forces, today part of the Southern Command. It played a critical role in the 1948 Palestine war, also known as "Israel's War of Independence." It is one of the former ...

on May 18, 1948 and became the only part of the Old City to stay in Israeli hands until the armistice. At first it was linked to the Jewish neighborhood of

Yemin Moshe , settlement_type = Neighborhood of Jerusalem , image_skyline = משכנות שאננים בירושלים ביחד עם כנסיית דורמיציון ברקע.JPG , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = Ha-Brekha street , su ...

across the Valley of Hinnom via a narrow tunnel, but eventually an alternative was needed to evacuate the wounded and transport supplies to soldiers on Mount Zion. A cable car capable of carrying a load of 250 kilograms was designed for this purpose. The cable car was only used at night and lowered into the valley during the day to escape detection; it is still in place at what is now the Mount Zion Hotel. The ride from the Israeli position at the St. John Eye Hospital to Mount Zion took two minutes. Between 1948 and 1967, when the Old City was under Jordanian rule, Israelis were forbidden access to the Jewish holy places. Mount Zion was a designated no-man's land between Israel and Jordan. Mount Zion was the closest accessible site to the ancient Jewish Temple. Until East Jerusalem was captured by Israel in the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

, Israelis would climb to the rooftop of

David's Tomb , alternate_name= Makam Nabi Daoud; Cenacle , image = Jerusalem Tomb of David BW 1.JPG , alt= , caption= , map_type = Old Jerusalem , map_alt = , map_caption = Shown () within Jerusalem , map_size= , location = Jerusalem , reg ...

to pray. The winding road leading up to Mount Zion is known as Pope's Way (''Derekh Ha'apifyor''). It was paved in honor of the historic visit to Jerusalem of

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

in 1964.

Biblical references

The Tanakh reference to ''Har Tzion'' (Mount Tzion) that identifies its location is derived from the Psalm 48 composed by the sons of

Korah Korah ( he, ''Qōraḥ''; ar, قارون ''Qārūn''), son of Izhar, is an individual who appears in the Book of Numbers of the Hebrew Bible and four different verses in the Quran, known for leading a rebellion against Moses. Some older Englis ...

, i.e. Levites, as "the northern side of the city of the great king", which

Radak ''Cervera Bible'', David Qimhi's Grammar Treatise David Kimhi ( he, ר׳ דָּוִד קִמְחִי, also Kimchi or Qimḥi) (1160–1235), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK () (Rabbi David Kimhi), was a medieval rabbi, biblical commen ...

interprets as the

"from the City of David, which is Zion (1 Kings 8:1-2; 2 Chron. 5:2)". 2 Samuel 5:7 also reads, "David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David," which identifies Mount Tzion as part of the City of David, and not an area outside today's Old City of Jerusalem.

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

identifies the location as the source of "joy" mentioned in the Psalm as the Temple Courtyard, the location of atonement offerings in the northern part of the Temple complex. In the New Testament, Mount Zion is used metaphorically to refer to the heavenly Jerusalem, God's holy, eternal city. Christians are said to have “ . . . come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven” (Hebrews 12:22-23 cf. Revelation 14:1).

Landmarks

Important sites on Mount Zion are

Dormition Abbey Abbey of the Dormition is a Catholic abbey belonging to the Benedictine Order in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion just outside the walls of the Old City near the Zion Gate. The Abbey is said to mark the spot where Mary, mother of Jesus, died. Between 1 ...

, the Armenian Monastery of St. Saviour,

King David's Tomb , alternate_name= Makam Nabi Daoud; Cenacle , image = Jerusalem Tomb of David BW 1.JPG , alt= , caption= , map_type = Old Jerusalem , map_alt = , map_caption = Shown () within Jerusalem , map_size= , location = Jerusalem , reg ...

and the Room of the Last Supper. Most historians and archeologists today do not regard "David's Tomb" there to be the actual burial place of

. The

Chamber of the Holocaust Chamber of the Holocaust ( he, מרתף השואה, ''Martef HaShoa'', lit. "Cellar of the Catastrophe") is a small Holocaust museum located on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, Israel. It was Israel's first Holocaust museum. History The memorial was ...

(''Martef HaShoah''), the precursor of

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

, is also located on Mount Zion. Another place of interest is the Catholic cemetery where

Oskar Schindler Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and amm ...

, a Righteous Gentile who saved the lives of 1,200 Jews in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, is buried. Notable burials in the Protestant cemetery on Mt. Zion include a number of prominent individuals from the 19th and 20th centuries. These include explorers and archaeologists such as:

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...

, Charles Frederick Tyrwhitt Drake, James Duncan,

Clarence Stanley Fisher Clarence Stanley Fisher (August 17, 1876 – July 20, 1941), known as C. S. Fisher, was an American archaeologist. Early life Clarence Stanley Fisher was born on August 17, 1876 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of ...

, Charles Lambert and

James Leslie Starkey James Leslie Starkey (3 January 1895 – 10 January 1938) was a noted British archaeologist of the ancient Near East and Palestine in the period before the Second World War. He was the chief excavator of the first archaeological expedition to ...

; the architect

Conrad Schick Conrad Schick (1822–1901) was a German architect, archaeologist and Protestant missionary who settled in Jerusalem in the mid-nineteenth century.Perry & Yodim (2004) For many decades he was head of the "House of Industry" at the Christ Church, ...

; and pioneers in the fields of medicine, education, religion, diplomacy and social services such as James Edward Hanauer, Ernest Masterman, John Nicholayson, Paul Palmer,

Max Sandreczky Max Sandreczky (1839–1899) was a German Christian pediatric surgeon who settled in Jerusalem with his father Carl Sandreczki in 1868, where in 1872 he established and ran the first pediatric hospital in Palestine. He became well known both for his ...

, Johann Ludwig Schneller, Horatio G. Spafford, author of the hymn '' It Is Well With My Soul''. Also buried in the cemetery are G. Douglas Young, founder of

Jerusalem University College Jerusalem University College (formerly American Institute of Holy Land Studies) is an independent undergraduate and graduate academic institution in Israel used by a consortium of North American theological seminaries and Christian colleges. Hi ...

, and his wife Georgina (Snook) Young. The cemetery is also the final resting place for a number of soldiers who fought in the First World War, as well as members of the Palestinian Police who served under the British mandate. Several persons buried here were killed in the

bombing of the King David Hotel The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack on 22 July 1946 by the militant right-wing Zionist underground organization the ...

on the morning of 22 July 1946.

Archaeology

In 1874, an Englishman, Henry Maudsley, discovered a large segment of rock scarp and numerous ancient dressed stones on Mount Zion that were believed to be the base of Josephus's First Wall. Several of these stones were used to construct a retaining wall outside the main gate of the Bishop Gobat school (later known as the American Institute of Holy Land Studies and Jerusalem University College).

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zion Neighbourhoods of Jerusalem Geography of Jerusalem Hebrew Bible mountains New Testament mountains Historic sites in Jerusalem Hills of Israel Landforms of Jerusalem District