Mountains of Israel

Israel, land and state, is more mountainous than not. Only the quasi-N-shaped network of lowlands—comprising the Coastal Plain, the Jezreel Valley, and the Jordan Rift Valley (which includes the Hulah Valley, the Jordan Valley, and the Aravah Valley)—breaks up what is otherwise a landscape of hills and heights that constitute the country’s central spine or mountainous backbone. Consequently, the Israelites initially became highlanders, and only later also plainsmen.

Of the three major trade routes—Derekh HaYam (The Way of the Sea/The Coastal Highway), Derekh HaAvot (The Way of the Patriarchs/The Ridge Route), and Derekh HaMelekh (The King’s Highway/The Road to Bashan)—that traversed the Land of Israel, Derekh HaAvot ran along the watershed of the central hill country (through the tribal territories of Shimon, Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and western Menasheh) and Derekh HaMelekh ran along the Transjordanian highlands and eastern tableland (through Edom, Moab, Reuven, Gad, and eastern Menasheh).

Over the course of nearly 4,000 years of Jewish history, numerous elevations in Israel have featured in the most significant events within the realm of human affairs. Here is a glance at some of Israel’s most prominent summits and their natural and/or historical claims to fame.

1. Hermon (Siryon, Snir) – Shared by modern Israel, Syria, and Lebanon, snow-capped Hermon abuts the basalt tableland of Bashan, sending streams and snowmelt year-round down to the headwaters of the Jordan River and into the Hulah Valley. Hermon is the southernmost part of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and its highest peak reaches 9,232 feet above sea level. Known in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) for its dews, lions, and cypresses, Hermon was perhaps once the location of a Ba’al shrine, hence its onetime appellation Ba’al-Hermon. Tzidonians (Sidonians) of neighboring Phoenicia called it Siryon, while Amorites knew it as Snir. Hivites possessed the mount prior to the period of the Exodus from Egypt (c. 1313–1273 BCE), at the close of which eastern Menasheh acquired it. Minor temples were erected upon its slopes during the Roman era (63 BCE–313 CE), as was a temple atop its summit. Druze Arabs refer to Hermon as Jebel al-Sheikh (“The Chieftain’s Mount”) because it has traditionally been where their religious leaders dwell. Today the Hermon Stream Nature Reserve lies at the southern base of the mountain.
2. Bental – Bental is a dormant volcano in the Golan (western Bashan) and is covered with Israeli common oak trees. It reaches 3,842 feet above sea level. The apex features an Israel Defense Forces fort constructed upon a previous Syrian fort, and offers excellent panoramic views of the Golan, Mount Hermon, and Syria. Kibbutz Merom Golan sits at its base.
3. Meiron – A mountain that featured a priestly town upon its slopes, Meiron lies three miles northwest of the mystical city of Tzfat and was often associated in the Talmud with the town of Gush Halav (Gischala) that lies four miles to the north. In 732 BCE, Emperor Tiglat-Pileser III of Assyria conquered Meiron in his military campaign against the northern Kingdom of Israel. During the Great Revolt (66–73 CE), the Galilean governor Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) fortified Meiron against the Romans. The renowned tanna Shimon bar Yohai (Rashbi) and his son Elazar ben Shimon were buried on the eastern slope of the mount; their graves became a pilgrimage site, and to this day Jews flock to their tombs on Lag BaOmer. A synagogue was erected on Meiron during the third century CE, and its stately remains lie near the tombs. Hundreds of other tombs lie at the base of the mountain.
4. Arbel – Situated in Lower Galilee, Arbel reaches 594 feet above sea level and is distinguished by its high cliffs and early Byzantine synagogue ruins featuring columns and pews dating to the fourth century CE (though the two-storey structure apparently was constructed in phases). The synagogue and attached settlement may have been the ancient town of Arbela (perhaps the Beit Arbel mentioned in Hosea; the alternate location is atop the opposite peak, Mount Nitai). The mountain is pockmarked with natural caves, some of which were artificially expanded into cave dwellings and interconnected via staircases, thereby forming a cave complex hewn on four levels. During the Hasmonean era (167–63 BCE), the formidable Seleucid (Syrian-Greek) general Bacchides marched (for a second time) against Judah Maccabee and his fighters, encamping at Arbela and capturing it while slaughtering many residents. During the Roman era (63 BCE–313 CE), partisans of the last Hasmonean king, Mattathias Antigonus, revolted in 39 BCE against the future King Herod the Great of Judea and sought refuge in the cliff caves from Herod and his Roman allies, who went to great pains to extract and smoke out the rebels and their families therefrom with fire. In 66 CE, during the early stages of the Great Revolt (66–73 CE), the Galilean governor Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) had walls constructed around the caves in anticipation of the imminent Roman invasion. Jewish priests settled at Arbel following the destruction of the Second Temple. In the early modern era, a walled cave fortress (Qal’at ibn Ma’an) was established on-site by Ali Bek, son of the local Druze emir Fahr ad-Din. Today the mount hosts four modern villages: Arbel, Kfar Zeitim, Kfar Hittim, and Mitzpah. At the base of the mountain lie the Jewish town of Migdal (Magdala-Tarichaeae) and the Arab village of Hammam.
5. Nitai – Named after the local sage Nitai of Arbela, chief justice of the Great Sanhedrin during the reign of the Hasmonean ruler and high priest Yohanan Hyrcanus, the mount lies just west of Mount Arbel and Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) and north of the city of Tiberias. The sibling peaks of Nitai and Arbel are divided by the Arbel Valley (Nahal Arbel; known in Arabic as Wadi Hammam) and its stream. Nitai’s tabular summit features a grove of trees and ruins of a walled settlement thought to be the ancient village of Arbela (perhaps the Beit Arbel mentioned in Hosea; the alternate location is atop the opposite peak, Mount Arbel). Portions of its slopes are sheer cliffs, and there are also numerous caves and several quarries in the mountainside. A synagogue dating either to the Roman era (63 BCE–313 CE) or to the Byzantine era (324–638 CE) and featuring a colorful mosaic floor was discovered at the foot of the mount in Horvat Vradim (known in Arabic as Khirbet Wadi Hammam).
6. Kharmel – A mountain range connected to Israel’s northernmost Coastal Plain, the Jezreel Valley, and the Mediterranean Sea. Revered as a sacred promontory from ancient times, Kharmel was the site of Phoenician worship of Hadad (Ba’al of Kharmel). The range’s highest peak reaches 1,742 feet above sea level. During the period of the Israelite repatriation to the Land of Israel (c. 1273–1245 BCE), Joshua defeated the king of Yokne’am of Kharmel. Allotted to the tribal territory of Asher, Kharmel was most famously the site of Elijah the prophet’s triumph over the priests of Ba’al during the reign of King Ahab of Israel (874–853 BCE). Here the Tishbite rid himself of King Ahazyahu of Israel’s first two commanders, with their 50-strong companies, sent to fetch him. Elijah’s Cave lies at the base of the mount and is venerated by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Elisha the prophet also dwelt amid its treed heights and slopes, which abound in olives, oaks, pines, and laurels. According to Scripture, on Kharmel Elisha was visited by the grieving Shunamite woman, whose deceased son he revived. During the Roman era (63 BCE–313 CE), the then general Vespasian and, later, Emperor Trajan of Rome consulted the oracle Zeus of Kharmel atop the eminence. Tractate Nidah of the Talmud cites Kharmel wine—Kharmel is a contraction of “Kherem El” (“God’s Vineyard”)—and the mountain was beloved for its fruitfulness and its loveliness. Christians worshiped Saint Elias here, and in the 12^th century reclusive hermits were drawn to the mountain’s numerous grottoes. In 1156 (or else in 1185), the French crusader Count Berthold of Limoges (Berthold of Calabria) founded a hermit colony upon the heights, atop the traditional site of Elisha’s Cave (not to be confused with Elijah’s Cave); upon Berthold’s decease in 1195, the colony that had developed into a monastery was overseen by his successor Saint Brocard. In 1291, the conquering Mamelukes slew the monks and demolished their monastery. Today the city of Haifa has expanded to cover a sizable portion of the mountain, while the town of Zikhron Ya’akov lies at its southernmost tip and the Druze Arab villages of Isfiya and Daliyat al-Kharmel are nestled amid the central area. The eclectic artists’ colony of Ein Hod also rests atop Kharmel. A substantial part (almost 15,000 acres) of the range comprises Mount Carmel National Park and Nature Reserve, one of the largest continuous open spaces in Israel.
7. Tavor – A lone, dome-shaped mount situated in Lower Galilee and edging the Jezreel Valley. Tavor’s peak reaches 1,886 feet above sea level and towers over the surrounding plain. During the period of the Israelite repatriation to the Land of Israel (c. 1273–1245 BCE), as a conspicuous landmark visible from a distance, the oak-covered mountain was designated a boundary marker for the tribal territories of Issachar, Zevulun, and Naphtali. During the era of the Judges (c. 1228–1020 BCE), the Israelite general Barak marshaled his forces from the northern tribes against the Canaanite general Sisera; the Israelites descended the slopes with celerity and routed the approaching enemy, whose chariots got bogged down amid muddy conditions. During the Hellenistic era (332–167 BCE), Tavor (known in Greek as Itabyrion/Atabyrium) was a royal fortress and was conquered by Emperor Antiochus III the Great of Syria in 218 BCE during his military campaign (the Fourth Syrian War, 219–217) against his rival Emperor Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt. In 55, the Roman general Aulus Gabinius defeated the Hasmonean prince Alexander, son of Aristobulus II, at the base of Tavor, slaying 10,000 of his men. The Galilean governor Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) fortified the site anew in 67 CE during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE), but after a battle in the plain it was soon surrendered to the Roman general Placidus and his 600 cavalrymen. Later, Christians designated Tavor the locus for the transfiguration of Jewish reformer Jesus of Nazareth; during the Byzantine era (324–638 CE), a basilica was erected atop the peak. Benedictines, Muslim Arabs, and the Knights Hospitaler all subsequently possessed the mount until the Franciscan order claimed it for its monks in 1873. Today the mountain features a Greek Orthodox monastery and a Franciscan basilica, as well as a road and hiking trails ascending in switchback fashion toward the summit. The Israeli Arab village of Daburiyah hangs off the slopes, and the village Kfar Tavor lies nearby in the vale.
8. Gilboa – A bow-shaped mountain range southwest of Beit She’an, Gilboa overlooks the Beit She’an Valley and the Harod Valley. Its highest peak reaches 1,709 feet above sea level. At the base of the mountain ridge lie natural springs (Ein Harod/Ma’ayan Harod, Gan HaShloshah). Here the Philistines were victorious in the fateful Battle of Mount Gilboa (1010 BCE) waged against the Israelites under King Saul, who was killed along with three of his sons, for which the mountain was execrated by David. Today Kibbutz Ma’aleih Gilboa and the Arab village Faqqua rest atop the range, and at the base lie the moshav Gidonah and the kibbutzim Beit Alfa, Hephtzibah, and Nir David.
9. Eival – Eival is located just north of Shekhem and reaches 3,084 feet above sea level. Joshua erected upon the mountain an altar of unhewn stones whitewashed with lime, whereon burnt offerings and peace offerings were made; he also inscribed in stone the Torah in the sight of all Israel. In a solemn ceremony, half of the people (the six tribes of Reuven, Gad, Asher, Zevulun, Dan, Naphtali) stood atop Eival to pronounce the curses against those who disobeyed the Torah, whereas the other half atop Gerizim pronounced the blessings upon those who obeyed the Torah, while the priests and the Levites surrounded the Ark of the Testimony (Ark of the Covenant) in the well-watered valley between the mountains. The selection of Eival as the locus of curses might have resulted from the fact that the direction and steepness of slopes affect the vegetative composition and density thereon, and Eival’s southern slope is sere compared to Gerizim’s northern slope. Ruins and tombs feature on, and at the base of, Eival.
10. Gerizim – Sparsely covered with shrubbery and olive groves and possessing many springs at its base, Gerizim is located just south of Shekhem and reaches 2,890 feet above sea level. In a solemn ceremony, half of the people (the six tribes of Shimon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, Benjamin) stood atop Gerizim to pronounce the blessings upon those who obeyed the Torah, whereas the other half had stood atop Eival to pronounce the curses against those who disobeyed the Torah, while the priests and the Levites surrounded the Ark of the Testimony (Ark of the Covenant) in the well-watered valley between the mountains. The selection of Gerizim as the locus of blessings might have resulted from the fact that the direction and steepness of slopes affect the vegetative composition and density thereon, and Gerizim’s northern slope is lush compared to Eival’s southern slope. The Samaritan version of Deuteronomy transposes Eival and Gerizim so that the stones inscribed with the Torah and the altar were to be erected upon Gerizim instead. During the Persian era (539–332 BCE), the Samaritans constructed their own temple and altar upon the mountain’s summit, which was converted into a pagan temple to Zeus by Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria during the Hellenistic era (332–167 BCE) and which was later destroyed by the Hasmonean ruler and high priest Yohanan Hyrcanus in 111/110 (the date of this victory, 21 Kislev, was thenceforth celebrated as “the Day of Mount Gerizim”). The Roman prefect Pontius Pilate massacred a large assembly of Samaritans upon the mountain; in 67 CE, during the Great Revolt (66–73 CE), 11,600 Samaritans were massacred by legionaries led by the Roman commander of the fifth legion, Cerealis. According to Samaritan chronicles, following the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE) Emperor Hadrian of Rome constructed a pagan shrine to Zeus on Gerizim and there placed the bronze gates of the Temple. The Talmud records a statement by Shimon ben Elazar that Samaritan wines are proscribed due to their use in the worship of a dove idol erected upon Gerizim. In 484, Samaritans revolted against Emperor Zeno of Byzantium and were expelled from Gerizim; a church dedicated to Mary of Nazareth was built on Gerizim, and the Samaritan synagogue was expropriated. In 529, after another Samaritan rebellion, Emperor Justinian of Byzantium erected a defensive wall around the church. Muslims destroyed the church and its wall during the reigns of Caliph al-Mansur and Caliph al-Mamun. Today Samaritans continue to dwell upon the mountain slopes, pray in the direction of Gerizim, and offer their paschal sacrifices just west of their former temple site (since desecrated by a Muslim graveyard).
11. Ba’al-Hatzor (Ramat Hatzor) – According to the Genesis Apocryphon, one of the seven original documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in Cave 1 near Qumran, Ba’al-Hatzor (referred to therein as Ramat Hatzor) is the site between Beit El and Ai where Abraham built an altar and invoked God’s name and later, after parting with his nephew Lot, received a divine message: “Look all around you, north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you” (Genesis 13:14-17). Ba’al-Hatzor reaches 3,333 feet above sea level, sits on the border between the tribal territories of Benjamin and Ephraim, and is the highest mountain in Samaria. Here King David’s son Avshalom hosted a sheepshearing feast at which he avenged his sister Tamar, who had been raped by their half-brother Amnon, by having a drunk Amnon assassinated. Ba’al-Hatzor is perhaps also to be identified with the Mount Azotus mentioned in I Maccabees in connection with the decease of the Hasmonean hero Judah Maccabee during the fateful Battle of Elasah (160 BCE).
12. Moriah (Zion/Temple Mount) – The holiest mountain in the Land of Israel, located in the epicenter of Jerusalem, on which Abraham was divinely instructed to build an altar and bind his son Isaac as a sacrifice, on which King David built an altar, and on which King Solomon erected the First Temple in 960 BCE. Before David purchased it, it was the site of King Aravnah the Jebusite’s threshing floor. The three pilgrimage festivals of Sukkot (Booths/Tabernacles), Pesah (Passover), and Shavuot (Weeks/Pentecost) annually compelled Israelites to ascend to Moriah and the Temple, where oblations were made by the priesthood on the people’s behalf as part of the sacerdotal services. The Babylonians destroyed the Temple in 586, but tens of thousands of Judahites under Sheishbatzar, Zerubavel, and Yeshua the high priest returned from the Babylonian Captivity (605–538 BCE) in 538 and built on Moriah the Second Temple, completed in 516. During the Persian era (539–332 BCE), the high priest Yohanan slew his younger brother Yeshua in the Temple, prompting the Persian general Bagoas (Bagoses) to illicitly enter its precincts. During the Hellenistic era (332–167 BCE), the high priest Yaddua welcomed King Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander the Great) to Jerusalem and directed him in offering a sacrifice in the Temple, and the high priest Shimon II the Just repaired damage to the Temple. In 169, the Temple was plundered and desecrated under Emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes (who also slew many Jerusalemites), but was reconsecrated by the Hasmonean hero Judah Maccabee and his brothers in 164 during the Maccabean Rebellion (167–134 BCE), giving rise to the Hanukah festival. Temple Mount was then fortified with high walls and strong towers. In 63, during the Hasmonean fratricidal war, the Roman general Pompey the Great occupied Jerusalem and invaded the Temple. In 20, King Herod the Great of Judea began remodeling the Second Temple, then a relatively modest sanctuary, into a marvelous and elaborate structure resting upon a Temple Mount enlarged through embanking, its peristylar esplanade supported by a retaining wall comprised of ashlar stones (of which the Western Wall or Kotel forms a part). In 66 CE, after the Roman procurator Gessius Florus had plundered the Temple and the Zealot leader Elazar ben Hananiah had ceased the sacrifices on the emperor’s behalf in the Temple, the Great Revolt (66–73 CE) broke out, resulting in the Second Temple’s destruction by the Romans under Titus in 70. In 129/130, Emperor Hadrian of Rome visited ruined Jerusalem and determined to rebuild the city as a Roman colony to be named Aelia Capitolina, in honor of himself (Aelius Hadrianus) and of the Roman chief deity (Jupiter Capitolinus); following the failure of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE), he erected a shrine to Jupiter Capitolinus atop Temple Mount. In 637, Jerusalem was conquered by the Muslim Arabs under Caliph Omar, who had a wooden mosque erected atop Temple Mount; this modest structure was replaced in 691 by the Umayyad ruler Caliph Abd al-Malik’s Dome of the Rock shrine, reportedly built employing the labor of 10 Jewish families exempted from poll taxes, and the adjacent Al-Aqsa Mosque (repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt until the current structure was constructed by the Fatimids in 1035). In 1099, after conquering Jerusalem and establishing the Latin Kingdom, crusaders converted the Muslim edifices atop Temple Mount into a church and a palace, but these were restored to their previous incarnations in 1187 upon the conquest of Jerusalem by Sultan Saladin of the Ayyubid Sultanate. In 1967, Temple Mount was captured by Israeli paratroopers from Jordanian Arabs during the Six-Day War, but Israel ceded control of the esplanade and its sacred edifices to a Muslim Arab religious trust (waqf), under whose oversight unauthorized and unsupervised construction and demolition were conducted on the southern end of Temple Mount by means of bulldozers (1996–1999), eventuating in the discarding of unearthed archaeological artifacts, some of which have since been reclaimed with great diligence. Moriah was perhaps named after the Hebrew word for myrrh (mor), the aromatic resin burned on the altar for a sweet savor, or else may have referred to the Amorites. The name Zion once referred specifically to the hill below Moriah, formerly a Jebusite stronghold, that became known as the City of David, but the name became synonymous with Moriah already in the biblical era, as evidenced by references in Psalms and Joel (and later in I Maccabees). The modern “Mount Zion” in Jerusalem’s upper city (western ridge), where the tomb of King David, the Coenaculum (scene of the Last Supper), the Church of the Dormition of Mary, and a small Holocaust museum are situated, results from a misnomer in the writings of the priestly historian Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus).
13. Mount of Olives (Olivet) – Divided from Temple Mount and the City of David by the Kidron Valley, the Mount of Olives ridge extends eastward from Jerusalem and comprises three peaks. King David worshiped atop the Ascent of Olives, as the site is referred to in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). The prophet Ezekiel envisioned the divine glory standing atop the mount; the prophet Zikharyah prophesied of a day in which God would stand upon the mount and cleave it in two, forming a valley extending east to west, with the upper half moving northward and the lower half moving southward. A Jewish necropolis dating to the First Temple era (960–586 BCE) hangs off the mountain’s western slope. During the Second Temple era (516 BCE–70 CE), the Mount of Olives hosted the initial station in the chain of flare beacons between the Land of Israel and Babylonia that relayed information concerning the Jewish calendar, such as the sanctifications of new moons. The site was then also the locus of the burning of the red heifer, and one or two bridges then linked the ridge with Temple Mount. Christians later erected churches and monasteries atop the Mount of Olives to commemorate the places where they believe that Jewish reformer Jesus of Nazareth wept for Jerusalem, prayed with his disciples in the Garden of Gat-Shemanim (Gethsemane) on the night prior to his arrest, and ascended heavenward. When Jews were banned from Temple Mount during the Middle Ages, they circled the Mount of Olives seven times on the Hoshana Rabbah festival. Rock-hewn tombs lie at the western base of the mount, including the Tomb of Pharaoh’s Daughter, the Tomb of Avshalom, the Tomb of Zikharyah, and the Tomb of Hezir’s Sons. Today the mountain’s peaks feature the Augusta Victoria church-hospital complex (commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire and completed in 1914) and the Arab village of At-Tur, a name derived from the ancient Aramaic appellation, Tura Zita. In 1967, the entire ridge was reclaimed from Jordanian Arabs by Israeli troops during the Six-Day War.
14. Scopus – Technically one of the three peaks of the Mount of Olives, Scopus reaches 2,684 feet above sea level. According to the priestly historian Joseph ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus), Scopus was where Yaddua the high priest greeted King Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander the Great) during the Hellenistic era (332–167 BCE). During the Great Revolt (66–73 CE), the Roman governor of Syria, Cestius Gallus, encamped upon Scopus in his assault on Jerusalem; the Roman general Titus later stationed two legions atop Scopus as well, leveling the ground between the mountain and the monuments of King Herod the Great of Judea adjoining the Serpent’s Pool. In 1925, Hebrew University of Jerusalem opened atop its apex.
15. Herzl – Named after the father of the political Zionism movement, Theodor Herzl, the western Jerusalem site hosts the annual official state ceremony concluding Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) services for Israel’s fallen, as well as the commencement of festivities for Yom HaAtzma’ut (Independence Day). Herzl’s unadorned, black granite tomb is situated atop the mount’s summit. A who’s who of the State of Israel’s leaders and dignitaries is interred in the national cemetery, as are worthies of the World Zionist Organization and Herzl family members. Israel’s military cemetery covers the mount’s northern slopes; Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center is situated in the western area. The World Zionist Organization is responsible for developing and maintaining the site.
16. Herodium (Herodion) – The locus of a fateful battle between the last Hasmonean king, Mattathias Antigonus, and the future King Herod the Great of Judea. After defeating his rival for the throne, Herod in 28 BCE built a partially manmade mountain and fortified estate, named after himself, at the site. Lower Herodium, at the foot of the mount, was an additional palace complex with pools, gardens, and a bathhouse. Herod was buried here, and his mausoleum was finally discovered in 2007. During the Great Revolt (66–73 CE), the Zealots seized the mountain fortress until the Romans recaptured it following the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70. During the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE), Herodium was reused as a rebel base by Jewish stalwarts who carved secret tunnels and caves on-site. The biblical town of Tekoa and the modern village of the same name are nearby.
17. Masada – Originally fortified during the Hasmonean era (167–63 BCE)—either by the ruler and high priest Jonathan Maccabee or by King Yannai Alexander of Judea—the isolated desert stronghold located a mile west of the Salt Sea (Dead Sea) served to protect the family of the future King Herod the Great of Judea during his war against the Hasmonean scion Mattathias Antigonus, who unsuccessfully besieged the bastion. A victorious Herod eventually renovated the site with a remarkable three-tier cliffside palace. A Roman garrison was later installed here but was slain by Sicarii leader Menahem ben Judah and his men in 66 CE during the early stages of the Great Revolt (66–73 CE). Menahem’s nephew Elazar ben Ya’ir, after escaping Jerusalem, controlled the site for most of the revolt, during which one of the key Zealot leaders, Shimon bar Giora, also sojourned upon the mountain fortress. The Roman legate Flavius Silva finally conquered Masada in 73, but was deprived of complete victory as the Sicarii defenders had elected to commit mass suicide instead of living as Roman slaves; 960 dead Jews were survived by only two women and five children who had concealed themselves in underground caverns. The fall of Masada brought the Great Revolt to its tragic and bitter end. In subsequent centuries, the fortress was occupied by Romans, Byzantine Christians, and crusaders. From 1963–1965, excavations were undertaken under the supervision of former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Yigael Yadin. Today Masada is one of Israel’s most frequented historic sites, whose visitors hike up and down the Roman ramp or winding snake path, or else opt for the modern cable car heading to and from the walled summit.
18. Karkom (Saffron) – Rising from the central Negev Desert, Karkom attains 2,778 feet above sea level. The mount was a palaeolithic cult center amid a plateau featuring 40,000 rock engravings. Religious activity at Karkom is thought to have achieved its acme from 2350–2000 BCE, with the site apparently being abandoned for most of the following millennium (c. 1950–1000 BCE). Equidistant from Kadesh-Barnea and Petra, the peak has even been pegged as an alternate Mount Sinai, though this revisionist theory, which places the Exodus from Egypt (c. 1313–1273 BCE) instead sometime in the Early Bronze Age (3300–2100 BCE), has not been generally accepted by biblical archaeologists or historians.
19. Ramon – Situated southwest of the desert town of Mitzpeh Ramon in the southwestern corner of the erosion cirque Makhtesh Ramon, close to the Israeli-Egyptian border, Ramon reaches 3,402 feet above sea level and is the highest mountain in southern Israel. It is part of a cluster of peaks including Mount Romem, Mount Harif, and Mount Loz. Today the summit features an astronomical observatory for serious stargazers.
20. Timna – A tabular mountain located in the sandy heart of the Timna Valley that descends toward the Aravah Valley north of Eilat. Some of King Solomon’s copper mines lie nearby, as do the tall, red sandstone formations known as Solomon’s Pillars and the shrine to the pagan goddess Hathor (built by Pharaoh Seti I of Egypt). West of Mount Timna lie the ancient smelting camps where copper ore nodules were melted for their valuable metal. Between the second and fourth centuries CE, Roman legionaries of the Legio III Cyrenaica were stationed in the vicinity. The summit of the mount affords breathtaking vistas of the surrounding rock structures, including mushroom hoodoos and natural arches artfully sculpted by wind, humidity, and water erosion. Today part of Timna Park, the mountain is also close to the artificial, recreational Lake Timna and to a reconstructed Tabernacle.

Unlike the seafaring Phoenicians or the riverine Egyptians and Babylonians, the Israelites were largely mountain dwellers immersed in muscular hill country, a geography engendering a lifeway combining shepherding, husbandry, and horticulture. Their lofty heights provided advantageous ground from which to survey their surroundings, defensive barriers against more powerful foes prone to wars of conquest, and high places for sacrificial offerings—both ordained and prohibited—until finally all idolatry was phased out after the first Fall of Jerusalem (586 BCE) and all religious worship concentrated in Jerusalem during the Second Temple era (516 BCE–70 CE).

The mountains of Israel are scripturally immortalized in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), perhaps nowhere so famously as in Psalms:

When Israel went out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became His sanctuary,
and Israel His dominion.

The sea saw it and fled;
Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the little hills like lambs.

What ails you, O sea, that you fled?
O Jordan, that you turned back?
O mountains, that you skipped like rams?
O little hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turned the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a fountain of waters. (114)

The Hebrew language contains numerous words to describe Israel’s elevations, including: har (mountain), givah (hill), ramah (height), tel (layered mound), arayma (heap/pile/stack), ma’aleh (ascent), pisgah (summit/peak), etc. Any map of Israel that is two-dimensional is misleading. To understand the land requires one to ascend—giving rise to the time-honored expression, “making aliyah”.