Jebel Safsafa

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Jebel Safsafa (historic photo, before 1914)

The Jebel Safsafa ( Arabic جبل صفصافة, DMG Ǧabal Ṣafṣāfa ) is a 2168 m high mountain of the Sinai massif in the south of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt . It consists of red granite and rises about 500 m from the surroundings, but 1900 to 2000 m above some deeply cut valleys. These are suitable for agriculture, as there are alluvial deposits here and rainwater flows off the granite massif, which collects in the valleys.

Late antiquity and the Byzantine period

The Jabal Safsafa has been identified with the biblical mountain Horeb since the 4th century AD , the place where the prophet Elijah retreated into a cave and had a divine revelation according to the biblical representation ( 1 Kings 19.8–18  EU ).

In the late 4th century Egeria described the pilgrimage destinations on Jebel Safsafa: Coming from Jebel Musa , she visited the mountain she called Horeb, where there was a church. “Even the cave in which St. Elijah hid is still shown today in front of the door of the church that stands there. There is also shown a stone altar that St. Elijah himself built to sacrifice to God. "

In an Israeli survey in 1976/77, archaeologists discovered numerous remains of the Byzantine monastic settlement: chapels and cellars , stone walls, moats and water basins, terraces and sometimes stepped paths. Prayer niches and rock inscriptions can also be assigned to this monk colony. One of the best preserved Byzantine ruins is in the "Almond Tree Valley" (Farsch el-Lozah). The late antique monastery on an area of ​​19 × 16 m is located on the slope. It had a church with only a rudimentary apse . A lower-lying adjoining room is still preserved up to a wall height of 5 m. About 1250 m² of agricultural land belong to this monastery, mostly enclosed by a wall. In the south-eastern part there is a building from a later period.

Later buildings

In the area of ​​the Jabal Safsafa there are several chapels, the core of which is probably medieval, but in its current form were built in the 19th century: the chapel of St. Elijah, St. Virgin of Oikonomos, St. John, St. Anna and St. Panteleimon.

literature

  • Israel Finkelstein : Byzantine Monastic Remains in Southern Sinai . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 39 (1985), pp. 39-75. ( PDF )

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Egeria: Itinerarium / travel report . With excerpts from Petrus Diaconus : De Locis sanctis / The holy places . Translated and explained by Georg Röwekamp (= Fontes Christiani . Volume 20). 3rd, revised edition Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2017, p. 125.
  2. ^ Israel Finkelstein: Byzantine Monastic Remains in Southern Sinai . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 39 (1985), p. 40.42.
  3. ^ Israel Finkelstein: Byzantine Monastic Remains in Southern Sinai . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 39 (1985), p. 49 f.
  4. ^ Israel Finkelstein: Byzantine Monastic Remains in Southern Sinai . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 39 (1985), p. 42 note 14.