Mount Nebo (; ) is an elevated

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

located in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

, approximately

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. Part of the Abarim mountain range, Mount Nebo is mentioned in the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

as the place where

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

was granted a view of the

Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...

before his death. The view from the summit provides a panorama of the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

across the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan (, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn''; , ''Nəhar hayYardēn''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Sharieat'' (), is a endorheic river in the Levant that flows roughly north to south through the Sea of Galilee and drains to the Dead ...

valley. The city of

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

is usually visible from the summit, as is

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

on a very clear day. The biblical town of Nebo, now known as Khirbet al-Mukhayyat, is located 3.5 km (2.1 mi) away.

Religious significance

According to the

(

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

), Moses ascended Mount Nebo, in the land of

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

(today in

), and from there he saw the Land of Canaan (the

), which God had said he would not enter; Moses then died there. The Bible () says Moses' burial place was unknown. A monument atop Mount Nebo commemorates Moses' death after seeing Canaan, across the Jordan valley. A purported grave of Moses is located at

Maqam Maqam, makam, maqaam or maqām (plural maqāmāt) may refer to: Musical structures * Arabic maqam, melodic modes in traditional Arabic music ** Iraqi maqam, a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq * Persian maqam, a notion in Persian clas ...

El- Nabi Musa, in the

, south of

and east of

. Mount Nebo is then mentioned again in

2 Maccabees 2 Maccabees, also known as the Second Book of Maccabees, Second Maccabees, and abbreviated as 2 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which recounts the persecution of Jews under King Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt against him. It ...

(), when the prophet

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

hid the tabernacle and the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...

in a cave there. A Christian church from

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times stands on the top of Mount Nebo. On March 20, 2000,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

visited the summit of Mount Nebo during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. During his visit, he planted an

olive tree The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

next to the Byzantine chapel, as a symbol of peace.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

visited the site in 2009, gave a speech, and looked out from the top of the mountain in the direction of Jerusalem. A serpentine cross sculpture atop Mount Nebo was created by Italian artist Gian Paolo Fantoni. It is symbolic of the miracle of the bronze serpent invoked by Moses in the wilderness () and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified ().

Archaeology

Systematic exploration begun by Sylvester J. Saller O.F.M. was continued in 1933 by Jerome Mihaic of the

Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF), Latin for 'Franciscan Biblical Studies', is a Franciscan academic society based in Jerusalem. It is a center of biblical and archaeological research and studies, established by the Franciscan Custody of the H ...

. On the highest point of the mountain, Syagha, the remains of a Byzantine church and

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

were discovered in 1933.Piccirillo, Michele (2009) ''Mount Nebo'' (Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Guide Books, 2) pp. 14–15. Extract from Sylvester Saller ''The Memorial of Moses on Mount Nebo Jerusalem'' 1941, pp. 15–18. The church was first constructed in the second half of the 4th century to commemorate the place of Moses' death. The church design follows a typical

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

pattern. It was enlarged in the late fifth century AD and rebuilt in AD 597. The church is first mentioned in an account of a

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...

made by a lady Aetheria in AD 394. Six tombs have been found hollowed from the natural rock beneath the

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

-covered floor of the church. Bellarmino Bagatti worked on the site in 1935. Virgilio Canio Corbo later excavated the interior of the basilica.

History of the modern Memorial of Moses

The ancient church, a pilgrimage destination since the 4th century, was excavated between 1933 and 1938 by Sylvester Saller, bringing to light the basilica with its chapels and the annexes of the monastery. The exquisite mosaics were then covered back with soil for protection. In 1963, the Custody of the Holy Land decided to restore the mosaic floors and Virgilio Corbo was put in charge of the project. A metal shelter designed in Oxford was erected over the ruins, but work was interrupted by the

1967 Arab-Israeli war The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 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, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

. Renewed work ensued between 1976-1984, when a new mosaic was discovered in the diaconicon-

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

. By 1984 the consolidation work was completed, and as a result, the basilica could be used both for liturgical purposes, as well as for displaying the restored mosaics, either in situ or mounted on the walls. After renewed plans drawn in 1989 and geological surveys and assessments of the ancient and modern structures made a decade later, a new shelter, basically a complete basilica was built over the ancient church between December 2007 and the reopening day on 15 October 2016. Not even the sudden death of Michelle Piccirillo, a key figure in the project, in October 2008, led to a break in the work.

Exhibited mosaics

In the modern chapel presbytery, built to protect the site and provide worship space, remnants of mosaic floors from different periods can be seen. The earliest of these is a panel with a

braid A braid (also referred to as a plait; ) is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair. The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-strand ...

ed cross presently placed on the east end of the south wall.

Gallery

File:Mount Nebo-Siyagha, Jordan (2009).jpg, left, Stone marker at the entrance File:Memorial of Moses Stone.jpg, Stone marker next to the building File:Mount Nebo Distances.jpg, Plaque showing the distance from Mount Nebo to various locations File:Couple in Front of Church.jpg, Old (pre-2017) structure protecting the excavated church remains File:Jordan D-019.jpg, New structure File:Nebo02(js).jpg, Old (pre-2017) structure File:Mosaic at MountNebo.jpg, Theotokos chapel: apse with altar and mosaic File:Jordan D-028.jpg, A cross-shaped baptismal font File:MtNeboBaptismal.jpg, Baptismal font File:Mt Nebo Mosaic.jpg, Mosaic floor in the diaconicon-baptistery File:Nebo07(js).jpg, Mosaic: peacock File:Nebo09(js).jpg, Mosaic: zebu (humped ox) File:Prosphora Nebo.jpg, Mosaic inscription ("Offering of Caesarion, at the time of Alexios and Theophilos priests") File:The Brazen Serpent, Mount Nebo.jpg, The ''Brazen Serpent'' sculpture, Mount Nebo File:BrazenSerpent.JPG, Detail of ''Brazen Serpent'' statue File:Mount Nebo (2007-05-826) (1330156315).jpg, View from Mount Nebo

References

External links

– photographs of excavations in Jordan

*
Photos of Mount Nebo
at the American Center of Research
Photos of Mount Nebo
at the

Manar al-Athar Manar al-Athar is a photo archive based at the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford which aims to provide high-quality open-access images of archaeological sites and buildings. The archive's collection focuses on areas of the Roman Em ...

photo archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Nebo Archaeological sites in Jordan Hebrew Bible mountains Jewish Jordanian history Jewish mythology Mountains of Jordan Ridges of Asia Tourism in Jordan Nebo Byzantine mosaics Giraffes in art