Mount Tabor

Mount Tabor

Mount Tabor (Hebrew הר תבור, Latin: Atabyrion ) is a mountain on the eastern edge of the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel.

He was once a famous pre-Christian place of worship of the ancient world and was said to be according to Christian tradition, the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. Its isolated location and its height of 588 meters are very distinctive; the summit is several hundred meters above the surrounding countryside and is still a target of Greek Orthodox pilgrims.

Geology

The mountain is a mountain island, an isolated hill or small mountain, which stands in the gently sloping plane of the surrounding country. He is not of volcanic origin. Despite its proximity to the mountains of Nazareth, he represents a separate geological form

History

In the second millennium BC, the Canaanites worshiped the god Baal on Mount Tabor. In the Old Testament of the mountain is also mentioned as a place of worship. The son of Aristobulus II Hasmonäers - - led army of 30,000 rebels, defeated against Roman rule in the Near East at Mount Tabor Aulus Gabinius of, the Roman governor of the province of Syria in the year 55 BC one of Alexander is.

At the time of the Crusades from 1100 was on the mountain monastery of the Order of the Benedictines, from which they were expelled after the Battle of Hattin in 1187 by the Muslim Ayyubids. Between 1211 and 1213 the Ayyubid Sultan al - Adil I. left to the strategically situated monastery build a castle peak, with a massive perimeter of 1750 meters in length and ten towers. In December 1217 this castle on Mount Tabor was unsuccessfully besieged by the army of the Fifth Crusade of King Andrew II of Hungary. Since they were cut off by constant attacks of the Knights Templar of the surrounding area of the castle from the supply, the Muslims destroyed the plant in 1218 and withdrew. At the latest in 1241 reached the area again under the jurisdiction of the Crusaders and it settled again Christian monks on Mount Tabor. 1255 appropriated over Pope Alexander IV the system on behalf of the local monks to the Hospitallers. Usually, the Knights had reattached the Muslim castle, but apparently they occupied only the existing convent building in the southeast corner of the castle and left to their protected position on the mountain top, surrounded by steep slopes. 1263 the system from the Mamluk Sultan Baybars I was conquered.

An approaching Ottoman relief army under Ahmet Pasha Dschezzar was beaten during the siege of Acre (1799 ) on April 16 in the Battle of Mount Tabor of the numerically much defeated the French at Napoleon's Egyptian campaign in the run.

From 1631 the Franciscans established themselves on the mountain. Your in the period from 1921 to 1924 built church ( Transfiguration ) is still the striking point on the eastern side of the mountain plateau, the northern part is occupied by a Church of Elijah and a Greek Orthodox monastery. In addition, remnants of the ancient and medieval fortifications find.

Mythology

In the biblical tradition, the Mount Tabor of the world mountain: tabbur Hebrew means " navel ( of the world) ". Christians bring the Transfiguration of the Lord in touch with him. Jesus appeared here on the " Mount of Transfiguration " his disciples in the form of God. (Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9). The light that they saw it, is called Tabor light; it played a major role in the debates about Hesychasm in the 14th century.

After numerous mountain fortresses of the Middle Ages were called Tabor, often sites of fortified churches.

After this mountain was in 1217 the city Montabaur in Rhineland-Palatinate and 1421 at the time of the Hussite Wars in Bohemia, the city of Tabor as " settlement of the Clarified" named. A Mont Thabor is available in the French Alps.