Ras Kasaroun () or El-Kas (), also known as Casius Mons in Latin, or Kasion Oros () to Greek geographers such as

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

(who considered it to mark the boundary between Egypt and

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

), is a small mountain and a former town near the marshy

Lake Bardawil Lake Bardawil ( or ), is a large, very saline lagoon nearby the protected area of Zaranik (also known for diversities of insects and waterbirds) in Egypt on the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Lake Bardawil is about long, and wide (at its ...

, the "

Serbonian Bog The Serbonian Bog (, , ) was an area of wetland in a lagoon lying between the eastern Nile Delta, the Isthmus of Suez, Mount Casius, and the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, with Lake Sirbonis at its center. The lagoon still exists, and is the second ...

" of Herodotus, where Zeus' ancient opponent

Typhon Typhon (; , ), also Typhoeus (; ), Typhaon () or Typhos (), was a monstrous serpentine giant and one of the deadliest creatures in Greek mythology. According to Hesiod, Typhon was the son of Gaia and Tartarus. However, one source has Typhon as t ...

was "said to be hidden". Here, Greeks knew, Baal Sephon was worshipped. The sandy mount stands out about the flat landscape, though it is a mere 100 metres above the sea. Its name is given to the Catholic titular see of Casius. Like the other Mount Casius in Syria, it was historically associated with a shrine to

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

, one of whose epithets was Kasios. The saying "Kasiotic knot", which in Medieval Greek meant "someone who are crooked in their ways", comes from the town's name.

References

{{Authority control Ancient Greek geography Mountains of Egypt Geography of ancient Egypt