Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives, multi-summit limestone ridge just east of the Old City of Jerusalem and separated from it by the Kidron Valley. Frequently mentioned in the Bible and later religious literature, it is holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The peak usually regarded as the Mount of Olives proper is the southern summit, 2,652 feet (808 metres) above sea level. The middle peak (2,645 feet [806 metres]) is crowned by the Augusta Victoria Hospital. At the north is the highest peak, commonly called Mount Scopus (Hebrew: Har ha-Ẕofim; Arabic: Raʾs al-Mashārif; 2,694 feet [820 metres]).

First mentioned in the Bible as the “ascent of the Mount of Olives” (2 Samuel 15), it is referred to in the book of Zechariah in the prophecy of the end of days (Zechariah 14).

The Mount of Olives is frequently mentioned in the New Testament. From it Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of the last week of his life (Matthew 21:1; Mark 11:1). Two days before the Crucifixion, in his so-called Olivet Discourse, he foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world (Matthew 24–25; Mark 13; Luke 21). The traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed just before he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot (Matthew 26; Mark 14), is on the western slopes. Finally, after the Resurrection, Jesus is reported to have ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:9–12); Luke mentions that the Ascension occurred on a location there near the village of Bethany (Luke 24:50–51).

From at least the 4th century ce, Christian churches and shrines have been built there; a number of denominations are now represented. A joint mosque and Christian chapel exists over the spot where many Christians and Muslims believe Jesus ascended. According to ancient Jewish tradition, the messianic era will commence on the Mount of Olives, and for this reason its slopes have been the most sacred burial ground in Judaism for centuries.

On Mount Scopus (north) the cornerstone of the Hebrew University was laid by Chaim Weizmann in 1918; the campus was opened by Lord Balfour in 1925. By 1948 many buildings had been built, including the Jewish National and University Library (1929) and the Rothschild-Hadassah University Hospital (1934), one of the largest in the Middle East. After Israel’s War of Independence (1948–49), the university area on Mount Scopus was an exclave (detached portion) of sovereign Israeli territory, separated from Israeli Jerusalem by Jordan. Following the Six-Day War (June 1967), the entire Mount of Olives came under Israeli rule; by the early 1970s the Mount Scopus complex was repaired and was in use by various university faculties.