History of Sinai - Forgotten Books · Sinai, and the inscriptions are in course of publicatio n by the Egypt Exploration Fund. Among the wo rkers at Serabit was myself. I had long

HISTORY OF S INAI

L INA ECKENSTEIN

AUTHOR OF WOMAN UNDER MONASTICISM

WI TH MAPS AND I LLUS TRATI ONS No 87 8 Q

LONDONS O C I ETY F O R PRO M O T I NGC H R I S T I A N K N OW L E D G ENORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W .C .

N EW Y O RK : THE M ACM I L L A N C O .

PRINTED BY

W ILL I AM CLOWES AND SONS , L IM ITED ,LONDON AND BECCLES.

FOREWORD

IN the winter of 1905-6 Professor Flinders Petrie undertook

the examination of the Egyptian remains in Sinai . After

working at Wadi Maghara he removed into the Wadi

Umm Agraf t o copy the inscrip tions and excavate the temple

ruins at Serabit . His work is described in Researches inSinai

,and the inscriptions are in course of publication

by the Egypt Explorat ion Fund . Among the wo rkers a t

S erabit was myself . I had long been interested in the hermit

life o f the peninsula and in the growing belief that the Gebe]Musa was not the Mountain o f the Law . The excavations at

S erabi t and the non-Egyptian character o f the ancient hill

sanctuary supplied new material for reflection . In the ho urs

Spent in so rting fragments of temple offerings and copyingtemple inscriptions it o ccurred t o me that we might be o nthe site which meant so much in the history o f religion .

Studies made after our return suggested further po ints ofinteres t . The outcome is this lit tle histo ry which will I

trust,appeal to tho se who take an in teres t in the reco ns truc

tion of the pas t and in the successive stages of . religious

development .LINA ECKENSTEIN

E aster, 1920 .

APPROXIM ATE DATING OF

EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES

DYNASTY5500 . M o nument o f S emerkhet in S inai

4800 . Khufu4300 . the Pepys

3600 . Amen-em-hats and S en-userts2 500 . Hykso s Co nquest

Time o f Abraham and Jo sephXVIII . 1580 . Amen ho tep and Tahutmes

I 380 . Akhenaten (Amenho tep IV), (P) time o f Mo ses

XIX. 1328- 1202 . Ramessides

1300—1234. Ramessu I I .

RULERS O F PHARAN AND THE

CONVENT O F S INA I

L IST TENTATIVELY ENLARGED FROM CHE IKHO

B ISHOPS OF PHARANMo ses.

Natyr.Macarius.

Pho t ius.

Theo do r.

B ISHOPS 0 1? S INA IConstantine, 869 .

Marcus I, 869 .

Jo rins, 1033 .

John I , 1069 .

Zacharias, 1103 o r 1114.

Geo rge, 1133 o r 1143 .

Gabriel I , 1146.

John I I , 1164 .

S imeo n (Archbishop) , 1203 53 .

Euthym ius, 12 23 .

M acarius I, 12 24.

Germanns I , 1228 .

Theo do sius, 12 39 .

Macarius I I, 1248 .

S imeo n I I), 1258 .

John I II, 1265.

Arsinius, 1290 .

S imeo n, 1306.

Do ro theus, 1324—33 .

Germanns I I , 1333 .

Marcus I I, 1358 .

Job.

B ISHOPS OF S INA I— con t inued.

Athanasius.S abbas.

Abraham .

Gabriel I I .M ichael.S ilvanus.

Cyrillus .

S o lom o n.

Macarius o f Cyprus, 1547 .

Eugenius, 1565— 83 .

Anastasius, 1583—92 .

Laurent ius, 1572— 1617 .

Jo asaph , 1617—58 .

(Nectarius)Ananias ( 1667 1658

— 68 .

Jo annicus I . ( 167 7 1668

170 3 .

Co smas , 1705 .

A thanasius o f Bari , 1706— 18 .

Jo annicus I I o fMy t ilene , 17 18—29 .

Nicepho rus Mo rtales, 17 29—49 .

Co nstant ius I , 1749-59 .

Cyrillus I I, 1759 -90 .

Do ro theus o f Byzant ium , 17 94-96.

Constant ius I I, 1804-59 .

Cyrillus I I I, 1859-67 .

Callistratus, 18 7 7-85Po rphyrius, 1885.

CHIEF AUTHOR ITIES

For o tlzer

BREASTED, J . H. ,

“Ancient Reco rds o f Egypt, 1906.

Perigraphe o fHo ly M o unt S inai, (In Greek . )

PETRIE, W . M . FLINDERS, Researches in S inai,WE ILL, RAYMOND, La Presqu

’ile de S inai , 1908 .

WILSON PALMER, Ordnance Survey, 18 70—7 1.

and wri ters see Alp/zabe/z'

cal

page refirrea’

to .

CHAPTER

CONTENTS

FOREWORDAPPROXIMATE DAT ING OF EGYPT IAN DYNAST IESRULERS OF PHARAN AND THE CONVENT OF S INAICH IEF AUTHORITIESLIST OF ILLUSTRAT IONSINTRODUCTORYS INA I A CENTRE OF MOON-CULTTHE SANCTUARY ATTHE EGYPT IANS IN S INA I . I .EARLY PEOPLES AND PLACE NAMESTHE EGYPTIANS IN S INA I . I I .THE ISRAEL ITES INS INAI . I.THE ISRAELITES IN S INA I . I I .THE NABATEANSTHE HERM ITS IN S INA ITHE WRIT INGS O F THE HERM ITSTHE BU ILD ING OF THE CONVENTMOHAMMAD AND ST. KATHERINES INA I DURING THE CRUSADESTHE PILGRIMS OF THE M IDDLE AGES.THE PILGRIMS OF THE M IDDLE AGES .

I .I I.

THE CONVENT BETWEEN 1500 AND 1800

S INA I IN THE N INETEENTH CENTURYALPHABET ICAL INDEX

PAGE

ILLU STRATIONS

PAGE1 . S ITUAT ION OF SANCTUARIESFIGURES OF BABOONSS NEFERU RAVAG ING THE LANDKHUFU SM IT ING THE ANU BEFORE THOTHAMEN-EM-HAT I I I , THOTH AND HATHORSANCTUARY S URROUND INGS AT S ERABI TFIGURE W ITH S EM IT IC S CRIPTPLAN OF CAVES AT S ERAB I TUPPER HALF OF S TELE OF AMEN-EM-HAT I IITEMPLE RU INS AT S ERABITPLAN O F TEM PLEAMEN-HOTEP I I I OFFERING TO SOPDQ UEEN THYIM EN IN BURN ING BUSHAYUN M USAVIEW OF THE CONVENTCHAPEL ON GEBEL M USAEL ARISHZIGIRET EL PARAUNSKETCH OF CONVENT S URROUND INGS ABOUT 1335

RITTER VON HARFF AND ST . KATHERINES ULYMAN ABU S ILM, A BEDAWYMAP OF THE PEN INSULA

A HISTORY O F S INA I

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY 1

INAI is the peninsula , triangular In form ,which proj ects

into the Red Sea between Egypt and Arabia . The

name used to be applied t o the mountainous region of thesouth, now it is made to compri se the land as far north as theMediterranean .

Sinai is famo us for the part whi ch it has played in the

religio us hi sto ry o f mankind . It was at one time a centre ofmoon-cult , before it became the seat o f the promulgation of theLaw to the Jews at the time of Mo ses . In Christian t imes itwas one o f the chief homes o f the herm its

,and the po ssession

of the relics o f St . Katherine in the great convent o f the

so uth,caused Sinai to be included in the Long Pilgrimage

througho ut the Middle Ages .A histo ry of Sinai deals with the people who visited the

peninsula at different times , rather than with its permanentinhabitants , who ,

in the co urse of the centuries,seem t o have

undergone little change . They st ill live the life of the huntsman and the herdsman as in the days of Ishm ael , sleeping inthe Open , and adding to their meagre resources by carryingdates and charco al t o the nearest centres of intercourse , inreturn for whi ch they receive co rn .

The country geographi cally belongs to Egypt , ethn o logicallyt o Arabia . It naturally falls into three regions .In the north

,following the co ast line o f the Mediterranean ,

lies a zone of drift sand, narrowest near Rafa on the bo rderso f Palestine

,widening as it is prolonged in a westerly direction

1 Wilson and Palm er : Ordnance S urvey, 18 7 0-7 1 ; Hull , Ed . :

M ount S eir, S ina i and Western Palest ine, 1885 , wi th geological mapWeill

, R . La presqu’

ile de S ina i , 19 08 .

2 A HISTORY OF SINAI

towards Egypt,where it is conterminous with the present

Suez Canal . This desert was known in Biblical days as Shur

(the wall) of Egypt . And Saul smote the Amalekitesfrom Havilah (north Arabia) , until thou comest to Shurthat is over against Egypt (I Sam . xv . The militaryhighway from Egyp t t o Syria from ancient times fo llowed thecoast line o f the Medi terranean , the settlements along whichwere modified on one side by the encroachment of the sea ,o n the o ther by the invasion o f sand .

Adj oining this zone of drift sand,the land extends south

with increased elevation to the centre of the peninsula , whereit reaches a height of about 4000 ft . , and abruptly breaks o ffin a series o f lofty and inaccessible cliffs

,the upper white

limestone o f which contrasts brill iantly in some places withthe lower red sandstone . This regi on is for the mo st part ,waterless and bare . It is known in modern parlance asthe Badiet Tih (the plain of wandering) . Its no tableheights include the Gebel el Ejneh and the Gebel Emreikah .

This plain is drained in the direction o f the Mediterraneanby the great Wadi el Arish and its numero us feeders

,which

,

like most rivers of Sinai , are mountain torrents , dry during thegreater part o f the year

,and on occasion like thefiumare o f

Italy, flowing in a Spate . The Wadi el Arish is the River ofEgypt of the Bible (Gen . xv . 18 ; Num . xxxiv . the Nahal

Mw ar of the annals of King Esarhaddon .

The Badiet Tih is crossed from east to west by the roadfrom Akaba t o Suez, along whi ch the Holy Carpet , which ismade at Cairo , was annually conveyed to Mecca . Halfwaybetween Suez and Akaba

,at Kalaat el Nakhl

,the ro ad is

cro ssed by one coming from Gaza,which is prolonged south

in several directions down precipitous passes . Kalaat en Nakhlis an impo rtant watering place

,and was for a time a military

station . It was known in the Middle Ages as a patens S o ldani(well of the Sultan) .The ro ads coming from Nakhl lead down the escarpment

of Tih to a belt o f sand and gravel,varying in width

,which

,

with the arid stretches adj o ining it,covers an area o f some

thirty square miles . This is the Gebbet er Ramleh (belt Of

sand) . Its western parts including the Wadi Jarf is thewilderness of Sin of the Bible (Exod . xvi . I ) .So uth of thi s great belt of sand

,red sandstone reappears

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the mountains of the south . Here lies the Wadi Feiran ,

one o f the best watered and fruitful valleys of the peninsula ,to the south o f which Mount Serbal rises abruptly from acomparatively low elevation t o the height of 67 34 ft . Thi smountain has been described as one great lump of di orite , andit s maj estic appearan ce led some recent travellers , includingLepsius 1 and Bartlett , 2 t o identify it as the Mountain o f theLaw . Further south lies the great group of mo untains whichinclude the Gebel Musa , 7 359 ft . high , and the Gebel Katrinwith its three peaks , the highest of whi ch ri ses to 852 7 ft .The Gebel Musa from early Christian t imes was generallylo oked upon as the Mountain of the Law . At its foot lies thegreat convent of Sinai , at one time known as the Bush, whichhas carried on t o the present day the traditions of the earlyChristian hermits

,who settled in the penin sula . The Gebel

Katrin lying further south , was looked upon during the laterMiddle Ages

,as the height on which the angels depo sited the

bo dy of St . Katherine . Ano ther imposing height of the groupis the Ras Safsaf

, 6540 ft . high , which has been put forwardin recent t imes as a possible Mountain of the Law .

These mountains of the south contain many naturalsprings and fruitful valleys , which were formerly the homeo f Christian ascetics . They are divided from the Gulf of Suezon the west by the desert of El Kaa , whi ch drains a largeamphitheatre o f hills

,and becomes a co astal plain that extends

as far as Ras Mohammad,the southernmost point of the

peninsula . The desert of El Kaa has a harder subsoil whichis so t illed that the accumulated moisture is thrown up atthe co ast near Tur

,the chief harbour of the peninsula

,and

po ssibly an ancient Phoenician colony . Near it lay Raithou ,

a place o f many o ases and large date-palm plantations whichwere carefully tended by the monks during the Middle Ages .The south-eastern parts of the peninsula are rarely visited

by Europeans . There are some high mo untains,includin g

the Gebel Thebt (7 883 the Gebel Umm Shomer (8449and the Gebel Umm Iswed (8236 in districts that wererecently explored by Dr. Hume .

3 The eastern coast-line

1 Lepsius : Reise naeh S inai , 1846 , p . 19 ff.3 Bart let t , W . H. F o rty Days i n the Desert , 1 849 ,

p . 8 8 .

3 Hume, W . F . : Topography and Geo logy of the S ou th-eastern

Port ion of S ina i , 19 06 .

INTRODUCTORY 5

of the peninsula is relatively inaccessible . There are somecreek po rts at Sherm

,some ten miles no rth of Ras Mohammad

,

and some palm trees with a goo d supply o f water at Nakhb .

From here it is less than eight miles acro ss the sea t o RasFartak, the nearest point of Arabia . Further no rth

,Oppo site

the co astland o f what is now reckoned the land o f Midian,

lies Dahab and, beyond it , Ain en Nuébeh ,where the ro ad

that leads from the convent to Akaba at the head of the Gul fo f Akaba , reaches the coast . From Akaba the mo untain sare pro longed in the direction o f Palestine on bo th sides o f theWadi el Arabah

,the great depression that extends no rth

wards t o the Dead Sea . This is the land o f Seir, the countryo f Edom o f the Bible (Gen . xxxii . Edom signifiesred in Hebrew

,and the land may have been so called owing

to the red sandstone o f the district .Sinai

,generally speaking

,is a country o f stem desolation .

Its mountains are bare,its plains are swept by the wind, its

river beds are to all appearance waterless . But clusters o f

bushes that fo llow the valley flo ors or rise from the plains ,Show that moisture perco lates the so il beneath the surface ,and is procurable by digging down to the harder subso il ,(i . e . striking the rock as was done at the time of the passageo f the Israelites . Such digging is done by the Bedawyn atthe present day

,the holes fo r water being called hnf rak in

Arabic . In some places,however

,the water along the valleys

is thrown up and fo rms natural o ases as in the Wadi Gharandel,the Wadi Feiran

,and at Tur . In o thers , it is raised by means

of the mechanical device of a water-wheel and by a shaduf.

Rain falls in the peninsula in sudden downpours , o ften inconnection with a thundersto rm . When we camped in theWadi Umm Agraf in January of 1906, it rained withoutceasing fo r two days and a night , creating ri vulets and awaterfall down the mountain slope . A week later the valleyflo o r was carpeted with verdure and flowers , and the tho rnybushes were masses o f blo om . Rainst o rrns may result in aspate

,the dreaded seil o f the Bedawyn ,

whi ch o ften appearsseveral miles below where the rain has actually fallen . In thewinter o f 1914

—15 the Wadi el Arish was twice in spat e ,and left extensive pools of water behind . The effect Of aspate, seen on Dec . 3 ,

1867 , in the Wadi Feiram by t he

Rev. F . W. Holland, was described by him . In little mo re

A HISTORY OF SINAI

than an hour,the Wadi Feiran ,

at this point about 300 yardswide

,was filled with a raging torrent from eight to ten feet deep .

Men,animals

,and trees were swept past upon the flood, and

huge boulders ground along the wady bed with a noise o f ahundred mills at work . In this spate perished thirty persons ,scores of sheep and goats

,camels

,and donkeys , and it swept

away an entire encampment that had been pitched at themouth of a small valley on the north side of Mount Serbal . 1

Disasters of this kind are in part attributable to thereckless deforestation of the country which has gone on un

checked for thousands of years,and continues at the present

day . To this is attributable also the calam itous invasion ofsand along the shores of the Mediterranean recorded by Arabicwriters . In ancient times wood was extensively used forsmelting purposes in different parts of the penin sula , as isshown by enormous slag-heaps in the Wadi Baba and in theWadi Nasb . A great bed of wood ashes beneath the templeflo o r at Serabit showed that wood was freely used in offeringthe ho locaust in a district that is now entirely denuded oftrees . According to the Mosaic Law

,charcoal was used in

early t imes at the Temple service as we gather from a censerfull of burning coals (Lev . xv . For domestic use it wasexported during the Middle Ages

,and was regularly delivered

by the Bedawyn as tri bute t o the Pasha in the nineteenthcentury . Its export continues to this day .

The heathen past tried to stem the ravages of deforestationby marking Off certain valley floors

,the use of whi ch was

reserved to the sanctuaries . Inside this holy ground , thehima , no an imal might be hun ted and no tree might be cutdown . Many valleys of Sinai to this day contain one tree ofgreat age and o ften of prodigious size

,which is accounted

holy and is therefore left untouched .

3 But the mass of thetrees and with them the h0pe o f a copious undergrowth , hasgone . At the time of the passage of the Israelites

,there must

have been extensive tamari sk gro ves,since it is the tamarisk

which yields manna,a product well-kn own in ancient Egypt .

1 Ordnance S urvey, i . 2 2 6 .

3 In thi s and o ther passages o f the B ible, the wo rd that st ands as

c o al Sho uld be underst o od a s charco al .3 Palmer, H . S . S ina i f rom the F ourth Dynasty, rev ised by Pro f .

S ayce , 189 2 , p . 47 .

INTRODUCTORY 7

Its abundance must have made an appreciable difference intheir food-supply . Only a few tamari sk groves remain inthe more southern mountains at the present day

,chief among

them the groves of Tarfat el Gidaran . Again neglect hasdestroyed the palm gro ves o f which enormous plantationsexisted in the Middle Ages . We read of a plantation of over

date-palms at Tur, and the date since the earliestt imes was a staple article o f diet . According to Arab traditionthe land along the shores of the Mediterranean was of greatfrui tfulness before it was invaded by sand drift s . It was thesame with the num erous fruit and vegetable gardens whichwere once cultivated by the monks and the hermits . Withthe exception of the garden belonging t o the convent , theyhave passed away . Journeying acro ss the wide stretches o fthe country whi ch were formerly a wilderness and are now adesert , one wonders if a wise government co uld no t imposerestrictions which would stop the destruction of the undergrowth and regulate thewater-supply . Thi s would extend thecultivation o f the date-palm ,

the tamarisk and o f other foodproducts , for the Bedawyn ,

the present inhabitants o f the peninsula

,live in a state o f semi -starvation . Their various means o f

subsistence have steadily grown less with the centuries .Deforestation has influenced the fauna to the detriment o f

the huntsmen . The herds of gazelles whi ch were numerousas late as the Middle Ages

,are few and far between . Pasture

lands which formerly fed sheep and go ats were encro ached uponby the intro duction o f the camel . The transpo rt of goods ando f pilgrims which gave o ccupation to the owners of camelsduring the Middle Ages has practically ceased . The conventformerly helped to tide o ver difficult t imes by means o f itsresources

,but the advent in the east of the Turk reduced these

resources to a minimum,and the convent is nowadays hardly

able to satisfy its own needs . In the face o f this state o f

things,it seems wo rth recalling the different periods in the

past when Sinai held the attention of the outside world andhelped in the making o f history . Fo r the recognition o f herso litary ruins

,and o f her literary wealth still enshrined in the

c onvent , taken wi th the needs of her people , may stimulatee ffo rt to inaugurate a new era t o the profit of Chri stian and ofMoslim alike .

CHAPTER I I

S INAI A CENTRE OF MOON-CULT

HE name Sinai is first mentioned in the Song ofDeborah (Judges v . which is dated to about

R C . 1000 ,and in the sto ry of Exo dus . It perpetuates the early

fo rm o f belief o f the inhabitants Of the peninsula . Fo r thewo rd Sinai together with Sin (Exod . xvi . 1) and Zin (Num .

xi ii . all date back t o Sin,a name o f the mo on-go d in

ancient Babylonia .

The word Sin appears as part of the name of Naram-Sin ,

king of Accad in Babylonia (a. B C . whose great stele ofvicto ry

,now in the Lo uvre

,represents his conquest of Elam

(Persia) . The acts o f Naram-Sin were considered in thelight of lunar influence , for his Annals state that the mo onwas favourable for Naram-Sin who at this season marched intoMaganna .

” 1 Maganna, otherwise Magan , was frequentlynamed in early annals and inscriptions

,notably on the great

statues of King Gudea (B C. It was the place wherethe di ori te came from out o f which the statues were made .

The same inscriptions mention Milukhkha .

2 An ancientfragm ent o f Assyrian geography which was engraved aboutthe year B C . 680

,but the original o f which is considered

much Older, names Side by side The country of Milukhkhaas the coun try Of blue stone

,and the country of Maganna as

the country of copper .” 3 Of these names Maganna may refer

to Sinai while the wo rd Milukhkha recalls the Amalekites whodwelt in the peninsula . In any case the name Sin go es backto Babylonian influence , probably to the Semites who were

powerful in the land of Arabia in the days of Khamurabbi .1 B irch , S . Records of the Past. New S eries . Edit . S ayce, I . 41 .

2 I bid . , I I , 7 5 , 8 3 .

3 B irch , S . Reco rds of the Past X I . 148 .

SINAI A CENTRE OF MOON-CULT


The constant recurring changes of the mo on caused thisto be accepted as the ruler o f times and seasons by the huntsman and the herdsman generally . The Hebrews came froma sto ck o f moon-worshippers . It was from Ur of the Chaldees ,a centre of moon-cult

,that Terah and Abraham migrated t o

Haran on the way t o Canaan about B .C . The Arab writerAl Biruni (c. A.D. 1000 ) in his Chrono logy of theAncient Nati ons ,noted the connection o f Haran with the mo on-cult , and statedthat near it was ano ther place called Selem-sin , its ancientname being Saram-sin

, i .e. Imago lunae, and another villagecalled Tera-uz , i .e. P o rta Veneris .

2

The acceptance of mo on-worship among t he ancientHebrews is confirmed by Art apanus , some o f who se statementswere preserved by Alexander Polyhisto r Artapanus

described the Syrians who came t o Egypt with Abraham asHenn iouthian (i .e. wo rshippers o f Hermes) , and statedthat Joseph ’s brethren built Herm io uthian sanctuaries atAthos and Heliopolis . 3 Heliopolis

,the city On of the Bible

(Gen . xli . was near the present Cairo fo llowers o f Abrahamwere held t o have settled there . Athos has been identifiedas Pithom . More probably it was Pa-kesem

,the chief city of

Goshen . The wordHerrniouthian indi cates mo on-worshippers ,as Herm es

,the Greek god

,was reckoned by the classic writers

the equivalent of the Egyptian moon-god Tho th,as is shown

by the place-name Herrnopo lis , (i .e. the city o f Thoth) , inLower Egypt .

Another name for the mo on-go d was Ea or Yah, who wasaccounted the oldest Semitic god in Babylonia , to whichhis devotees were held to have brought the cultivation ofthe date-palm

,an event that marked a no table step in civilisa

t ion .

4 The emblem of Sin was the crescent moon,the emblem

o f Ea was the full moon,who

,in the Assyrian Creation story

is described as Ea the god of the illustrious (i .e. lustrous)face .

” 5 On Babylonian seal cylinders Ea is shown standing upas a bull , seen front face , with his devotee Babani (i . e. sprung

1 Jast row , M . The Relig ion of B abylon ia and A ssyr ia , 189 8 , p . 7 6 .

2 Al B irun i (Muhamm ad Ibn Ahmad ) Chrono logy of A ncientNations , t ransl . S achau , 1 8 7 9 ,

p . 18 73 Cit ed Eu seb iu s , Evang . P re p bk . ix. 0 . 1 8 , c . 2 3 .

Bart o n, G . A . A S ketch of S emi t ic Orig ins, 19 0 2 , p . 19 8 .

B irch , Rec. P ast, N .S I . 145 .



from Ea) , a man seen , front face also , who wears the horns andhide of a bull .1 This representation perpetuates the concept ion of the horned beast as a sacrosanct animal that wasperio dically slain . We Shall come across this conceptio nlater in the emblem wo rn by the Pharaoh , and in the story of theIsraelites and the Golden Calf .The monuments found in Sinai contain information which

po ints to the existence of moon-worship there at a remoteperiod of history . These monuments consist in rock-tabletswhich were engraved by the Pharaohs from the First Dynastyonwards over the mines which they worked at Maghara , and o fremains of various kinds disco vered in the temple ruins ofthe neighbouring Sarbut-el-Khadem or Serabit . Magharamore especially was associated with the moon-god and waspresumably the site Of a shrine during the period of Babyloniano r Arabic influence which preceded the invasion of thepeninsula by the Egy ptians (Fig . 1)Among the Egyptians , Thoth , the moon-god, had shrines

at Hierakonpo lis and at Abydos in Upper Egypt , and in bo ththese places he was wo rshipped under the semblance of ababoon . He was worshipped also at Herrnopo lis in LowerEgypt , but here he was represented as ibis-headed . In Sinaiwe find him represented sometimes as a baboon and sometimes as ibis-headed .

Thus the excavations of the temple-ruins at S erabit in1906 led t o the discovery of several figures of baboons . Onewas the rude figure some three inches high which is hererepresented ; it was found in the cave that was the treasurehouse of the sanctuary . Thi s little figure is similar in appearance and in workmanship to figures foun d at Hierakonpo lisand at Abydo s

,the centres of moon-worship in Upper Egypt .

Several of these figures were found at Hierakonpo lis .

2 AtAbydo s more than sixty were discovered in the winter o f

1902 in a chamber at the lowest temple level , where theywere apparently placed when the later cult of Osiris supersededthe earlier cult O f Thoth . This took place in pre-dynastict imes .

3 The figure o f the baboon who stood for the lunardivinity in Egypt , was doubtless deemed a suitable offering

1 S uch t able t s are in v iew in the B ri t ish Museum .

1 Pe t rie , W . M . FL : Hierakonpo lis , I . 19 0 0 ,p . 12 9 .

3 Pet rie, W . M . Fl . Abydo s , I . 19 0 2 ,p . 2 5 .

SINAI A CENTRE OF MOON-CULT 13

t o t he sacred shrine at Serabit in Sinai , because of the neam ess

o f this shrin e t o the centre o f mo on-wo rship o f the co untry .

If the figure was carried to Sinai at the time when similarfigures were o ffered in Egypt , the establishment of the mooncult in the peninsula dates back to the pre-dynastic days ofEgypt . 1

Fig . 3 .

—Sneferu ravaging the land . (Ancient Egypt , a perio d ical, 19 14,Part i . )

Ano ther baboon , carved life-size in limestone with aninscription around its base , came o ut of one of the chambersof the adytum to the sacred cave at Serabit , the wo rk andinscription of whi ch dated it to the Middle Kingdom o f Egypt .The presence of this figure suggests that the Egyptians

1 On the dat ing o f the dynast ies o f the Egypt ian kings, see p . v .


associat ed their moon-god with the moon-worship of thepeninsula .

The chief shrine or sanctuary of the moon god in thepeninsula probably lay in Wadi Maghara where mining onthe part of the Arabs preceded that of the Egyptians , for the

Fig . 4.— Khu fu sm it ing the Ann befo re Tho th .

Egyptians here fought for the possession of the mines . Thisis shown by the tablets carved in the living rock

,which com

memorate the Pharaohs from King Semerkhet (I 7 ) of theFirst Dynasty onwards . They are represented as smiters oft he enemy above the mines which they worked . One ofthese tablets represents Sneferu, the ninth king of the Third

SINAI A CENTRE OF MOON-CULT 15

Dynasty,who wears a head-dress that consists of a double

plume whi ch rises from a pair o f ho rns as Is seen In theillustration .

The double plume is well known , but the hornsare fo reign to Egypt , and recall the lunar ho rns that are wo rnby Babani , the devotee o f the mo on-go d Ea or anci entBabylonian seal cylinders . The adoption of ho rns by the

Fig . 5 .-Amen-em-hat I I I , Tho th and Hatho r . Maghara . (Pet rie :

Researches in S ina i . )

Pharaoh of Egypt seems to indicate that he has usurped theautho rity of the earlier ruler of the place (Fig .

Other monuments foun d at Maghara po int t o the sameconclusion . Thus one rock-tablet represents King Khufu

(IV the great pyramid builder, smiting the Ann in fronto f the ibis-headed figure of Tho th who stands holding outhis sceptre facing him (Fig . Other Pharao hs are represented as smiters . But after the Fifth Dynasty the Opposition


which the Pharaohs encountered in Sinai must have cometo an end

,for later Pharaohs were no longer represented as

smiters,but are seen in the do uble capacity of lord o f Upper

and Of Lower Egypt standing and facing the ibis-headedfigure of the moon-go d Tho th , who now holds out to them hissceptre suppo rt ing an anhh and a dad, the Egyptian emblemsof life and stability . Among the Pharaohs so representedwas Amen-em-hat III

,sixth king o f the Twelfth Dynasty

,

who is shown facing the go d Tho th behind whom the goddessHatho r is seen (Fig . 5) The interpretation is that the Pharaohis now acting in complete agreement with the divinities ofthe place . Of these Tho th stands for the moon-go d whoo ri ginally had his Shrine at Maghara

,and Hathor stands for

the presiding goddess who had her shrine at Serabit . ThisShrine or sanctuary at S erabit is of special importance in thereligious associations of the peninsula .

CHAPTER III

THE SANCTUARY OF SERAB IT

HE existence o f the sanctuary at S erabit in Sinai wasunknown to Europeans till the year 17 62 , when it was

chanced upon by Carsten Niebuhr, who did no t , however,reco rd its name . S eet zen who visited it between 1809 and1810 no ted this as S errabit -el-Chadem .

1 S arbat is Arabic forheight

,khadem signifies slave . But Pro f . Sayce claims fo r

the name a different derivation . In ancient Egyptian ba ,

plur. bit , signifies ho le or mine, hhetem signifies fo rtress .Serabit el Khadem thus signifies mine fo rtress

,with the

prefix sar, whi ch probably stands fo r exalted .

Other place names in the district probably date from theancient Egyptians also . Thus the valley leading up from theco astal plain o f El Markha t o the mine district is called WadiBaba

, i .e. mine valley . Again,a tributary o f the Baba ,

with its valley head close t o S erabit,is the Wadi Bateh ,

a name which probably includes the word for mine also .

The sanctuary o f Serabit 2 at the outset consisted of a cave ,or rather of two caves adj acent t o one another

,of whi ch the

larger , which has been squared, measures 20 by 10 feet , thesmaller one measures 6 by 4 feet with three steps leading up toa round-headed apse o r recess (Fig .

These caves have separate entrances and lie in a knollfacing a plat eau in the midst of wild

,upland scenery . The

plateau lies some 2680 feet above sea level,and is di fficult of

access on all s ides (Fig .

To the no rth it communicates with the Wadi Suweig alongthe steep and tortuous Wadi Dhaba

,which is marked number

6 on the map . The word dhaba sign ifies panther, probably in1 Cf . Weill, R. : La presqu

’

i‘

le de S inai , 19 0 8 , p . 302 .

1 Pe trie : Res. S inai , p . 7 2 ff .

I 7


allusion to the feline animal which was at one time associatedwith the presiding female divinity at Serabit . Another val ley

,

marked number 7 on the map ,leads up to the temple ruins

,

with a path passing the mines which contain inscriptions inan early Semitic script . But it was no t along these gorges

,

but along a path leading up from the plain El Markha alongthe Wadi Baba and the Wadi Nasb that the ancient Egyptiansapproached the sanctuary . This path has been included inthe Ordnance Survey of 187 1 . A rock tablet marked P on

the map,which commemorates the Pharaoh Amen-em-hat IV

(XII lies near the watershed,and this shows that the

Egyptians passed here . A small Egyptian shrine (Q) was alsodisco vered at the western end o f the plateau .

To the south of the plateau,and separated from it by

several ravines and valley heads,extends the Wadi Umm Agraf

which is comparatively remo te from the valleys communicat ingwith the Wadi Suweig and the Wadi Baba , and relativelyclo se to the sanctuary . The approach to the temple from thisside was unknown t o Europeans till the winter of 1905—6,

when Prof . Flinders Petrie and his party,who wo rked at

excavating the temple ruins , pitched their tents here . Apath was constructed from the camp up the mo untain sideto the temple by clearing away the stones . In parts an o ld

path was re-used, the existence of which showed that there wasat one t ime frequent intercourse between the sanctuary andthe Wadi Umm Agraf . Some way down the Wadi UmmAgraf the valley floor is crossed by a wall made of rough stonespiled together, the purpose of which was t o mark Off the upperreaches of the Wadi as is seen by a glance at the map . Theseupper reaches evidently constituted a tract of land the useof whi ch was reserved to the sanctuary . A c0pious supplyo f good water is obtainable at a well some miles down thevalley . The separation wall across the valley is undo ubtedlyOld . A similar wall crosses the Wadi Maghara

,which was dated

by Prof . Petrie to at least the Fourth Dynasty . Its purpose,

like that near Serabit , was to mark off the upper reaches ofthe valley, which in this case may have represented the himaor tract of land that was originally appropriat ed to thesanctuary of the moon-god .

The plateau o f Serabit falls away abruptly on its southernand western edge , and the stratmn here appears which anciently



yielded turquoise . The wish t o contro l access t o this turquoiseno doubt originally led t o the permanent occupation of thecav es

,and we shall probably not be far wrong if we imagine

thi s in the possession o f a clan or hereditary priestho od, who ,in return fo r O fferings brought t o their cave , gave turquoiseor the permission t o wo rk it inside the appropriated area .

The offerings brought to the cave naturally led to a sacrificeand feast which

,in the course of time

,would hallow the

precin cts of the place . Prof . Robertson Smith remarked thatalm ost every sacred site in Palestine had its cavern or grottowhich served t o store the vessels and utensils that were usedat the sacrifice that took place near it . N0 religio us significanceori ginally attached to the cave . But the holiness Of thesacrifice reflected on it

,and in the course of t ime it was

ident ified as the abode of the divinity .

1

The plateau in front of the caves at Serabit Served as aHigh Place o f Burning . Such high places were in use inCanaan befo re and after the Exo dus . Prof . Robertso n Smithshowed how the barren and unfrequented hill top wo uld beone o f the mo st natural places cho sen fo r the holo caust , andin this connection recalled the propo sed sacrifice o f Isaac onthe mountain .

2 We read in the history of Samuel how he wascalled upon t o sanctify the sacrifice on the height , of whichthe people would no t partake until it had received his blessing

(1 Sam . ix . 12 ) also that So lomon visited Gibeon,where he

burnt sacrificial flesh and o ffered a thousand burnt offeringsupon the al tar (1 Kings iii . In consequence of the building o f the Temple at Jerusalem effo rts were made to drawt o it all the o fferings

,but the High Places seem t o have

continued till the Captivity . They finally came under theban of the ceremonial law.

3

The use made o f the plateau of Serabit as a High Place ofBurningwas shown by the excavations . In front o f the caves ,beneath the stone flo or of the Temple buildings that wereerected by the Egyptians after their appropriation of the site ,there was fo und a continuous bed of wood-ashes whi ch extendedall across the temple area and o ut as far as the buildingsand stone walls o n the so uth

,in all fifty feet in breadth .

1 Sm ith , W . Ro bert son TheRelig i on of the S em i tes, Ed . 19 0 1 , p . 19 7 .

2 I bid. , p . 49 0 .

3 Hast ings : D ict ionary of the B ible, art . H igh Places .

THE SANCTUARY OF SERAB IT 21

Outside the area covered by the stone floo r the ashes wouldbe carried away by wind and rain . In the wo rds of Pro f .Petrie We must therefo re suppose a bed o f wood ashes atleast 100 by 50 feet very probably much wider, and varying from3 t o 18 inches thick, in spite o f all denudation that to o k placebefore the XVIII dynasty . There must lie on the gro undabout 50 tons o f ashes , and these are probably the residue o fsome hundreds of tons of ashes . The ashes are certainlybefo re the XVIII dynasty .

” In further explanation o f the

way in which the sacrifice was treated,Prof . Petrie tells us

that the fires were not large,as the ash is all white

,and no

charcoal of smothered fire remains . No who le burnt sacrificewas o ffered, as no calcined bones were found and some kindo f feeding at the place is suggested by the finding o f a fewpieces of pottery j ars and of thin drinking cups . These belongedto the age o f the XII dynasty .

”

The space in front of the caves was fenced in by a wallbuilt o f ro ugh stones loosely piled together, similar in con

struction to the walls that cro ss the Wadi Umm Agraf andthe Wadi Maghara . The temple area which the wall enclo sedvaried at different periods . It was finally 200 feet in it sgreatest length and 140 feet at its greatest breadth . Behindt he caves acro ss the knoll its course was doubled . It thusenclo sed a vast temen o s o f oblong fo rm which included largeo pen spaces that were again partitioned o ff , besides the groundthat was covered by the Egyptian temple buildings (Fig .

Outside the temenos wall and well in view o f t he kno ll ,rough circular enclo sures lie scattered here and there on theplateau

,which were made by clearing the ground o f stones

and piling these together in the same way as the walls werebuilt up . These stone enclo sures are fo r the mo st part four t osix feet inside measurement , a few are larger, and many o f

them contain one stone o f larger size that was set up at o neside o f the enclosure and propped up by o ther stones . Therewere also some upri ghts without enclo sures .Sim ilar uprights and enclosures are found In Syria ; their

devotional and commemo rative o rigin is apparent from incidents related In the Bible .

Thus in the story o f Jacob we read how,coming from

Beersheba,he lighted on a certain place that was holy ground ,

1 Pe t rie : Res. S ina i , p . 99 .


and t arried all night because the sun was set . And he to oko f the stones o f that place and put them for his pillows (Gen .

xxv iii . 1 1 ; LXX at his head) . In the night he had hiswonderful dream and on the fo llowing morning he set up thestone and poured o il on it and called it Bethel (i . e. ho use o f El) ,saying

, An d this st one which Ihave set fo r a pillar (mazzebh)shall be Go d

’s house ”

(Gen . xxviii . On ano ther occasionhe made a covenant with Laban in ratification of which hetook a stone and set it up fo r a pillar (mazzebh) , and called hisbrethren to take stones and make an heap (perhaps an en

clo sure) , and they did eat there upon the heap (Gen .

xxxi . 45 , Again when the Israelites camped in Sinai ,Mo ses erected an altar

,and set up twelve pillars (mazzebo th) ,

and when they cro ssed the Jo rdan,Joshua t oo k twelve stones

from the river which he set up at the place which was knownas Gilgal (Jo shua iv . 1—

9 ,19 The name Gilgal in this

case was asso ciated with “ ro lling away the reproach ofEgypt (Joshua v . But the word Gilgal signifies circleof stone .

” 1 In the Septuagint the word generally stands inthe plural Galgala (Joshua iv . 19 ,

20 ,et c ) . If the single

stones (mazzebo th) were set up inside circular stone enclo sures ,thi s would correspond with the way the uprights were set upat Serabit .

In the course o f the Twelfth Dynasty,the Egyptians secured

a fo othold in Serabit where they erected inscriptions and steles,

and commemorated the female div inity of the place under thename o f Hatho r . A statuette o f Hathor was the usual giftt o the shrine o f the Pharaohs o f this dynasty . Her cult wasat first coupled with that o f the mo on-god Tho th as the re

presentative of the neighbo uring Maghara,later she appears

alone o r asso ciated with the lo cal divinity S opd .

At Wadi Maghara Hatho r appears on one tablet fo llowi ngthe ibis-headed Thoth

, who faces the Pharaoh Amen-em-hat III(XII as already mentioned (Fig . On a co rrespondingtablet found at S erabit she is seen ho lding o ut t o the sameking a sceptre which supports the ankh and the dad. Therewere many Hatho rs in Egypt

,fo r Hatho r here took the place

o f earlier mo ther-divinities in much the same way as theVirgin Mary to ok the place o f lo cal mother-divinities in Europe .The go ddess Hathor in Sinai was generally represented wearing

1 Hast ings : D ict ionary of the B ible, art .

“ Gilgal .

THE SANCTUARY OF SERABIT 23

a head-dress that consists of a pair o f horns which support theo rb of the full moon , and She is described as mistress o f thet urquo ise land ,

and later simply as mistress o f turquo ise

(maf kat) . Hatho r st ands fo r t he unwedded mo ther-go ddess

Fig . 7 .— Figure with Sem it ic S cript . (Pet rie : Researches in S inai . )

who appears as Ishtar in Babylonia,as Ashto reth in Canaan

,

and as the Queen o f Heaven generally . At Serabit her nameappears in script which may be Semitic . One o f these inscript ions is on a figure o f the usual squatting type thatcame out of the sanctuary (Fig . Another is on a peculiar


sphinx that is now in the British Museum . Others are onmuch battered steles that were carved on the rock in themine along the valley marked number 7 (Fig . The nameconsists of a sequence of four signs , which Dr . Alan Gardinerreads as Ba-alat “ Almo st every Egyptian inscription fromSerabit names the go ddess Hathor , and there could no t

po ssibly be a better equivalent fo r the name of this goddesst han Ba-alat .

” 1

The name Ba-alat recalls Alilat whom Herodo tus (c. B .C .

450 ) named as the chief divinity of Arabia (iii . and whore-appears as Al-Lat in the Koran (c. A.D. Al-Lat hadher sanctuary at Taif , about fort y miles no rth-north-east ofMecca

,whi ch consisted of a cave in an upland plain in which

clo thes,j ewels

,incense

,silver and gold

,were sto red . The

go ddess was held t o be incarnate in a white rock that wasafterwards seen lying under the mosque

,and which was

described by Hamilton and by Doughty as a mass of whitegranite now shattered with gunpowder and shapeless .

2

Appropriated t o the san ctuary at Ta‘

I’

f was a guarded andreserved tract of land, the hima, where no idah-tree might becut and no animal hunted, and the reluctance of Mohammadt o dislodge the goddess was shared by the Ta

'

I'

fit es,to whom

the gatherings near the Shrine were a s ource o f wealth .

Another cave sanctuary at El Nakhl,not far from Mecca

,

which was asso ciated with El Uzza , likewise consisted of acave with accumulated wealth and owned a reserved tracto f land or hima .

3 The arrangement at Serabit was apparentlythe same , and proves the Arabian or Semitic origin of theplace .

The excavations at Serabit , moreover led to the discoveryo f temple furniture such as served the Queen of Heavenelsewhere .

Thus several short stone altars were found,o f which one

,

bro ken in half , was 2 2 inches high with a cup hollow on thet op , 31inches wide and one inch deep . Another was describedas “ well finished , and on the top the surface was burnt fo rabout a quarter of an inch inwards

,black outside and dis

co lo ured below . This proves that such altars were used for

1 Gard iner , Alan : j ournal on ypt ian Archa’o l . , 19 16 , v o l. 3 , p . I .2 Sm i th , W . Ro bertso n : Lectu res and Essays, 19 12 , p . 554 .

1 Wellhausen : Reste Arabischen Heiden thums , 189 7 , pp . 30 , 39 .


burning,and from the small size , 5 t o 7 inches acro ss , the only

substance burnt on them must have been highly inflammable ,such as incense .

” 1

Two rectangular altars cut in stone were also fo und, eachwith two saucer-like depressions , ten inches wide all over, andseven inches across inside

,which might well be fo r meat

o fferings,o r cakes of flour and oil , a kind o f pastry .

” 2 Acco rding t o a passage in Jeremiah ,

the Israelite women , who repudi

ated visit ing the sanctuary o f the Queen o f Heaven withouttheir husbands

,which was fo rbidden t o them , said, And when

we burned incense t o the queen o f heaven , and poured o ut

drink-o fferings unto her,did we make her cakes to wo rship

her,and pour o ut drink-offerings unto her

, without o ur

men ? (Jer . xliv . The utterance shows that offeringsin fo od and dr ink as well as incense burning was customaryin the cult o f the Semitic goddess .

Offerings that consisted o f cakes continued in Arabia intoChri stian times . Fo r

'

Epiphanius of Cyprus (T in hisboo k

,Against all Heresies, denounced certain Christians as

Co llyridians,from the cakes which they placed under an

awning and o ffered in the name o f the Virgin .

3

Hatho r , however , was no t the only divinity whose cultwas lo cated at Serabit . While the larger o f the two caveswas appropriated t o her

'

,the smaller adjacent cave was associ

ated with S opd ,who was repeatedly named here from the

reign o f Amen-em-hat III (XII 6) onwards . One inscriptiono f the Sixth year o f this king named him together with Hatho r .Ano ther o f the fo rty-second year mentioned Sebek-didi whoset up an inscription and described himself as belo ved ofHatho r ; mistress o f the maf kat-country ; beloved o f S opd,

lo rd o f the east beloved o f Sneferu and the gods and go ddesseso f this land .

” 4

The special association o f S opd with the Pharaoh Amenem-hat III is shown by an Open hall that was erected outsidethe temple at Serabit in the course o f the Eighteenth Dynasty

,

the deco ration o f which caused Pro f . Petrie t o call it the hallo f the kings . On the inner wall of this building are the

1 Pet rie : Res . S ina i , p . 133 .

2 Ibid . , p . 134 .

3 e . 7 9 in M igne : P atr . e c ., 71111, 7 42 .

1 B reast ed , J . H . Ancient Records of Egypt, i . 7 2 2 .


figures o f the div inities and the kings who were especiallyasso ciated with Serabit . Among them is S opd who is seenholding in one hand an ankh, in the other a staff of j ustice ,and who fo llows the Pharaoh Amen-em-hat III .

1 SOpd duringt he Eighteenth Dynasty was reckoned the equal of Hatho r.

For the entrance t o a mine that was o pened conj o intly byQueen Hatshepsut and her nephew Tahutmes shows Tahutm es

o ffering incense t o Hathor and Hatshepsut in a correspondingscene o ffering incense to SOpd .

The divinity S opd has no place in the older Egyptianpantheon

,and is t o all appearance an Egyptianised div inity

o f Semitic o rigin . He is named among the gods who arefavourable t o the Pharaoh Sen-usert I (XII 2 ) in the so -calledTale of S anehat , which describes an incident o f the time and islo oked upon as a genuine histo rical account .

2 The cult o f

the god seems to have gained a firm foo tho ld in connectionwith the fo rced retreat o f the Mentu people , Fo r it says ina nome text o f Edfu ,

Shur is here S opd, the conquero r ofthe Mentu

,lord o f the east co untry , and in Edfu golden

Ho rus , son of Isis , powerful god S opd .

” 3

One mention of SOpd in Egypt is on a tablet o f Sen-usert II

(XII 4) that was found in the temple o f Wadi Qasus in thedesert of Ko ssayr on the borders o f the Red Sea . On itSOpd is described as

“ lo rd of the eastern fo reigners (sut) , ando f the east (Neb 4

The description lord of the east,refers t o the cult of

Sopd in the land of Goshen , the twentieth nome o f LowerEgypt

,the capital o f which

,Pa-kesem

,was known also as

Per-Sopd,i .e . the House of SOpd . The amulet o f SOpd at

Per-SOpd was o f turquoise , which bore out his connection withSinai . An Egyptian text , moreover , described Sopd as noblesto f the Spirits o f Heliopolis . ”

Now the Syrians o r Hebrews,as already stated

,had a

fo o tho ld at Heliopo lis since the days o f Abraham,while the

land o f Go shen , as we know ,was allotted to the Israelites .

The inference is that SOpd who had a sanctuary in Sinai, hadsanctuaries in Heliopo lis and in the land of Goshen also .

1 Pet rie : Res . S inai , fig . 9 8 .

1 Pe t rie : Egypt ian Tales , 1. 1 89 5 , p . 1 16 .

1 Brugsch , H. Religion u . M ytho logie der alten Egypter, 18 8 8 ,p . 568 .

1 Wilkinso n : Anci ent Egypt , ed . 18 7 8 , v o l . 2 34-6 .



that were built on slightly higher level . The long wall ofthe chamber which included the uprights , had a break , roughlyin the form o f an apse that was 4 feet 5 inches wide and 2 feet 4;inches deep . A rude semicircle built o f stone stood 20 incheshigh from the ground a di stance of a few feet , facing it .

1 Thisapse corresponds with the recess at the back o f the cave o f

Sopd in Sinai .The likeness between the place names Per-Sopd, modern

Safet in Egypt , and the place names Sephet , modern Safed,and Safi in Palestine

,suggests that the cities in Palestine also

were the site of a shrine of the Semitic divinity who figuresin Egypt and in Sinai under the name SOpd . It is po ssiblethat S opd is the verbal equivalent of the Hebrew word shophet ,Phoenician sufet , whi ch signifies judge . Am ong the earlySemites the sanctuary was the seat of justice , and thepri ests were its administrato rs

,who

,in this capacity

,gave

out the pronouncements . As such they were sacred and,

with reference to the j oint divinities (E1) of the tribes , theywere at first called Elohim

,later Kohanim . The word shOphet

itself indicates the Supreme Judge,as in the passage Shall

no t the Judge (shophet ) of all the earth do right ? (Gen .

xv iii . while the relation between the Judge and Hisadministrato rs is indicated by the words

,

“ And the heavensshalLdeclare his righteousness , for Elohim is ShOphet himself

(Psa . l .The shrine of Sopd in Sinai and the one at Per-SOpd in

Egypt , perhaps the one at Heliopolis also , served the samepurpose as the shrine at Tell-es-Safi. The priest would standin the recess with his face towards the suppliant

, who ,at

Safi, stoo d in the low semicircle .In Sinai the cave of S opdwas adj acent to that of the moon

goddess (Fig . Acco rding to information already cited,a

shrine at Heliopolis where SOpd was noblest of spirits datedfrom the Herm iouthians

,

” who came there with Abraham,

whileHerm io uthian sanctuari es were erected in Goshen by thebrethren of Joseph . We are left to infer that a shrine ofSopd, presumably a centre fo r the administration of justice,was connected here also with the localised cult of the moon .

Other features at Serabit confirm the non-Egyptian

1 Bliss , F . G and Macalister, R. Excavat ions in Palest ine, 19 0 2 .


character of the cult o f Sopd . Thus , on the no rthern approachto the temple stood a stone tank measuring 54 by 32 inches ,with a hollow of 37 by 17 inches . Inside the temple area , inone of the courts which were built in the Eighteenth Dynasty,stoo d a circular tank, 3 1 inches across with a hollow of 25inches

,and another rectangular tank, 44 by 30 inches stood in

the same court,and a further rectangular tank in the hall on

the appro ach t o the lower cave . The disposition of these tankswas such that the worshipper who appro ached the temple fromthe north

,passed the tank outside and the various o ther tanks

on his way t o the lesser cave . The use of tanks o utside andinside the temple , is foreign t o Egypt . They are in keepingwith the apsu o r stone tank of the Babylonian temple andwith the regulations of Moses regarding the laver that sto odbetween the entrance to the temple and the altar (Exod .

xxx . In Jerusalem in the temple o f So lomon was amolten sea that was ro und about

,and there were ten lavers

of brass,five on the right and five on the left S ide of the house .

(1 Kings VI I . 23 , 38 , A Similar arrangement prevails tothis day in the Arab mosque . Outside stands the well o rplace for legal washings ghusl, and inside is the circular tankfo r ablution wazur.

1 The tanks at Serabit were therefo reconnected with the cult o f S opd,

and their presence confirmsthe Semitic character o f the place .

1 Hughes, Th . : D ictio nary of I slam ,1845 . art . Masj id .

CHAPTER IV

THE EGYPTIANS IN S INAI

HE monuments which the Egyptians erected in Sinai areevidence o f their continued connection with the place .

These were examined and studied in the winter of Theycomprised many monuments which were carved in the liv ingro ck

,and were found in the Wadi Maghara

,the Wadi Nasb

and at Serabit . At Serabit , moreover , there were foundnumerous offerings consist ing of statuettes , vases , pottery ,

and other obj ects which were brought from Egyp t t o thesanctuary . Outside this sanctuary the Egyptians set upsteles near the ho ly caves and on the neighbouring hillside ,and they built chambers and po rtico es inside the temeno s

,

and covered these with scenes and inscriptions . Thus thebuildings outside the caves went on increasing till the placeassumed the appearance o f a vast temple .

The baboon figure which was discovered in the temple ofSerabit

,and the turquo ise that was found in early graves in

Egypt,Show that the Egyptians came t o the peninsula in

pre dynastic days . The beginning o f dynastic history inEgypt was dated by Pro f . Breasted (1909) t o about B .c . 3400 ,

2

and by Pro f . Petrie (1914) to about B C . 5500 . Scho lars are

more and mo re inclining t o accept the earlier date .

At the beginning o f the First Dynasty the Egyptians hadsecured a firm fo o thold in the peninsula

,as is shown by the

inscriptions on the liv ing ro ck o f the Pharaohs o f this dynasty .

These rock-inscriptions are close t o the mine ho les in thehillside about 17 0 feet above the valley floor . Besides these

1 Pet rie , W . M . Flinders : Researches in S ina i , 19 06 .

2 B reast ed , J . H . A H istory of Egypt , 19 0 9 , p . 59 7 .

30

THE EGYPTIANS IN SINAI 3 1

there were many inscriptions o f kings o f the Third, Fifth and

Sixth Dynasties . They were known t o European s in theeighteent h century

,and some were drawn an d described .

But their importance was no t fully recognised and manyperished in the blasting , when the search fo r turquoise wasrenewed in the nineteenth century . Among those whichwere ruthlessly destroyed was the great

[tablet of King Khufu

(IV here reproduced . A full reco rd was therefore madeo f those which remained in 1906, and , in o rder to save thetablets

,they were removed t o the Museum in Cairo . One

only was left in situ . It was the o ldest o f all, dating fromKing Semerkhet (I seventh king of the First Dynasty

,

which is engraved on the rock 394 feet above the valley flo o rin a po sition which seems t o guarantee its safety .

The ' earliest tablets in the Wadi Maghara representedthe Pharaoh under three aspects : as king o f Upper Egypt

,

as king o f Lower Egypt , and as smiter o f the enemy whocrouches befo re him . T here is , at first , little wo rding besidethe names and the titles o f the king . As a smiter the kingho lds a mace in one hand and a staff in the other

,and the

enemy has a bo ld cast o f countenance , abundan t hair, apeaked beard

,and wears a loin clo th . The Pharaoh ho lds

him by the top-,

knot together with a carved obj ect whichhe seems t o have taken from him . This may be a feather ;po ssibly it is a boomerang or t hrowst ick .

The ro ck inscription o f S em erkhet was worked by cuttingaway the face

,and leaving the figures and the hi eroglyphs

standing in relief . A little in front o f the scenes , and wo rkedon the same scale

,was the general o f the expedition , who

wears no distinctive dress , but the word M er-rneshau (leadero f tro ops) , written in hieroglyphs , is befo re him . He is withouthead-dress and carries arrows and a bow o f the double-curvedLibyan type .

Semerkhet was probably not the first Pharaoh who workedin Sinai . Fo r a small plaque fo und at Abydo s representsDen-Setui, an earlier king of the First Dyn asty, who is seen inthe same attitude as the Pharaohs on the Sinai ro ck tablets

,

and the cast of countenance of the enemy is also the same .

1

Little is known of King Semerkhet outside Sinai . It is

1 Breast ed : A H istory, fig . 2 6, p . 42 .

32 A'

HISTORY OF S INAI

supposed that the First Dynasty at his t irne was weakening .

No records in Sinai mention kings of the Second Dynasty ,who were indigenous to the Nile valley , and whose energieswere devo ted to reconstructing the older elements o f government at home .A new spirit arose with the kings of the Third Dynasty, of

whom Sanekht (III 1) was represented at Wadi Maghara inthe usual scenes with the addition of the j ackal-nome standard ,one of the earliest represented in Egypt , which may refer t othe troops that accompan ied his expedition . The face ofSanekht is strongly Ethiopian in character, not unlike thepresent Sudanys . The j ackal-nome standard appears alsoon the tablet of Zeser (III the next Pharaoh recorded, whowas seen in the regular group of smit ing with the addition ofthe familiar titles

,giver of purity

,stability

,life , gladness

for ever .” 1

The intercourse between Egypt and Sinai found a newdevelopment under Sneferu (III who was representedwearing the ho rned head-dress mentioned above

,and the

wo rding o f his tablet described him as Great go d ravagingthe lands , here reproduced . Sneferu worked not only atMaghara , but was in contact also with the sanctuary atSerabit . T0 this he presented the figure of a hawk

,his

favourite emblem , worked in grey limestone , which wasdiscovered in the winter of 1906 in the sacred cave itself .Its work and inscription mark it as a contemporary monument .It is now in the British Museum . Later ages looked uponSneferu as espec ially connected with Sinai

,reckoning him as

one of the protecting divinities of the place,and his haul in

turquoise was referred t o in the Twelfth Dynasty as exceptional .I obtained more turquoise than any man since Sneferu .

” 2

The value which was set on turquoise in Egypt during hisreign is shown by one of the so -called Tales of the M agicians,which relates how the damsels of the harim of Sneferu wentrowing on the lake . One dropped her j ewel of new tur

quo ise into the water,which was recovered by magical

means .3

The next Pharaoh who was commemorated at Maghara1 Petrie : Res . S inai , fig . 49 .

1 B reast ed : Rec. , i . 7 3 1 .

3 Pe t rie : Egypt ian Tales , I . p . 18 .


was Khufu (IV the great pyramid builder, who , as alreadymentioned, was figured smiting the enemy befo re the ibisheaded figure of the god Tho th . At Maghara several tabletsrecorded him

,which were of large size and o f excellent work

manship . The chief one had fortunately been drawn andphotographed before it was entirely smashed during therecent blasting. On this tablet , the Pharaoh, here namedKhnumu-Khufu, was described as a smiter o f the Ann ,

aword written with three pillar signs , with a man as a det erm inative (Fig.

Next in date at Maghara was the tablet of Sahura (Vwhich was framed by a colo ssal Uas-sceptre on either S ideand a row of stars along the t op . Sahura was described inthe wording as smiter of the Mentu . The same wo rdswere used t o describe Ra-en user (V whose tablet at Maghara measured 63 by 102 inches , and was the largest of all .This tablet has the additional feature o f an eno rmous vasesuppo rted by two ankhswith the wo rds : The lord o f fo reignlands (neb S etui) gave coo lness ,

” which suggests that a watersupply was made accessible by some lo cal sheykh .

The Pharaohs at Maghara,between the First and the Fourth

Dynasties,were always represented as smiters . The tablets

of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties are for the mo st part brokeno r destroyed

,but what is left of them points to mo re peaceful

relations , and records the mining expeditions with additionaldetail .Thus the tablet of Dadkara (V 8) states that the expedi tion

(upt) was sent in the year after the fourth cattle census ,which dates it t o the eighth or ninth year of the reign of thisking . Again , a tablet of Pcpy I (VI 3 ) was dated by theyear after the eighteenth cattle census These tablets ,moreover, mention some o f the dignitaries who too k part inthe expedition . That o f Dadkara named the ship-captainNenekt Khent ikhet ; that of Pepy I the ship captain Ibdu ;a further one of Pcpy II (VI 5) the Ship captain Benkeneph .

1

This shows that the Egyptians approached the mine-land bywater . There is mention on these tablets also o f princes ,of scribes , of a commander of recruits (hez-uz-nefera) , o f

inspecto rs (uba) , o f interpreters of princes (schee-saru) , o f the

1 Weill, R. : Recueil des I nscript ions, 1904,120 fi.

3 4 A HISTORY OF SINAI

seal-bearer to the god (neter sahu) , o f a chief of the land

(mer ta) , of a chief of the sto rehouse (mer ab) , o f a chief ofthe elders (mer uru) , and of o thers , which shows how carefullythe expeditions were organised . The tablet o f Dadkara ,

moreover,mentions fo r the first time the Fhat co untry , j hat

being short for maf kat, the ancient Egyptian word fo r tur

quo ise . These is always a d ifficulty in reading aright thenames o f precious stones . M af kat was o ften rendered asmalachite

,and it needed the turning over o f the rubbish

heaps at Serabit and the di scovery of turquoise , in orderfully to establish the nature o f the stone that was the producto f the area appropriated t o Hathor o f Mafkat .

The close of the Sixth Dynasty brought a break in therelat ions between Egypt and Sinai

,which is attributable , no

doubt , to changes in Egypt itself, o f which we know little atthis perio d . Perhaps there were movements among the peopleof the east . Among tho se who threatened Egypt from thisside were the Mentu

, who were Asiatics , and whose successfuldefeat was achieved

,as mentioned above

,with the help Of the

devotees to S opd .

The Egyptians probably resumed wo rk in Sinai duringthe Eleventh Dynasty

,since workmen ’s pots

,foun d in the

Wadi Maghara , are dated to this dynasty by their style .

1

The reign may have been that o f Mentu-ho t ep III (X1 fora group o f four kings seated at a table carved in stone wasdiscovered at S erabit

, wi th the names of the kings along theedge of the table on which their hands were placed . Theywere Sneferu (probably) , Mentu-ho t ep III (XI Amen-emhat I (XII and his son Sen-usert (XII who was probablythe donor of the group .

2

When work was resumed in Sinai in the Eleventh Dynasty,the attitude of the Egyptians towards Serabit had undergonea marked change . In early days they had approached thesanctuary as quasi-worshippers

,present ing o fferings such as

the baboon and the hawk . Now the sanctuary itself wasdrawn within the sphere o f their influence

,and they erected

uprights or mazzebo th on the approach to the cave on whichthey recorded their mining expeditions .Uprights of this kind are entirely unknown in Egypt .

Pet rie : Res . S ina i , p . 5 22 I bid p. 12 3



Of the next king,Am en-em-hat II (XII there was

fo und the usual statuette of Hathor, which was presented bythe ship-captain Sneferu . Inscriptions on a hill at somedistance from the caves Showed that the Egyptians nowwo rked turquoise mines at Serabit on their own account onland which they had acquired . One inscription was of theseventeenth year of Amen-em-hat II , another o f his twentyfourth year . The latter mentioned the mine chamber whichMen

,bo rn of Mut , triumphant and revered, excavated .

Two steles erected in the approach t o the sanctuary likewisereco rded the seventeenth and the twenty-fourth year of thereign of the same king .

The next kings,Sen-usert II (XII 4) and Sen-usert I I I

(XII made the ~

usual gift of a statuette o f Hatho r . Thelatter was presented by five officials ; including Met ru , twoinspecto rs

,a scribe of the cattle , and an Amu or Syrian named

Lua or Luy,a name which co rresponds to the Semitic Levy .

” 1

This shows a Semite in actual contact with the place . Astele o f the same Pharaoh sto od in a knoll of haematite on theplateau

,the exposed po sit ion of whi ch caused it to fall and

crumble long ago its remains strew the gro und .

The reign o f the next Pharaoh , Amen-em-hat III (XIImarked a climax in the intercourse of Egypt and Sinai .Of the fo rty-four years of his reign , at least fo urteen witnessedexpeditions t o Sinai , which were commemorated by inscript ions set up in Wadi Maghara , in Wadi Nasb , and at Serabit .

A great inscription o f the second year , mentioned abo ve ,stands on a boulder at the entrance t o Wadi Maghara , whichshows the king facing the ibis-headed Thoth and Hatho r

,

and the accompanying wording mentions Khent i-ho t epKhenemsu , who was commissioned to fetch turquo ise andcopper

,and who had with him 7 34 men . Another inscription

was set up by Ham akt, who crossed the sea and secured

stones o f great excellence .

” 2

At Serabit also Amen-em-hat III was commemorated bymany inscriptions . Large stone steles , set up on the plateau ,

recorded the 4th ,8th

,13th, 23rd , 3oth , 44th ,

and 45th yearo f this reign . Several of these steles mention by name theRet ennu people , of whom we now hear for the first t ime in Sinai .

1 Petr ie : Res . S ina i , p . 12 4 .

1 Breast ed : Rea ,i . 7 13 , 7 17-8 .


The stele of the fourth year contained in two columns the

Fig . 9 .—Upper half o f S t ele o f Amen-em-hat I I I . (Pet rie : Researches

in S inai . )

names and titles of over a hundred persons who took part in


the expedition . The names start in fairly large hieroglyphsat the top

,and diminish in size lower down . A few

additional names were roughly inscribed along the edge ofthe stele as the result of an afterthought . This splendidstele stood about ten feet high in the approach to the temple ,but

,worn through at the base by the continued action of

wind and rain,it fell

,and snapped in two in the falling

(FlsNo t far from thi s stele stoo d one that was set up by

Ho roura ,describing an expedition which reached the min es

in hot weather . The desert burnt like summer the mountains burnt like fire ; the vein seemed exhausted ; the overseer questioned the miners ; the skilled wo rkers who knewthe mine replied

,There is turquoise to all eternity in the

mountain,and at that moment it appeared .

” 1

The reference is to the turquo ise mines Opened by Amenem-hat II

, which were now further developed . The neck ofrock whi ch contained the turquoise had hitherto been wo rkedfrom the north . Thi s neck o f rock was now attacked fromthe south

,and

,as the wo rk became complex

,a shaft of about

ten feet square was sunk from above,whi ch bro ught light

and air into the passages . This shaft was wrongly describedby some travellers as a reservo ir . The passages eventuallyextended about 2 20 feet into the ro ck . A great inscriptionon the ro ck , near the chief opening , gives an idea of the o fferingswhich the Egyptians made at the sanctuary at this time ;evidently in return for the perm ission to work here . It

mentions a thousand loaves , j ars of beer, cattle , fowls ,incense

,O intment , and everyt hing on which the gods live .

”

The Offerings in this case were presented by Sebek-her-heb,

chief Chamberlain , who declared, I excavated a minechamber for my lo rd, the workmen came in full quota , neverwas there any neglect .

” 2

The same Sebek-her-heb erected the stele of the 44th yearof Amen-em-hat II I on the plateau . It is inscribed on oneside only and stands in a rough stone enclosure with a flatstone at the base . The inscription runs a royal offeri ngto Hatho r, mistress of turquoise (maf kat) , fo r the familySpirit (ha) of the chief Chamberlain Sebek-her-heb ,

and the1 B reast ed : Rec . ,

i . 7 35-6 .

2 I bid ., pp . 7 2 5-7 .


ha o f the seal-bearer, deputy of the overseer of seal-bearers ,Kemnaa ,

bo rn o f Ka ho t ep .

Ano ther inscription of the 45th year o f Amen -em-hat II I ,named Pt ahwer, triumphant , who described himself asdelivering the Ann Sut (eastern fo reigners) to the Pharaoh,and bringing the Mentu to the halls o f the king .

” 2

During the reign of Arnen -em-hat III the caves at Serabitwere re-mo delled t o their present shape . The larger cave ,without the recesses

,now measures 20 by 10 feet . A square

pillar of ro ck was left standing in its centre as a support t othe ro of . On one side o f this pillar the Pharaoh was represented facing the go ddess Hatho r, wearing a high head-dress,who held out t o him a sceptre . Beneath this scene Khenumsu

, Am eny-seneb

,seal-bearer

,and o ther o fficials were seen .

3

The walls o f the cave at the same time were smoothed andinscribed with mo rtuary prayers . But their surface for themo st part has crumbled away, perhaps owing to intentionaldesecration

,and the inscri ptions are lo st .

Ameny-Seneb who was represented on the squared pillar

,

also set up in the cave an altar In the name o f hi s king . Thisaltar measured 40 by 26 inches , and probably sto o d at theback of the cave in a recess of co rresponding dimensions .It was found i n ano ther part o f the cave . This altar had theo rdinary appearance of an Egyptian altar and was wo rkedin the red sandstone of the place . It apparently to o k theplace o f an earlier stone o r altar o f different appearance , fragments o fwhich were also found inside the cave . The smashingo f t his altar also po ints t o an intentional desecration o f theplace .

The smaller cave which was appropriated t o S opd,was

probably re-arranged at the same t ime . There was here noSign o f inscription o r tablet . It was s imply a rounded apsewith three steps leading up t o it .The o ther work which was done during the reign of Amen

em-hat III included mining in the Wadi Nasb,where an

inscription at the head of the valley reco rded his 2 0th year .4

The head of the valley floor of the Wadi Nasb is covered

1 Petr ie : Res . S ina i , p . 66 .

2 B reas t ed : Rec . , i . 7 2 8 , Petrie : Res . S ina i , p . 156 .

3 Breast ed : Rec . , i . 7 16 .

1 Petrie : Res . S ina i , p . 2 7 .


with an eno rmous mass of slag, which po ints t o extensivecopper smelting . The mass o f slag is 6 to 8 feet deep , 300 feetwide

,and extends abo ut 500 feet down the valley. It may

amount to tons . The provenance of the copperthat was smelted here is insufficiently known . It can hardlyhave been brought up from the mines in the Wadi Khalig .

But even at Serabit,now entirely denuded o f trees , a crucible

was found .

After the long reign of Amen-em-hat III came the Sho rtreign o f Amen-em-hat IV (XII the last king of his dynasty .

An inscription in the Wadi Maghara recorded work done therein his sixth year

,and

,at Serabit

,the small ro ck tablet men1

t ioned above,was set up on the western side of the plateau .

A po rtico-court about 10 feet square was also bu ilt by himo utside the larger cave . This court was roo fed over withslabs of stone

,the ro o f being s uppo rted by two fluted

co lumns which, like the rest o f the building, were wo rkedin the red sandstone of the place . The walls o f this porticowere inscribed, the subj ect being Hatho r seated with thePharaoh offering t o her

,and a long row o f Officials behind

him . The same scene reversed was represented on the otherside of the entrance . But the surface o f the wall has crumbledso that the general character only of the scenes is visibleand the names o f the officials have gone .

CHAPTER V

EARLY PEOPLE AND PLACE NAMES

HE ancient peoples and place names of Sinai claimseparate attention .

The earliest Egyptian rock inscription at Maghara repre

sents the Pharaoh as a smiter, and describes him as such withthe signs o f a hand

,an eagle

,and the determinative of hills .

The t erm is held to apply to no people in particular , and istherefore rendered as

'

barbarians .King Khufu (IV in addition , is described as a smiter o f

the Ann the word is written with the pillar sign . The wordAnu was applied in Egypt to cave-dwellers generally, mo reespecially to those o f Nubia . The Anu are first mentionedon the Palermo Stone in connection with a king o f the FirstDynasty whose name is broken away ,

but who was probablyKing Den-Setui .In the estimation of the historian Jo sephus (c . A .O.

the inhabitants of Sinai at the time of Moses were cavedwellers , for he stated that Mo ses , in going to Sinai , wentamong the troglodytes (Antiq. ,

Ii .

Am ong the early inhabitants o f the peninsula were theHorites . The Babylonian kings who fought against the fourkings o f so uthern Syria who revolted in the t ime o f Abraham ,

smo te the Rephaims in Ashtero th Kam aim,and the Zuzims

in Ham , and the Emims in Shaveh-Kiriathaim ,and the Ho rites

in their mo unt Seir unto E1Paran ,which is by the wilderness

(Gen . xiv. 5 This asso ciates the Ho rites with Mount Seir,

which extended along the depression between the head ofthe Gulf o f Akaba and the Dead Sea .

In the estimation o f Pro f . Robertson Smith the Ho riteso f the Bible were troglo dyt es , which would bring t hem int oline with the Ann o f the Egyptian inscriptions . These

41


Horites were accoun ted o f low stock by the Hebrews , and wereprobably in the stage through which the Israelites had passedbefo re they fo rmed a confederacy . Prof . Robertson Smithpointed out that the list of their so -called dukes (Gen . xxxvi . 20 )is not a literal genealogy, but an acco unt of their tribal andlo cal division

,since five o f the names are animal or totem

names .

1 The view that the Horites were cave-dwellers wasbased on the likeness between the name Horite and the Hebrewword hor, which signifies mountain . The connection betweenthe names is now denied

,and the Horites of the Bible are

identified with the Kharu or Khalu of the Egyptian texts .

The Kharu appear in the Annals o f Tahutmes III (XVIII 6)and of Amen-ho tep IV (XVIII among the people againstwhom the Egyptians fought on the way t o Naharain i . e.

Mesopotamia .

2 But the wo rd Kharu on the Egyptian sidehas been interpreted as mixed multitude .

The next people who are mentioned on the Egyptianmonuments in Sinai are the Mentu . King Ra-eu-user (V 6)was described as “ great god o f the smiting countries andraider o f the Mentu .

” Again,the tablet o f Men-kau-hor

,

mentioned a royal expedition t o the Mentu ; and Ptahwerin Sinai o f the Twelfth Dynasty was described as bringingthe Mentu to the king

’

s heels .

”

The Mentu too k part in the great Hyksos invasion o f Egyptbetween the Twelfth and the Eighteenth Dynasties . Fo r whenthe tide of fo reign nations was rolled back

,they were among

the conquered . King Aahm es I (XVIII after seizing theforeign stronghold Avaris , made a slaughter of the Mentuof Setiu

,and going south to Kheut-hen-nefer, he destroyed

the Anu-Khent i . ” 3 Among the conquered people who wererepresented around the throne of Amen-ho t ep II (XVIII 7 )are the Mentu , who have the appearance of true Asiatics .An Edfu inscription , as mentioned above , stated that theMentu were thrown back with the help of the devo tees o f

the god S opd .

The people who figured most prominently in the Egyptianannals of Sinai were the Ret ennu ,

who were mentioned againand again on the steles which were set up at Serabit in the course

1 Sm ith , W . Ro bert son : Lectures , p . 47 1 .

2 Pet rie : Hist ,i i . 10 5 .

3 I bid



which was bro ught by the Ret ennu ,in the great inscription

of his temple at Medinet Habu .

1

The Ret ennu and their name survived in Sinai , for Ptolemy,the geographer

,named as its inhabitants the Pharanit es , the

Raitheno i and the Munichiat es . Again , in the year 18 16 thetraveller Burckhardt noted that

,attached to the mosque that

sto od inside the convent precincts,there were certain po or

Bedawyn called Retheny ,

” whose duty it was to clean themosque . One of them had the dignity of imam, a leader Inprayer, and was supported by offerings . 2

And not only did the Retennu cont inue , the language whichthey spoke seems to have continued likewise . The sheykhwho befri ended Sanehat about two thousand years befo reour era , was named Amu-anshi, as recorded in the Tale ofS anehat . About the year A.D. 440 the Christian communityo f Pharan in Sinai

,in consequence o f outrages committed

by the Arabs,lodged a complaint with their sheykh who stoo d

in the relation of phylarch t o the Romans , and who dweltat a place described as twelve days ’ j ourney from Pharan .

The sequel of the acco unt makes it probable that it wasPetra . The name of the sheykh was Ammanns , which is theLatinised equivalent of Am u-anshi .Another people who were associated with Sinai were the

Rephaim who are mentioned in the Bible among the peoplewho were raided by the Babylonian kings about B C . 2 100 .

They smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Kam aim (Gen .

xiv . The word Rephaim is related to Raphaka o r Raphiaof the annals of Sargon II (B .C. 7 2 2 It lies on the highroad from Syria to Egypt on the Mediterranean . Its modernname is Rafa .

The Rephaim of the Bible were accounted giants . InArabian tradition we also hear of giants o r tyrants , the Jababera . They were accounted descendants of the Aulad binNuh (children of Noah) , o r Amalikah ,

from their ancesto rAmlah bin Arfexad bin Sam (Shem) bin Nuh . Masudi Spokeo f the giants of the race of Amalekites who ruled in Syriaat the t ime of Moses .

4

1 B reasted : Rec . , iv . 2 8 .

1 Burckhard t : Travels in Syria , ed . 1 8 2 2 ,p . 544 .

3 B irch : Rec . P ast , v ii . 2 6 .

1 Masud i : P ra iries d ’

Or, c . 4 , t rad . S ociété As iat ique, v o l. i . p . 9 8 .

EARLY PEOPLE AND PLACE NAMES 45

Acco rding t o Arab belief the Amalekites were inspired wi tha knowledge o f the Arabic tongue , and settled at Medina , andwere the first t o cultivate the ground and plant the date palm .

In the co urse o f time they extended over the whole tracttowards the Red Sea (El Hedjaz) , and the no rth-westernpart o f the Indian Ocean (El Omar) , and became the progenitors no t only of the Jababera , but also o f the Faraineh

(i .a. the Pharaohs) o f Egypt .In the Biblical geneal o gy Amalek appears as a descendant

of Esau,his mo ther , Adah , being a Hittite (Gen . xxxvi . 2 ,

But scho lars generally are agreed in assigning a high antiquityt o the Amalekites . The prophet Balaam , inspired by Jehovah ,

uttered the words,Amalek was the first o f the nations

(Num . xxiv .

Whatever their o rigin,the Amalekites were in the po ssession

o f Sinai when the Israelites came there , since they Oppo sedtheir entrance and harried them on their way t o the ho lymo unt

,and later attacked them in Rephidim

,where the

Israelites carried the day (Deut . xxv . 17 Exo d . xvii . 8Later, acting in concert with the Canaanites , they smo te theIsraelites on their way to Ho nnah (Num . xiv. 25 and inthe time o f Saul they still occupied the land from Havilahunto Shur (from Arabia t o the Wall of Egypt) , which ,acco rding to ano ther account

,was allotted to the sons o f

l

ihmael (Gen . xxv . Saul waged a fierce war againstt em .

The connection o f the Amalekites with Sinai continued inthe mind o f the Arab

,fo r Makrizi (T 1441) speaking o f Pharan ,

the city of Sinai , described it as a city o f the Amalekites . 1

The Amalekites of the Bible and of Arab tradition areprobably the Milukhkha of the ancient annals . As mentionedabove, they appear on the statue o f Gudea o f about the yearB .C .

2500 , and in the Assyrian fragment o f geography of about

B .c . 00

Pharan , which the Arab writers described as a city of theAmalekites , was from early times a place name in Sinai .Acco rding to the Bible, the Babylonian kings (c. B .C . 2 100)pressed the Ho rites as far as Fl Paran , which is by thewilderness ,

”a phrase which the Septuagint rendered as

1 Makrizi Descript ion de l’

Egypte, 19 0 0 , i i . 2 7 , p . 543 .


the terebinth of Pharan ,as though it were a site marked

by a tree . Pharan,to all appearance , was a general name

given to the peninsula of Sinai . It is like the name Pharaoh ,and this is apparently the reason why the name Bath o f

Pharaoh,Gebel Hammam Paraun

,is given to a hill near the

west coast,an d the name Giziret cl Faraun to the island near

Akaba,the idea Of the Pharaoh leading to various localised

legends .In the Bible we read that the Israelites

,after leaving the

Ho ly Mount,passed through the wilderness of Paran on

their way to Edom,which would lo cate it t o the Badiet Tih .

Again,King Hadad (c . B .C . on his way from Midian t o

Egypt,passed through Paran (1 Kings xi .

The Septuagint and the classical writers rendered Paran ,as Pharan

,and Pto lemy , the geo grapher , named a village

(Kenn) Pharan ,the position o f which co rresponds with the

seat of the later Christian bishopric in the Wadi Peiran .

He also named the southernmo st po int of the peninsula , thepresent Ras Mohammad

,as the promonto ry o f Pharan , and

included the Pharan it es among the inhabitants of Sinai .Again

,Pliny (T A .D. 7 9) mentioned a variety o f precious

stone as sapenos o r pharanites, so called from the countrywhere it is found (xxvii . Perhaps turquo ise is meant , inwhich case Sapeno s , a wo rd otherwise unknown ,

may beconnected with the name Sopd ; Pharanit es would refer t oPharan or to Pharaoh .

The Egypto lo gist Ebers was the first t o suggest that thename Paran shows Egy ptian influence , and may be theplace-name Rahan plus t he Egyptian article Pa ,

in the sameway as Pa-kesem is the land of Kesem

, i .a. Goshen .

1

The word Rahan o ccurs in an Egyptian inscription o f theTwelfth Dynasty , according to which an envoy coming fromEgypt cro ssed Desher to the Rahan country .

2

The wo rd Raha as a place continues in different parts ofthe peninsula to the present day . The north-western partof the Tih is called Gebel er Raha

,and the wide sandy plain

that extends north o f the Gebel Musa is the Plain of Raha .

3

According to the Bible,Ishmael a wild man and an

1 Ebers : Durch Gosen zum S ina i , 18 7 2 , p . 2 8 8 .

2 Lepsiu s : Denhmc'

iler, i i . 15 0 , a . 1 2 .

3 Keith Johnso n : General A tlas .


archer,dwelt in the wilderness o f Paran , and his mo ther ,

who was an Egyptian , to ok him a wife out o f Egypt .

” TheSeptuagint rendered this as out o f Pharan o f Egypt (Gen .

xvi . 12 xxi . The Ishmaelites in the Bible are referredt o Abraham himself , which shows that they were regarded asan allied sto ck by the Hebrews , a certain inferio rity beingimplied by their having Egyptian blo od in their veins . Theacceptance of a j o int divinity El seems t o have made a bondof union between the twelve tribes o f Ishmael , as it did betweenthe tribes of Israel . According to Genesis the Ishmaelitesdwelt from Havilah unto Shur, living in houses and castles

,

o r rather in tents and booths ,” as the Septuagint rendered

the passage (Gen . xxv .

While Paran in the Bible was associated with Ishmaelthe adjo in ing land o f Edom was connected with Esau

,the

incidents of who se sto ry are more or less mythical,but a

clue t o them is yielded by the word Edom which signifies redin Aramaic .

Esau was red-haired at birth . And the first came o u t

red,all over like a hairy garment and they called his name

Esau (Gen . xxv . Again , Esau , in exchan ge fo r hisbirthright , i .a. herds and flocks and precedence after his father 5death , to ok very red food

,

” literally the red,red thing

,

which the Septuagint rendered as fiery red (a vppofi) . In thefurther development o f the story

,the red thing is described

as a pottage o f red lentils . And Esau said t o Jacob,Feed

me , I pray thee , with that same red po ttage for I am fainttherefo re was his name called Edom (Gen . xxv . Thehairiness of Esau has been connected with Mount Seir, aword signifying rough ; 1 on the same basis the idea o f rednessconveyed by the word Edom , is referable to the red sandstoneo f the district .The Edomites , according t o the Bible , took possession of

the land of Uz (Lam . iv . which was the land of Job (Jobi . Uz was described as the son of Aram

,the son of Shem

(Gen . x . o r, according to Masudi (j Aud

,the son

o f Aram,the son of Shem .

” 2

U2 and Aud are thus identified,and in keeping with this

,

Septuagint described Job as dwelling in the land “Ausit is .

”

1 Hast ings : D ict . B ible, art . E sau .

2 Masudi Prairies, c . 3 , vo l . i . p . 7 7 .


And was a divinity by whom a gro up of Arabs too k theiroath

,and the people of Ad or Uz were among the great people

o f the Arab legendary past , who were smitten by misfortun e .

The calamities which befell them are , perhaps , reflected inthe story of Job .

In the Koran the utterance was put into the lips o f Moses,

Hath not the story reached thee of those who were beforethee

,the people o fNoah and Ad andThemud (xiv . 9)

1 Andunto Ad we sent their bro ther Hud and unto Themudwe sent Saleh

,but the people received them no t as their

prophets,and they were destroyed (vii . And we

destroyed Ad and Themud (xxix . Acco rding t o Masudi

(T 957 ) And,who was sent t o the Adites , and Saleh , who was

sent t o the Thamudit es , lived immediately after the Flo o d,befo re Abraham .

2

Many sto ries were current among the Arabs concerningthe wealth and influence o f the Adites . They were

'

said t o

have lived twelve hundred years,when their sons the Shaddad

,

subj ected the country o f the Egyptian , and in this theyremained two hundred years , and built the city Ao ur

‘

0r

Awar . 3 The reference is to the great fortress o f the Hykso s,

the Hatuar o f the Egyptians , the Avaris o f Manetho-Josephus ,situated about twenty miles no rth of Cairo . If the Aditeswere instrumental in erecting this city , they must have takenpart in the great Hykso s invasion which happened duringthe Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt , i .e. about B .C . 2500 .

Acco rding t o Makriz i (1' the Adite king who marched

against Egypt was Shaddad ben Haddad ben Shaddad ben Ad,

and the Pharao h whom he conquered was Ashmoun ben Masirben Beisar, son of Chain ,

son o f Noah,who se buildings be

destroyed and in his turn he raised pyramids (probably pillars) ,tracedAlexandria and then left fo r the Wadi el Ko rah betweenEl Nabo uyah and Syria . He built a series of square reservoirs

,

which resulted in many kinds o f cultivation,which extended

from Raiah (i .e. Raithou) to Aila (at the head o f the Gulfof Arabia) to the western sea the Mediterranean) . His

1 Sm ith ,W. Robert so n : K inship andM arriage i n EarlyArabia , 18 8 5 ,

p . 2 60 .

1 Masud i : Prairies , c . 3 7 , vo l . 3 , p . 7 8 .

1 Caussin de Perceval, A. P . : Essai sur l’

historie des Arabes avantl

‘

I stam,1847 , i . 13 .


peoples ’ dwellings covered the district between El Dathmar,

El Arish,and El Go ufar, in the land of Shaleh (along the

Mediterranean sea-board in northern Sinai) , where there werewells and fruit-trees

,and cultivation including that of saffron

of two kinds and of the sugar-cane . This land was o ccupiedby Khodem ben El Airan , when God, because o f the o verbearing of the Adites

,raised a storm , and sand of the desert

covered the land they inhabited . Hence the words of theKoran

,And in Ad when we sent against them the desolating

blast,it touched no t aught over which it came , but it turned

it into dust . ” 1

The Adites at one perio d controlled the gold and incenseroute from Inner Arabia to Syria , and the Koran creditedthem with erecting pillars

,probably mazzebo th, in high places .

Hast thou no t seen how the Lord dwelt with Ad at Iram ,

ado rned with pillars whose like have no t been raised in theselands (lxxxix . And again

,Build ye land-marks on all

heights in mere pastime (xxiv . Pto lemy , the geo grapher

(A .D. lo cated the Oaditae t o the east of the Gulf of Akaba ,and named as their chief city Aramava , which was an important watering station on the way between Petra and Mecca .

Aramava is perhaps Iram o f the Koran .

2

The Adites as traders were succeeded by the Thamudi t eswho

, acco rding to the Koran , hewed rocks in the valley(xxxix . The reference is possibly t o Petra . According totradition they o ccupied Aila .

3

A prophet of the Thamudit es was Saleh,who has a special

interest for southern Sinai,since the Benn Saleh,

who claimdescent from him , are among the o ldest and mo st powerfultribes of the peninsula . Saleh in the Biblical record is namedas thi rd in descent from Shem

,and as the progenitor of Eber

(Gen . x .

The remembrance of theThamudit es survives in the presentDiar (o r land of) Themo ud,

in north-western Arabia,which

includes the great Wadi El Korah which is fo llowed by thepilgrims from Damascus to Mecca . In the Wadi El Ko rahlie the Medain (cities o f) Saleh , and some distance south o f

these, is the pass which is associated with the destruction1 Makri zi : Descrip. , II . 2 1 . P. 52 32 Sprenger : Alte Geographic A rabians , 18 7 5 , no . 2 0 7 , p .

1 Makri zi : Descrip. , ii . 2 7 ; De la ville d ’

Ei lah, p . 5 30 .


of the she-camel,the creation o f Saleh . Fo r the people of

Them oud to whom Saleh was sent , did no t accept him . Theyasked fo r a sign

,whereupon he produced from the rock the

Naga or she-camel that gave milk . Let her go at large ,”

was his command,and feed on Go d

’

s earth , and do her noharm . Drink there shall be for her an d drink there shall befor y o u ,

on a several day for each but harm her not,lest the

punishm ent of a tremendous day overtake you. But theThamudit es hamstrung her, and repented of it on the morrow ,

for the punishment overtook them .

”

This story of the she-camel preserves the tradition of man’

sright to the free use of an animal

,which was indispensable to

the well-being of the man of the desert . According to theKoran , it will be the end of all things when

“ the sun isfo lded up

,the stars fall

,the mountains rock

,the She-camel

is abandoned and the wild beasts are gathered to gether

(lxxxi .In the year 187 3 Doughty , coming from Damascus , stayed

at the Medam Sal eh,where he saw and described the well ,

now enclosed in a tower,where the she-camel was watered .

He also visited the pass some way further along the road,the

Mubrak en Naga,where the She-camel was killed .

1

According to one tradition this was done by Codar el Ahmar

(i .a. the Red) , a name in which Caussin de Perceval , saw alikeness to Chedorlaomer of the tim e o f Abraham .

2 Thisagrees with Masudi

’

s statement that Saleh came to the rescueo f the Thamudit es when their existence was threatened by adescendant of Ham .

3 Saleh and King Djundu fled t o Sinaiwhere they became hermits

,and Saleh di ed and was buried

in El Ramlah . The tomb o f Nebi Saleh is located in thepresent Wadi Sheykh near the Gebel Musa

,and is the site

(

S

) f the great annual encampment of the Arabs of southemmm .

In the newly discovered annals of King Sargon of Assyria

(B .C . 7 22 the people of Tamad are named among theArabians living at a distance in the desert of whom the WiseMen and the Magi knew no thing

,who never brought tribute

to (my father) the king , whom I overthrew ,and the remainder

1 Do ughty : Travels , ed . 1888 , i . p . 8 1 , et c .

2 Cau ssin : Essa i , i . 2 6 .

3 Masud i : Prairies , c . 3 8 , v o l. 3 , p . 9 0 .


CHAPTER VI

THE EGYPTIANS IN S INAI

FTER the close of the Twelfth Dynasty,the Egypt ians

ceased for centuries to come to Sinai . The reason wasthat fo reigners , for over a hun dred years , ruled in the Nilevalley whom the Alexandrian writers called Arabians orPhoenicians . The Egyptians themselves called them Hyksos .To this perio d probably belong the inscri ptions in Semiticscript that were set up in some mines in the Wadi Dhababnear Serabit , and the offerings o f a squat figure and of asphinx inscri bed in the same Semitic script which werepresented before the shrine of the goddess . These in scriptionsagain and again mention the go ddess of t he place in letteringwhich may be Ba-alat

,and the script itself is considered o f the

highest interest in the study of Semitic characters generally .

After throwing back the foreign invaders of Egypt , thePharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty once again sent expeditionsto Sinai

,where

,as we learn from the inscriptions and monu

ments,they worked both at Maghara and at Serabit . At

Serabit building was now continued on an extensive scaleoutside the caves o f the sanctuary . Halls

,courts

,a pylon

,

and a long row of chambers were erected on the plateauinside the temenos , which gave the sanctuary the appearanceo f a vast temple . The buildings were all constructed o f thered sandstone o f the place

,which was quarri ed on the hill

Slope just below the temple on the north side,where great

quarries remain (Fig .

The offerings which the Egyptians now made to theshrine were smaller, more numerous and , with few exceptions ,of less importance than those of the Twelfth Dynasty . They

52

THE EGYPTIANS IN SINAI 53

included figures , bowls , cups , vases of alabaster and glaze ,ring-stands , sistra or rattles

,manats or pendants , besides

wands fo r temple use,and rows upon rows of beads . Most

of these obj ects are sim ilar to tho se which were in use inEgypt in connection with the cult of the goddess Hathor ,but many bear a character which Show that they were madein deference to the lo cal asso ciations of the place .

Thus , on some of these offerings , beginning with the

Fig . I o .— Temple ruins at S erabit .

reign of Hatshepsut (XVIII a feline animal appears ,which is sometimes a cheetah and sometimes a serval , andwhich was directly associated with the go ddess Hatho r, as

was shown by a ring-stand on which the head of the goddessappeared with a eat on either side .This an imal , considering its varying form , can hardly he

intended for an Egyptian nome-animal , such as the cat ofBubast is .

Rather should we look upon it as int ended fo ra local animal associated with the temple .


In other parts o f the world,the early totem animal was

sometimes asso ciated by a later age with the mother-divinity .

Possibly the animal in the offerings in Sinai was of this kind .

No tradi tions on the subj ect are preserved, but the chiefgorge along which the '

plat eau of the temple is approachedfrom the north is called the Wadi Dhaba

,a word which

signifies wild beast or panther in Arabic .Of the smaller cult obj ects which now accumulated in the

sanctuary , many were carried o ff before the winter o f 1906,and are scattered in various museums . But the mass ofthe Obj ects that remained was so great that their fragmentscovered the ground of the sanctuary and the portico in frontof the larger cave

,in a layer two or three inches thick . Frag

ments also strewed the ground outside the temple precincts .Of these fragments several hundredweights were conveyedfrom the temple to the camp

,where they were laid out and

fitted,but although days and weeks were Spent in fitting

them,and many obj ects had a dist inctive appearance

,no

complete specimen o f any kind was recovered . The explanation is that the obj ects were intentionally smashed

,and their

fragments scattered o utside the cave where they graduallydisintegrated . It was doubtless done from the same Insto f iconoclastic zeal which caused the smashing of the statuetteso f Hathor

,but whether during some ancient upheaval or by

the Moslim, who can tell

Among the masses of fragm ents as man y as 447 borecartouches of the Pharaohs

,and this enables us to date them .

Thus Aahmes (XVIII first rul er o f the EighteenthDynasty , was named on a sistrum and on menats ; his daughterMery tamen was named on a menat and hi s successor Amenho t ep I (XVIII 2 ) was named on a sistrum. a menat and aplaque of Hathor . The same Pharaoh

’

s queen , Aahmes

Nefert ari , was named on a menat .Of these kings , Amen-ho t ep I restored the portico of the

cave of Hathor, as was shown by a perfect lintel slab witha cavetto cornice , 2 2 inches high and 50 inches long , bearinghis name which was found in front of the entrance . Hissuccessor , Tahutmes I (XVIII 3 ) gave a menat of himselfand his queen , a wand, and an alabaster vase , and potteryvases . There was no mention of Tahutmes l I (XVIIIGreat activity was shown during the reign of the next


rulers,Hatshepsut (XVIII 5) and her nephew Tahutmes III

(XVIII and their names appear on a large number of smallofferings ,

including several which Show the feline animal .These rulers j o intly worked the mines at Serabit which had beenOpened In the Twelfth Dynasty, and at Maghara a tablet datedt o their 16th year stands inside the entrance to a mininggallery that Is about 24 feet long , 60—

7 0 inches wide , and abo ut100 inches high . It is on this tablet that Hatshepsut isseen o ffering incense t o the go d S opd,

while Tahutmes offersincense to the go ddess Hathor. The large rubbish heapso utside this mine contained much discoloured turquoise .A new era now began in the history of the sanctuary at

Serabit . The Egyptians built po rt icoes,halls , and chambers

across the High Place of Burning , which disappeared beneaththem . These buildings were all wo rked in the red sandstoneo f the

'

place , and were decorated with figures and hieroglyphsin the formal style of Egypt . The arrangement and the dispo sit ion o f the buildings have no thing in common , however ,with the temples of Egypt . Like the Twelfth Dynasty steles ,which were erected in confo rmity t o Semitic usage

,the temple

buildings of the Eighteenth Dynasty reflect a non-Egyptianinfluence .A small hall was now erected outside the lesser cave

,the

roof of which was supported by two pillars , and the wall borean inscription commemorating its building and naming the

go d S opdu . In thi s stood the rectangular tank alluded toabove (compare plan) .On the approach to this hall was another hall

,measuring

about 20 feet square,which in its complete state must have been

an imposing structure . Four great square pillars surmountedby the head of Hathor suppo rted the roo f

,with long roo f

beams from the pillars to the walls,and short roof beams

between the pillars that carried the ro ofing slabs . Thesegreat pillars were standing when Riippell visited the placein 18 17 , now only two are left . The colo ssal head o f the goddesssurmounted the pillars

,and is full of dignity and strength .

In the centre o f the hall,surrounded by these four pillars

stood a great circular stone tank,now broken across .

There was , moreover , a rectangu lar tank built into the wallin o ne com er of the same hall .Inside the north entrance on the way to the sanctuary

,


Queen Hatshepsut also erected a hall which was ro o fed o verand open at one Side . The ro o f , in this case , was carried byfour fluted co lumns

,one o f which remains standing . The

inside walls of this hall were covered with figures and writing,

whi ch gave an account o f its building,and a recital of the

o fferings that were made fo r it . Among the figures representedwere Sneferu , Amen-em-hat III

,S opd,

Queen Hatshepsut,

and Hatho r . The po sition o f this hall suggests that it servedfo r the formal reception o f worshippers who entered thetemple precincts from the north . It has a wide outlo ok o verthe go rges below .

The bui lding activity o f Tahutmes increased,if anything

,

after the queen’s death . He set up two small sphinxes inthe court between the approach t o the larger and the lessercave , one of which was found in situ . They were t o o largeto convey, and were re-buried . He also built a great pylonwith a fo recourt (M) , over the do orway o f which , was aninscribed lintel with

'

mention of him . This pylon , whichstands up high among the ruins

,at this perio d fo rmed the

entrance to the temple from the west . It was flanked bytwo steles o f the fifth year of the king’s reign . An o utercourt (L) was perhaps his work al so .

Outside this entrance the next king,Amen-ho t ep I I

(XVIII added two small chambers (I H) , which were againso constructed that their western side formed a front t o thetemple . He also presented menais and vases t o the sanctuary .

Later rulers built additional chambers , pushing the templefront o ut further west . These chambers measured about 6 by10 ft . each ,

with a seat on either side , and they eventuallyextended in one long line from the pylon along the who lelength o f the temeno s

,a distance o f about 200 feet . They had

been built under shelter of a break in the hill and were roo fedo ver . Loo se stones were piled up against their walls fromoutside along the who le length, which concealed them fromview and gave them a subterranean character .

’

Their purposeis a matter o f conj ecture . Probably they ho used the guardiansof the sanctuary

,and served as an adyt um to the cave

o f Hatho r . The wo rshipper who approached the sanctuaryfrom the west

,and entered the outermost chamber, would

feel himself in proxim ity t o the cave while he was in realitya long way off . As the treasures which were stored in t he


cave multiplied,the device would help to ensure their

safety .

The erection of these buildings across the bed of wo odashes put an end to the use o f this space as a High Place ofBurning . The site fo r o ffering the holo caust was thereforeremoved

,probably to a site on the north side of the temple

which had been squared in the co urse of quarrying stone fo rtemple buildings . Corn was growing on this site in the win tero f 1906, which prevented its being dug down to the rock .

But the peculiar fertility of the accumulated soil which renderedthe growing of corn possible

,suggested that , here also , there

might be an accumulation of wood ashes due to extensiveburning .

His successor,Tahutmes IV (XVIII further extended the

mines of the Twelfth Dynasty,and recorded his doing so by a

tablet which is dated t o the fourth year of his reign . Tabletso f the fifth and the eighth years of his reign have also beenmentioned by travellers

,but these were sought for in vain in

the winter of 1906.

The next Pharaoh,Amen-ho tep I II (XVIII also added

further chambers t o the temple approach and flankedthe new entrance with two steles which record mining expeditions o f his 36th year .The fragments of many beautiful obj ects which dated

from this reign were found in and near the cave of Hathor .They included menats and wands , and some cups in lo tusfo rm o f alabaster of exquisite workmanship . There werealso pieces of glazed inlay of two colours— an ancient art ofEgypt which was revived at this t ime . A find of considerable importance was the relief

,here reproduced

, on whi chAmen-ho t ep III is seen offering to the god Sopd who faceshim wearing the double plum e ; in his one hand the staff ofroyalty . This shows that special Significance was attachedt o the god of non-Egyptian origin at the court o f a Pharaohwho had strong Syri an affinities . The connection was furtheremphasised by the discovery of the head of a statuette ofQueen Thyi , the consort of the magnificent monarch AmenlI o t ep III . This , in some ways , was the greatest find of all .In the words o f Pro f . Petrie

,It is strange that this remotest

settlement o f Egypt has preserved her portrait for us, numis

t akably named by her carto uche in the midst of her crown .



modelled in all truth from life .

” 1 The reader will recall thatQueen Thyi also was of Syri an origin , and that Amen-ho t ep IIIand Thyi were the parents of Amen-ho t ep IV (XVIIIbetter known as Akhen-aten

,the great religious reformer o f

Egypt . Signs of a connection o f Sinai with the reforming kinghimself were not wanting, fo r among the work found insidethe temenos of the temple was an inscribed limestone tablet

,

partly broken,whi ch showed a figure carefully wrought in

the pecul iar style o f art which was favoured by Akhen-atenas we know it at Amam a . The figure was Ramessu I , thefo under o f the Nineteenth Dynasty

,who was described on the

tablet as prince o f every circuit o f the Aten ,a title which was

introduced by the religious refo rmer .2 The use of the termis t herefo re relatively late

,and suggests that the adherents

o f the religious reformer after his downfall sought and fo unda refuge at the relatively remote centre of Serabit .

In the estimation of the present writer,the Exodus of the

Israelites was connected with the reaction in favour of theolder Egyptian religion which followed the downfall ofAtenism , and Moses visited the sanctuary at Serabit befo re therise of the Nineteenth Dynasty . If so he saw it as it was leftstanding at the time o f Amen-ho t ep III (XVIII 8) and theaccount o f the building activity o f the later Pharaohs at thesanctuary should therefore follow the account of the passage ofthe Israelites . But as authorities differ as to the Pharaohs whowere in contact with Mo ses

,it seems preferable here to complete

the acco unt of the Egyptian activity in Sinai before dealingwith the story of the Exodus .

Many small obj ects similar to those brought during theEighteenth Dynasty were presented at the shri ne by thePharao hs o f the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties , whowo rked extensively at the mines

,where the cult o f Hathor

continued . No inscription mentions S opd,who se cult

,which

lasted from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Dynasties,was

now at an end .

Of the kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty King Sety I (XIX 2 )made the usual small o fferings

,and erected a commemo rative

stele on a hillock at some distance from the temple which isstill visible from afar . He added two co urts (B and A) tothe row of chambers which extended across the temenos ,

1 Pe t rie : Res . S inai , p . 12 7 .

2 I bid.


enclosing the stele which had been set up by Amen-ho t ep 111,

Fig . 13 .— Queen Thy i . (Pe trie : Researches in S ina i .)

and carry ing the row of chambers beyond the temenos wall .These now extended wellnigh 200 feet beyond the

'

actual cave ,

62 A1 HISTORY OF SINAI

the remoteness and safety of which were thereby ensured .

With the work of Sety ended the growth of the temple ,His successor

, Ramessu I I (XIX rebuilt inner parts ofthe sanctuary, and erected several commemorative steles .He also made a large number of small offerings . Again ,Meren-ptah (XIX 4) inscribed the pylon , carving his nameacross that of Tahutmes III , and made the usual smallofferings . Sety II (XIX 6) and Ta-usert (XIX 7 ) made smallofferings of glazed po ttery also .

The last of the steles recording a mine expedition waserected by King Set-nekht (XIX on the south entrance tothe temple . After him Ramessu I I I (XX 1) appropriatedto his own use steles set up by earlier kings which he reinscribed in the way usual t o him . He al so made manysmall offerings , including two vases , cylindrical in form ,

withscenes in relief modelled around them in different colours ,which , in their completeness , were obj ects of great beauty .

Fragments of them only were foun d which made restorationimpossible . One of these vases was worked in dark grey ,

green and light green . The subj ect was the king seated ,with a girl standing before him holding a bouquet of flowers .

On the other side of the vase were conventional representations of two tall bouquets and garlands between them

,with

a duck flying above the garlands . Around the t op was awreath of petals

,around the base the usual arrangement of

petals . The smaller vase is more elaborate . The figuresare no t only in relief but brightly coloured

,yellow on a vio let

gro und ; the petals at the base are green , violet , or white .The same subj ect is repeated on opposite sides of the vase .

King Ramessu III is seated,holding the dad his cartouches

are before him,whi le a girl stands offering two bouquets to

him . Such fine relief-modelling is not known on anyother vases , but it belongs to the same school as the glazedtablets with figures of fo reign subj ects of Ramessu I II foundat Tell el Yehudiyeh . The art of these has a relationship t othat of the finely modelled and coloured reliefs of stucco fo undat Knossos .” 1

The annals of Ramessu III , preserved in Egypt , bearwitness to his act ivity in Sinai . The Harris Papy rus, after

1 Petrie : Res . S inai , p . 15 1 .


mentioning the destruction of the people of Seir of the tribeso f the Shashu (Bedawyn) , and the expedition to Punt (Arabia) ,stated that he Went to Atika and the copper min es whichare in this place .

” Part o f the expedition went by water ,and part took the land j ourney with asses . This had not beendone before . Possibly Atika stands fo r Sinai . Ram essu alsosays

,he sent to my Mo ther Hatho r , mistress of turquoise ,

”

silver,go ld

,royal linen

,and things numerous as the sand .

And they brought back to the king wonders of real turquo isein numerous sacks

,such as had not been heard of before .

1

The same king built the great temple at Medinet Habu,the

inscription of which mentioned as his gifts to it myrrh,silver

,

gold, every splendid costly stone , the impost of the Ret ennuas tribute

,and among the stones lazuli and turquo ise . (I bid. ,

iv . 2 7 The turquoise was no doubt part o f the greathaul he made in Sinai .Of later Pharao hs, Ram essu IV (XX 2 ) built a porch in

the temple at Serabit and altered the do o r o f the sanctuary,

making the usual small o fferings . Ramessu V (XX 3 )was named on some small o fferings

,including bracelets .

Ramessu VI (XX 4) inscribed the pillars of a chamberand gave a cup and a bracelet . After that

,no trace was

found of any construction or offering made by the Egyptiansin Sinai .

1 Breast ed : Rec. , iv . 404-9 .

CHAPTER VII

THE ISRAELITES IN S INAI

HE passage of the Israelites through Sinai forms the mos tthrilling episode in the history o f the peninsula . The

how and when and where of this j ourney periodically engageattention . A hundred years ago it was a matter of commonbelief that Moses wro te the five bo oks that are associated withhis name . On the contrary, Biblical criticism now holds that ,regarded as a history of ancient migrations of the Israelitesand their establishm ent as a religious and po litical communityin Canaan

,the Hexateuch contains little more than a general

o utline on which to depend .

” 1 But the study o f the episodereviewed in the light of mo dern research, reveals an unexpectedaccuracy

,and once more shows that traditio n is of value in

proportion to our power of reading it aright .Different views were put forward regarding the date of

the Exodus and of the Pharaohs who were in contact withBl o ses .

According to the Boo k of Kings it was “ in the 48oth

(LXX 44oth) year after the children of Israel were comeo ut of the land of Egypt , in the fourth year of his reign ,

”

that So lomon began to build the Temple at Jerusalem

(1 Kings vi . 1) .Solomon ruled from c. B .C. 974 to B .C . 935 . His fourth

year would be 970 , and the Exodus , on this basis , happenedeither In B .C . 1450 , or in B .c . 1410 according to the Septuagint .Prof . Brugsch loo ked upon Ramessu II as the Pharaoh

of the Exodus . Prof . Petrie endorsed the View,accepting

the date of Ramessu I I as B .C. 1300- 1234, and of the Exodus

1 Hast ings : D ict. B ib. , art . H exat euch .

64

THE ISRAELITES IN SINAI 65

as c. B .C . 1220 . One of his reasons for doing so was thatthe Israelites

,as stated in the Bible

,wo rked at the city

Raamses (Exo d . i . which,as excavations have shown ,

was a creation o f the Ramessides . But the expression theland of Rameses

,was used in connection with the story of

Joseph (Gen . xlvii . which deals with events that werelong anterio r to the Ramessides , showing that the compilersof Exodus used expressions that were current at the timewhen they wro te .

The identification o f Ramessu II , a king of the NineteenthDynasty as the Pharaoh of the Exodus

,clashes with the

info rm at ion reaching us through Alexandrian and Syriacsources

,which suggests that Moses was befri ended by Amen

ho t ep IV,better known as Akhen-aten (XVIII the great

religious refo rmer, and that the Israelites left Egypt underone of his immediate successo rs . This connection betweenMoses and the great refo rmer o f Egypt strikes the imagination ,all the more as it is in keeping with the Egy ptian king

’s Syrianaffin ities . The autho rities are wo rth recalling .

Chief among these were Demetrius Phalereus (B .C . 345)and Manetho (c. B .C . 260) who were quo ted by Josephus(A .D. 80) and Eusebius (A .D . and Artapanus of unknown date , passages o i whose work were preserved byAlexander Po lyhisto r (B .C . 140) and accepted by Eusebiusand the Chronicon Paschale . The informat ion of Demetrius ,Manetho , an d Artapanus is peculiar in that it takes noacco un t o f Scripture . Mo reover ,Art apanus comparedwhat thepeople of Memphis and the HeliOpo lit ans preserved regardingthe passag e o f the Red Sea . Another writer was Philo o f

Alexandria (A.D. 40) who wrote a Life of M oses .

The Chronicon of Eusebius contains the Egyptian dynastiesas derived from Manetho, and in the list o f kings of theEighteenth Dynasty, Oros stands for Amen-ho t ep IV (i .a.

Akhen-aten) . Against his name stands the entry ,

“ the Birtho f Moses .” 1 In agreement with this

, Epiphanius'

in his bookAgainst all Heresies

, mentioned Thermuthis,the daughter

o f Amenophis , who adopted Mo ses , 2 while the Syriac writerBarhebraeus (f who had access to many sources

,held

that the princess who adopted Moses was Tremo thisa,in

1 Chron. Liber I I I . Migne : Patr. Gra c xix . 3 7 4 .

2 Ha n , 7 8 in Migne : Patr. e c. , xlii . 7 45 .


Hebrew Damris , the daughter of Amunphat isus .

1 Thehistorian Josephus called her Thermuthis, and related thatshe intended Moses for her father

’

s successor (Antiq. ,ii .

On the other hand, Artapanus gave the name of the

Pharaoh as Palmano this,adding that he built sanctuaries at

Kessa (perhaps Akhet at Amam a) and at Heliopolis . Hisdaughter Merri s who was childless adopted Mo ses . She wasbetrothed to Chenefres .

2 The Chronicon Paschale called himChenebron .

3

Various tradi tions point in the same direction . Thus,the

Arabs held that Moses was saved by the eldest of seven littleprincesses , who were daughters of the Pharaoh .

4 Students ofTell el Amam a will recall the representations of the littledaughters of Akhen-aten

,of whom as many as six are seen

with their parents on the wall sculptures of the tombs . Onthe Egyptian side we know that the marriage of Meryt -aten ,Akhen-aten ’s eldest daughter, with Ra-smenkh-ka (XVIII 1 1)his co regent and successor, was without Issue .

According to the Artapanus Moses spent his early manhoodin the service of the husband of the princess who adopted him

,

and led a campaign against the Ethiopians (Praep. Evang .,ix .

In keeping with this , Stephen Martyr (t A.D. 36) saidthat Mo ses was well nigh forty years old before it came intohis heart to look after his brethren , the children of Israel

(Acts vii . The explo its o f Moses against the Ethiopianswere described by Jo sephus (Antiq.

,ii .

The identification o f a daughter of Akhen-aten as theprincess who adopted Moses suggests another possible datefor Exodus . The reign of Akhen-aten was dated by Prof .Breasted to c. B .C . 137 5

- 1350 ,and by Prof . Petrie to c. B .C .

1383- 1365 . If Moses left Egypt during the reign o f one of

his immediate successors , perhaps under that of Tut-ankhamen (XVIII c. B .C . 1353

— 1344, the date o f Exo dus onthe bas is of the Egyptian chrono lo gy as now accepted, wouldbe about B .C . 1350 , as against the date B .C . 1410 or 1450 asstated in the First Book of the Kings .

According to the Bible , Moses slew an Egyptian who had

1 Barhebraeus : Chron icon , 17 89 , p . 14 .

2 Cit ed Euseb iu s : Evang . P re p , bk . ix . 2 7 .

11 Chron icon P aschale in M igne : Patr . e c. , xcu . 2 0 0 .

1 Weil, G . B iblical Legends of the M oslim, 1846 ,p . 10 0 .



sp ent their t ime , mostly Sitting around a small fire . Theappearance of the shelter from outside was that of a burningbush (Fig .

The Divinity in Sinai revealed himself to Mo ses in thename of Yahveh o r Jehovah , and subsequently declaredhimself the Go d of Abraham ,

Isaac,and Jacob (Exod . iii .

but by my name Yahveh was I not known to them (Exod .

vi . Considering the connection of Abraham and of Josephwith Haran and the Hermiouthian sanctuaries mentionedabo v e

,their God was presumably the moon-god . The word

Yahveh under which the Divinity now manifested himself ,probably represents the moon-god as Ea o r Ya under alater and mo re spiritualised aspect . In our Bible the term isrendered as I am that I am (Exo d . iii . which recalls theinterpretation by the Septuagint as ”

my,the Self—existent One .

From the S ong of Deborah we gather that Yahveh came t oSinai from Seir and the field of Edom (Judges v . whichleaves us to infer that he had sanctuaries there also . Thisexplains how it was that during the later progress of theIsraelites

,Yahveh Spoke to Moses at Kadesh on the borders

o f Edom (Num . xx . at Hor (Num . xx . and again inthe Red Sea

,and how it was that the prophet Balaam was

inspired by Yahveh (Num . xxiv . Various allusionsrender it probable that the cult o f Yahveh was peculiar t o theKenites whose home lay in Edom . Jethro , who befriendedMo ses , was at once a priest of Midian and a Kenite (Judgesi .The representative of the Divinity from the Burning Bush

commanded Moses to persuade the elders of Israel to bringfo rth the people o ut of Egypt

,in o rder t o serve God on the

mountain , going three days into the wilderness in o rder tosacrifice t o the Lo rd

,the women bringing with them all

available j ewels of silver and j ewels o f go ld (Exod . xi . 2 ,xii .

The pilgrimage is called a feast (Exod . v . 1 , x . which mayhave been similar t o the modern Arab hadj , a word whichsignifies an encampment or erection o f tents . This term , andthe general claim s that were advanced

,Show that it was

question of a pilgrimage t o a well-kn own centre , the thoughto f which caused no surprise to the Egyptians . One of itsfeatures was the o ffering o f animals . Such offerings among theHebrews were made to keep off the plague they forestalled

THE ISRAELITES IN SINAI 69

the sacrifice o f the first -born,which was the means they used

t o stay the plague once it had begun . The Pharaoh , who wasanxious t o prevent the Israelites from go ing the pilgrimage

,

propo sed t hat they Should sacrifice in Egypt instead . Mo sesrefused on the plea that their do ing so might be interpretedas sacrificing the abomination ,

”i .a. tampering with a

sacred-nome animal o f Egypt (Exo d . viii . When thePharaoh

,further wrought upon

,said that the people alone

Fig . 14 .— Men in Burning Bush .

might go,Moses insisted that they must have wherewith t o

sacrifice,and that there must be cattle , since

“we know no t

with what we must serve the Lo rd until we come thither

(Exo d . x .

This serving the Lord with animals shows that a holo caustwas in contemplation , and bears o ut the belief that the obj ectiveo f the pilgrimage was a High Place o f Burning .

The pilgrimage as planned would have been undertakenin Spring

,for the plagues carry us through a year

’

s course in

t o AgB IsTOBY or SINAI

Egypt,with the Nile running red when it is at its lowest in

April ; with frogs abounding when the inundation comesin July ; with darkness and sandstorms in the month ofMarch . Springtime came round again before the Israelites left ,after sacrificing the lamb of the Passover .Rallying in the city of Rameses

,probably at the present

Te ll er Ro t ab ,in a marshy valley

,they moved to Succoth ,

the Thuku of the ancient Egyptians , and encamped at Etham

(LXX, O thom ) , being led by a pillar of cloud in the day andby a pillar o f smoke at night (Exod . xiii . 2 0 Doughtydescribes how on the hadj of the Mo slim ,

cressets of ironcages are set up on poles

,and are borne to light the way

upon serving-men’

s Shoulders in all the companies .” 1 The

burning fire at night would naturally take the appearance o fa pillar of smoke in the daytime .

At Etham the Israelites turned south,making for Piha

hiro th,between Migdol and the sea

,o ver against Baal—zephon

(Exod . xiv . Pihahiroth of the Bible is Pa-qahert of theEgyptian inscriptions

,whi le Baal-zephon is a Semitic name ,

recalling Zephon,the god of darkness . Pihahi ro th an d

Baal-zephon lay west and east of the branch of the Red Seawhich at this t ime extended S O far north as to include thepresent Bitter Lakes . Here

,owing to the blowing of the

east-wind (LXX , south wind) , the waters went back and theIsraelites crossed (Exod . xiv . at a Spot which should besought some thirty miles north of Suez . They continued t omove south three days , through the wilderness of Shur, stoppingfirst at Marah , where the waters were sweetened, and then atElim , with its twelve wells and seventy pahn-trees . Elimhas been identified as the Carandara of Pliny (vi . theArandara of the lady Etheria (of about A .D. who describedhow the waters disappeared into the ground and reappeared ,which applies t o the present Wadi Gharandel . If thi sidentification be correct

,the fountain which Moses changed

from bitter to sweet presumably lay about hal f-way betweenBaalzephon and Wadi Gharandel

,where the present Ayun

Musa or Wells o f Moses are foun d ; po ssibly it lay nearert o the Bitter Lake .

Leaving Elim , the Israelit es entered the wilderness ofSin , which is between Elim and Sinai (Exod . xvi . A

1 Do ughty : Travels , p . 8 .

THE ISRAELITES IN SINAI 7 ]

murmur aro se because of the lack of foo d,

—perhaps of foodSuitable fo r keeping the full moon festival

,the movements

of the Israelites being timed by the phases of the moon . Fort hey left Egypt after keeping the Passover

,a full mo on festival

which comes on the 14th (Exod . xi 1. 6) or 15th of the month

Fig . 15 .— Ayun Musa .

(Josh .v . 10) and a month later on the 15th day of the second

month after they had departed out, of Egypt , they enteredthe wilderness of Sin . Moses held out the promise o f help,and,

as they looked towards the wilderness , the glory o f theLord appeared in the cloud (Exod . xvi . The glory ofthe Lord probably indicates the moon . Quarls appeared


between the two evenings . They were plentiful in Sinai inthe days o f Josephus (Antiq. ,

and continue so at certaint imes of the year to the present day . Manna was gatheredin large quantities which took the place of bread . This showsthat the Israelites were moving among groves of the tamarisk ,fo r manna is the secretion which exudes from the tamari sk ,owing to the punctures of an insect during s ix to eight weeks ,beginning in May . A year

.later

, when the Israelites were inthe desert of Paran or Zin

,they again gathered manna at

the same season (Num . xi . and continued to do so everyyear during the years they spent in the wilderness (Exod . xvi .

Manna appears under the name mennu in the contemporary records o i Egypt , and is still collected in Sinaiand exported .

The Israelites were now in Rephidim,the land of the

Amalekites and,as there was a lack of water, Moses was

divinely directed to smite the rock . The waters which heraised were Massah and Meribah (Exod . xvii . 7 ) the waterwhich he struck near Kadesh

,a year lat er , was Meri bah also

(Num . xx . hence the place was called Meribath Kadesh

(Ezek. xlviii . A techn ical term fo r water-finding seemst o be meant . In ancient Egyptian mer signifies channel ,and ba ,

as mentioned above,signifies hole

,which suggests

a possible derivation . For wherever water percolates theso il with hard rock beneath it in the desert

,it is po ssible to

reach and raise it by cutting into the soil to the surface o f

the rock . The practice is still resorted to by the Bedawyn ,

who are adepts at striking water when they are on the march .

In Rephidim the Israelites were attacked by the Amalekites,

who harried them while they were on their way (Deut . xxv .

The place where the encounter took place is not specified,

nor the losses which were incurred .

The number of the Israelites was tabulated in two listso f the contingents of each tribe which were drawn up , thefirst when they encamped before the Holy Mount (Num .

i . the other when they were on the point of enteringthe Promised Land (Num . xxvi . The internal evidenceis strong that these census lists

,which enumerate the

numbers of each tribe,are a first hand record . At the

same time the numbers arrived at by listing up the cont ingent s of each tribe, in the one case (Num . i .

THE ISRAELITES IN SINAI 7 3

and In the o ther (Num . xxvi . andspeaking generally (Exo d . xii . 3 7 Num . xi . are loo kedupon as in excess o f the population which the land o f Go shencould contain

,and the land of Sinai co uld receive . Po etic

licence o r a mistake o f the scribe was therefore put fo rwardas an explanation . Pro f . Petrie propo sed a different solution .

1

The word alaf in Hebrew signifies thousand, but it alsosignifies family o r tent-settlement . If we read the censuslists as preserved in Numbers taking the so -called thousandst o signify families o r tent-settlements

,and the hundreds only

as applying to the people,the census lists contain what appears

to be a reasonable statement . Thus , the tribe o f Judah ,

instead of numbering persons,numbered 74 tent

settlements , containing 600 persons , i .e. about eight personsto each tent-settlement ; the tribe of Issachar, instead ofnumbering persons

,numbered 54 tent-settlements ,

containing 400 persons , and so fo rth . On this basis theIsraelites , at the first census in Sinai , numbered 598 tentsettlements , with 5550 persons ; and at the second census ,on the entry into Canaan

,they numbered 596 tent-settlements

with 5730 persons . The numbers 600 ,000 and so fo rth are

attribut able to a mistake o f the scribe who added up thecontingents of the census l ists

,reading the wo rd alaf as

thousand , instead o f tent-settlement .

1 Petrie : Res . S inai , p . 2 1 1 .

CHAPTER VII I.

THE ISRAELITES IN S INAI

AVING reached the goal o f their pilgrimage , the IsraelitesH encamped near the Mount o f Go d,Har-ha-elohim

(Exod . xviii . a word which can also be read as height ofthe priests . If we identify this go al as Serabit , it fo llows thatthey encamped near the outlet o f one o f the go rges on thenorthern side o f the plateau in the direction of the Wadi Suweig ,

probably near the o utlet of the Wadi Dhaba . This was theside from which there was direct access to the cave o f SOpd ,

and the Side on which the Semitic inscriptions were found inthe mines .

The physical features of the place are in closest agreem entwith the requirements of Scripture . For here is a mountainwith a wilderness at its foot , rising so sharply that its basecould be fenced in while yet it was easily ascended

,and its

summit could be seen by a multitude from below.

”1

I f we go from the sanctuary down in the direction of theWadi Dhaba and turning back , lo ok up , we see the templeruins standing against the skyline

,with the square cutt ing

,

where the holocaust at this period presumably took place,

just below it to the right .When the Israelit es were encamped, Moses was sought by

Jethro,the priest

,who carried out the choice of an animal

and took a burnt offering and sacri fices for God ”

(Exo d .

xviii . Mo ses himself ascended the Mount,and after his

return sanctified the people,who were now called upon t o

practise abstinence during three days,avoiding their wives

,

and washing their clothes against the third day,when the

1 Encyclopeedia B ri t art . S inai . ”

7 4



feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone and as it werethe very heaven for clearness ”

(Exo d. xxiv. 10 , Andthey ate and they drank there .

We read that Moses ’ second stay in the Mount lasted fortydays and forty nights

,duringwhich he fasted (Exod . xxxiv .

The Moslim identified this fast as Ramadan,which

,before

Mohammad interfered with its date,happened during the heat

of summer . 1 The Israelites at the foot of the mountain ,

probably observed the same fast,since Aaron ’s reason for

making the calf was that to-morrow shall be a feast of theLord

,

”i .a. at the conclusion of the fast , there was feas ting,

drinking, throwing o ff o f clothes,dancing and much noise

(Exod . xxxii . 6,17 , In this case it was a quest ion o f

a full moon fest ival,for

,on a later occasion

,Jerobo am made

two calves of gold, one of which he set up in Bethel and onein Dan

,and ordained a feast on the 15th day (1 Kings xii .

2 8 ,In the Mount

,Moses was directed to make a portable

sanctuary on the model of actual arrangements which he wasshown .

“ And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I maydwell among them . Acco rding to all that I show thee

,the

pattern of the tabernacle,and the pattern of all the instruments

thereo f,even so shall ye make it (Exod . xxv . 8 ,

1 Andthou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashionthereof which was showed thee in the Mount (Exod .

xxvi . Hollow with boards shalt thou make it as itwas showed thee in the mount

,so shall they make it ”

(Exod . xxvii . The furniture included an ark or chest ,which contained a vase and two stones

,i .e. the standards of

capacity and weight,and the mercy seat which was upon

the ark (Exod . xxv . There was also a standard of length,

perhaps the rod of Aaron . The strict adherence t o thesestandards was hencefo rth a matter of religious duty with theIsraelites . Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment

,

in mete-yard,in weight , or in measure . Just balances , j ust

weights,a just ephah

,and a just hin

,shall ye have (Lev .

xix . 35 , These standards were of Babylonian origin ,and

confirm the presence in the Mo unt of strong Semitic influence .

The ark further contained the two tables of testimony,

1 Ramadan the t ime when the heat comm enced and the so ilwas burning h o t . Al B irun i (c . A .D . c . 19 , 18 7 9 , p . 32 1 .


which Were cut inv

st one, but which were so brittle that theyeasily broke , whereupon Moses engaged t o provide others

(Exod .xxiv

. 12 ; xxxii . 19 ; xxxiv . 1 ; Dent . x . Thecommandments which they contained consisted , for the mo stpart , of a prohibition that was fo llowed by a precept . Int his they resemble the commandments that have come out o fBabylonia

,which contain precepts such as these, Thou

shalt not slander,speak what is pure . Thou shalt not speak

evil,speak kindly .

” 1

The tablets were in the writ ing of Go d (Exo d . xxx n.

which raises the question as to the language and script thatwere used . Moses , as we know ,

was learned in all thewisdom of the Egyptians (Acts vii . He was certamfamiliar with hieroglyphs , and the fact that the commandm entswere preserved in two texts that differ (Exod . xx ; Deut .suggests that they were written in a language that was no tHebrew . But the discovery o f a primitive Semitic scriptat Serabit itself, puts a different complexion on the matter .The writ ing o f God was possibly a Semitic script .Over and above the commandments , Mo ses received a

collection o f wri tten customs for the guidance o f those whowere hencefo rth to decide in inter-tribal disputes . They areknown as judgments (Exod . xxi . which is in keeping withtheir being given out at a sanctuary , where Yahveh wasaccepted as Supreme Judge . In the Yahveh cult the pronouncement s were no longer subj ect to the decisions at lo calcentres . They were set down in writing and associated withthe holy tent

,and it was by accepting the local Baals and

Ashtoreths that the Hebrews fell from the covenant and lapsedinto an earlier barbarism . The discovery of the Code ofKhammurabi and the points of likeness between its o rdinancesand those o f the code accepted under the name of Moses

,

further co rrobo rate the Semitic or Arabian influence of thereligious centres where the ordinances were received .

Moses had many communings in the Mount,and a year

had gone by when the tabernacle was set up on the first dayo f the first month

,in order to celebrate the Passover (Exo d .

XI. 2 ; Num . ix . On the twentieth day of the secondmonth in the second year the fires were extinguished and theIsraelites moved o ut o f the wilderness of Sinai while a cloud

1 Niclssen, D. : Altarabische M ondreligion, 19 04, p . 2 7 6 .


lay on Paran (Num . x . 1 1 They were led by Hobab,the

Kenite . Hobab is described in one passage as the son o f

Raguel the Midianite,Moses ’ father-in-law (Num . x . in

another as the father-in-law o f Moses (Judg . iv. TheSeptuagint renders the term in both passages as brother-inlaw (i .e. yanflpés) of Moses . The terms of relationship aredifficult to fix

,but if Raguel be accepted as the tribal father

,

as already suggested,Jethro and Hobab may be looked upon

as yo unger members o f the t ribe,perhaps his sons .

The first station was called Taberah because of theBurning . Here manna was again plentiful (Num . xi .which shows that the district was wooded . The next place wascalled Kibro th-Hata-avah

, i . e. burial place of Ta-avah,because

o f those who died of the plague and were buried . Here againquails were plentiful

,which the wind brought up from the

sea (Num . xi . . The next stopping place was Hazeroth

(Num . xi . the last station befo re they entered the wilderness of Paran (Num . xn .

Robinson located Hazeroth at Ain Hudhera .

1 But if theoriginal goal of the Israelites was Serabit , they would bemoving in a northerly or north-easterly direction . In theopening lines of Deuteronomy occur the words Hazeroth andDizahab (Deut . i . for which the Septuagint substitutesAulon , rich in go ld

.

(ADAOV or AI’

JAOV Ka i Karaxpiicrea ) .2 The wordAulon signifies ravine

,whi ch suggests that Hazeroth must be

sought somewhere along the escarpment of the Badiet Tih, or” plain of wandering .

” The map of Sinai In a north-easterlydirection shows Wadi Hafera ,

which has some likeness t oHazeroth . The Bir Shaweis and the Bir Themed are perennialwells which the people would strike if they moved in a northnorth-easterly direction .

The next stopping place was in the wilderness of Paran

(Num . xii .According to the Bible

,in the first month (i .e. eleven

months after leaving the Holy Mo unt) , the Israelites abode inKadesh

,where Miriam died and was buried (Num . xx .

Mo ses once mo re struck water from the ro ck,the water as

before was Meribah (Num . xx . hence the name of the

1 Robinso n , E . : B iblical Researches in Palest ine, ed . 1 867 , v o l . i .p . 1 5 7 .

0

2 Comp . Hast ings : Dict art .

“ Dizahab .


place Meribath-Kadesh (Ezek . xlviii . The name Kadeshitself suggests a sanctuary, and Moses here again had communings with Yahveh (Num . xx .

Kadesh appears as Cades in the life of Hilarion (jwhich was written by Jerome . The saint went there to seea disciple passing by Elusa (modern Khalasa) . 1 There isAin Kadeis o r Gadeis marked on the modern map . Robinson

,

however , sought Kadesh of the Israelites near Mount Hor ,at the present Ain elWaiba .

2

Kadesh lay in the uttermost borders of Edom,and the

Israelites wo uld now have marched through Edom ,keeping

along the king’

s highway . Perhaps the ro ad along theMediterranean is meant . But Edom refused (Num . xx .

They were therefo re obliged t o seek an entry into Canaan bycompassing the land o f Edom , which meant turning in aneasterly direction towards Mount Ho r, and then in a southerlydirection to the Gulf of Akaba , the so -called Red Sea

(Num . xiv. An'

intercalated passage in Deuteronomystates that the children o f Israel to ok their j ourney fromBeero th o f the children o f Jaakan t o Mo sera ; there Aarondied (Deut . x . The wells must therefore be sought closet o Mount Hor, and may be the so -calledWells of Moses , whichare named as such by the medi aeval pilgrims . The mo dernmap ment ions Wadi Musa , which j o ins the Arabah comingfrom Petra . The Book o f Numbers lo cated the deatho f Aaron in Mount Ho r, by the (border, no t ) coast of theland of Edom (Num . xx . Here the Lord once morespoke t o Moses , whi ch suggests the existence of a sanctuary .

Eusebius (c. 320) wrote , Mo unt Ho r,in which Aaron

died,a hill near the city Petra .

” 3 Mount Hor is the modernGebel Haroun o r Mount of Aaron , a few miles north-west ofthe classical Petra . The distri ct at the time was apparentlyin the po ssession of the Kenites

,since the prophet Balaam

,

called upon by King Balak o f the Moabites,to curse the

Israelites , foretold the fall of the Amalekites , and,looking

towards the Kenites , declared Strong is thy dwelling place,

and thou puttest thy nest in a ro ck (Num .xxiv

.

This rock, a term which the Septuagint rendered as Petra,was

1 Vi ta ,c . 2 5 in M igne : Patr. Lat . , xxiii . p . 3 9 .

2 Ro binso n : i i . 1 7 5 .

3 Euseb ius : Onomastikon, ed . Lagarde , 18 8 7 , p . 2 9 1 .


probably the Ha-sela (Arabic sila,a mountain cleft) o f the

Bible,a name changed to Joktheel after its capture by

Amaziah (c. B .C . 800 , 2 Kings xiv .

At Kadesh the Israelites had been told to get you intothe wilderness by the way of the Red Sea (Num . xiv .

i . e . they moved south from Mount Hor . The intercalat edpassage further named

“Gadgodah and Jo tbath , a land o f

bro oks and water ”

(Deut . x . 7 ; LXX , Et ebatha) . Themodern map mentions Et Taba in the depression between theRed Sea and the Dead Sea

,where Romans perpetuated the

existence o f a sanctuary in the name Ad Dianam ,later

Ghadiana . This movement brought the Israelites into conflictwith the Amalekites and the Canaanites

,with whom they

fought and were discomfit ed even unto Hormah (Num . xiv .

45 LXX , Herman) , perhaps the present El Ham eima .

According to Arab tradition,Jo shua fought against

Samida ben Hagbar ben Malek , the Amalekite king of Syriain the land of Aila and killed him . Also Mo ses , after thedeath of Aaron

,entered the land o f the people El Eiss ,

called El Serah,and advanced to the desert Bab . There was

then near Aila an important city called Asabaum o r Aszy o un .

1

This Aszy oun was Eziongeber beside Eloth (i . e. Aila) onthe shore o f the Red Sea in the land o f Edom (1 Kingsix . It was the port on the Gulf of Akaba which was usedby King Solomon . By way of this the Israelites passed intothe plains of Moab . And when we passed by from ourbrethren the children o f Esau which dwelt in Seir , throughthe way of the plain from Elath , and from Eziongeber, weturned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab

(Deut . ii .A list of stations with further names stands in Numbers

( xxx . 12 , 13 , 17 which affords no guide and confuses theissues . It is now looked upon as a post-exilic co llection ofcaravan routes which the scribe who compiled the Book ofNumbers incorporated into his acco unt , perhaps because thenumber of stations named in it was forty

,corresponding to

the forty years ’ wandering . Along some routes it mentionsthe stations that appear in the narrative in Exodus andDeuteronomy , but even here with deviations .Having pas sed by the depression near the Red Sea , the

1 Makrizi : Desc. , i i. 2 4, p . 530 ,De la v ille d ’

Eilah .


Israelites were in districts that were o ccupied by the alliedMo abites and Midianites . They entered into friendly relationswith the Midianites later they waged a cruel war against them .

The frontiers o f Midian were always vague .

'

According t othe Bible Mo ses met Jethro in the “ land o f Midian ,

” whichsuggests that the peninsula of Sinai was included in Midianat the time . Midian is called Madian in the Septuagint and bythe Arab writers . Antoninus Martyr (c. A.D. 530) held that thecity

,Pharan , situated between the convent and Egypt , was in

“ the land of Midian with its inhabitants descended fromJethro (c .

Makrizi described Madian as of wide extent including many cities

,chief among which were El Khalasa and

El Sanu t o . On the side o f the sea o f Kalzouna (i .a. Suez)and El Tor the cities o f Madian are Faran

, El Ragab (i .a.

Raitho u) , Ko lzoum ,Aila and Madian . In the town o f

Madian there are still to-day wonderful ruins and giganticcolumns .

” 1

In modern parlance the term Midi an is applied t o theeastern sho re of the Gulf of Arabia

,between Akaba and

Muweileh, which has made some writers believe that Moses

went into this part of Arabia,and further led t o the ident ifica

tion o f Jethro of Scripture with Sho eib,a prophet of the land

o f Midian .

Sir Richard Burton in 187 7 visited the ruins o f the cityof Midian , the po sition o f which agreed with that of Madiamamentioned by Pto lemy .

2 The valleys which here cut into thehigh plain of Nedched contained the remains of silver, copperand gold mines , and near the city were great loculi cut intothe ro ck which were known as the Mughair (caves of) Sho eib .

Sho eib was one o f the prophets of the Arab past . Inthe Koran we read, And we sent to Madian

,their bro ther

Sho eib . He said, O my people , worship God, no other Godhave you than He : give no t short weight and measureI see indeed that y o u revel in go od things , but I fear with y outhe punishment o f the all

’

encompassing day . Andwhen our decree came to pass

,we delivered Sho eib and his

companions in faith,and a vio lent tempest overtook the

Wi cked, and in the mor ning they were found prostrate in1 Makrizi : Desc . , II . 2 5 , p . 540 .

2 Burt o n, S ir R. The Go lden M ines of M idian, 18 7 8 .


their houses as if they had never dwelt in them . Was notMadian swept o ff even as Themo ud was swept o ff ? (xi .According to other passages , an earthquake put an end tothe dwellers in Al Ayka ,

the forest of Madian , who treatedtheir apostles as liars (vii . 90 , xxix.

The name of Sho eib now attaches to the valley in Sinaiin which lies the great convent , and tradition identified Sho eibof the forest of Midian with Jethro , the pri est of Midian ofthe Bible . Their identification is said by Sir Richard Burtonto go back to the Arab writer El Farga of about A.D. 800 .

It was endorsed by Eutychius , patriarch of Alexandria

(935 who stated that Moses fled to the Hadjaz anddwelt in the city of Madyan

,where Jethro (whom the Arabs

call Sho eib) was priest of the temple .

1 But Masudi (Twhile accepting that the daughter of Sho eib married Moses

,

poin ted out that this Sho eib ,chief of the Midianites

,was a

very different person from Sho eib the prophet , who wasmentioned in the Ko ran There are centuries betweenthese two Sho eibs .

” 2

The identification of JethroWith the prophet Sho eib maybe due , in the first instance , t o the claims which these prophetsmade on their people . Mo ses , who was in contact withJethro , received the standards of weight and capacity in theMount

,the strict adherence t o which was hencefo rth a matter

Of religious observance to the people . Sho eib,according t o

the Koran,impressed upon the people of the forest the need

to give measure and weight in fairness , and the disregardto his command was the cause of their destruction (Koran ,lxxi . 88 , xxvi .

1 Eu t y ch ius : Annales in M igne : Patr. e c . , cxi . 9 30 .

2 Masud i : Pra iries , c . 47 , v o l . i ii . p . 3 0 5 .



Shore of the Red Sea with its countries and its inhabitantswho were Ichthy0phago i (fish-eaters) , and Troglodyt es (cavedwellers) or nomads , and the dangers which threatenedshipping from storms and sand-banks , Diodo rus , in hisaccount

,passed to the other side of the Gulf . Here

Ariston erected an altar at Neptunium or Po sidium . Fromthence t o the mouth of the Gulf, is a place along the seacoast of great esteem among the inhabitants for the profit ityields them it is called the Garden o f Palm-trees (Pho enikon) ,because they abo rmd there

,and are so very fruitful that they

yield sufficient both for pleasure an d necessity . But thewhole country next adj oining is destitute of rivers and brooks

,

and lying to the south is even burned up by the heat of thesun ; and therefore this fru itful tract that lies amongst dryand barren regions (remote from tillage and improvement) ,and yet affords

,

such plenty of food and provision , is justly ,by the barbarians , dedicated to the gods . For there are in itmany fountains and running streams as cold as snow

,by which

means the region from one side to the other is always greenand flourishing, and very sweet and pleasant to the view .

In this place there is an ancient altar of hard stone,with an

inscription in old and illegible characters ; where a manand a woman

,that execute here the priest ’s ofli ce during

their lives,have the charge o f the grove and altar . They are

persons of quality and great men that abide here,and fo r

fear of the beasts,have their beds (they rest upon) in the

trees .” 1 In the corresponding account Strabo mentioned noaltar , but the man and woman who guarded the trees .2

The Pho enikon or palm grove of these writers,was some

times located at Raitho u ; perhaps the one at Ayun Musais meant .Diodo rus then mentioned the Island o f the Sea-calves on

the coast of Arabia , and the promontory (i .e. Sinai) that shootsout towards this island

,describing this as over against

Petra in Arabia and Palest ine to which the Gerrhaens andMineans bring incense . He then mentioned the Maraneansand Garindaeans (names which recall Mara and Wadi Gharandel , the Carandar of Pliny) , who dwell along the coast ,

1 Diodo ru s S ic . i ii . 3 , t ransl . 18 14, I . p . 183 .

2 S trabo , xvi . 4, 18 7 7 6 .

THE NABATEANS 8 5

and related how the Maraneans“

were absent on their quin

quennial fes tival , sacrificing fattened camels t o the go ds ofthe grove and fetching spring water

,when the Garindaeans

killed those who were left behind and then murdered tho sewho returned and seized their cou ntry .

According t o Diodo rus (still quo ting Ariston) there werefew harbours along the shore in the direction o f the Aleanitepromonto ry where dwelt the Arabians called Nabateans

,

who held no t only the co ast but large districts inland . TheNabat eans have a special interest fo r Sinai

,since the numerous

rough ro ck-inscriptions along the wadis o f the so uth,which

long puzzled the learned , are now generally attributed t o them .

Jo sephus located Nabatea between Syria and Arabiaextending from the Euphrates t o the Red Sea

,and connected

the name Nabatean with Nebaj oth, whose name stands firstin the confederacy o f the Ishmaelite tribes (Gen . xxv .

On the o ther hand Strabo , like Diodo rus Siculus, located themin no rth-western Arabia , extending as far south as Leukokome on the Gulf o f Arabia .

2

The existence of Nabateans 111 districts that lay far apartis explained by the recently discovered Annals of Assyria .

In the long list o f peoples Arameans all o f them,

”who were

raided by Sennacherib ( c. B .C . mention is made o f theNabatu ,

o f whom large numbers were carried o ff into Assyria .

2

Again,when Ashurbanipal (B .C . 668—626) set out t o conquer

Arabia,King Vait eh o f Arabia sought refuge with Nathan

,

king of Nabat , whose place is remo te . The Nabateanswere again raided , and numbers of them were transplanted .

“ The road to Damascus I caused t heir feet t o tread .

” 3

The remote homes o f the Nabateans was attested by Makrizi

(TI 44I ) , who classed them with the Magi, the Indians andthe Chinese . These denied the Flood because it had neverpenetrated t o them , and traced their origin , not t o No ah , butt o Kajumath .

4

The efforts of the transplanted Nabateans t o remain intouch with their home sanctuaries , may have opened theireyes to the po ssibilities of trade . In the fourth century

1 Jo sephu s : An t iq. , i . 12 , 4 .

2 B irch : Rec. P ast , N . S . , v . 12 0 ; vi . 85 .

2 B irch : Rec . P ast . , i . 2 6 , 9 3 , et c .

1 Makrizi : H istory of the Copts, t ransl. Wustenfeld , 1845 , p . 1 .


before Christ,they attracted the attention of the western world

by seizing Petra , the Ha-Sela of antiquity, which lay halfwaybetween the head of the Gulf of Akaba and the Dead Sea atthe po int where the old gold and incense route from Arabiato Damascus was crossed by the overland route from Indiato Egypt . This appropriation gave the Nabateans the controlof the Eastern trade .

‘

In order t o check their progressAntigonus Cyclops

,king of Syria and Palestine since B .C. 3 12 ,

sent Athenaeus and an army against them . The arm yreached Petra at the time when the Nabateans were absenton a pilgrimage . They easily overcame the aged, the womenand children

,an d seized an enormous booty in spicery and

silver . But the returning Nabateans overtook and well nighdestroyed the invading force . Another army was sentunder Demetrius to seize Petra , and chastise the Nabateans .But these drew the enemy along desert tracks

,and the invaders

achieved nothing .

1

Henceforth the Nabateans acted as a recognised nation,

whose kings from about B .C. 200 held their own by the Side ofthe kings of Judaea . Of these kings Aretas I (Arabic Harith) ,the contemporary of Antio chus Epiphanes (B .C . 173received the fugitive Hasmoneans (2 Mace . v . 8 ) Malcho s Idwelt at Petra and struck a coinage Aretas II I was masterof Damascus and king of Coele-Syria . Their contro l over thetrade-routes extended in many directions . Along theMediterranean on the north coast of Sinai they secured a ‘

foothold far beyond the limit of Coele-Syria almost as far asthe Tanitic mouth of the Nile . For excavations made at QasrGhait or Ouait between Kantara and Katia led to the discoveryof a Nabatean sanctuary with a Nabatean inscription .

2

As the Romans advanced their frontier, they were broughtinto contact with the kings of Nabat . Malchos II in the yearB .C . 47 , supported the Romans under Caesar, and entered intoan agreement with them . As a result , a Roman tax-collectorresided at Leukokome, the southernmost point of Nabat .After the conquest of Egypt in B .C . 30 ,

the Romans,their

imagination fired by the thought of the untold wealth ofArabia

,entered into an agreement with the Nabateans

,and

1 Diod . S ic . : xix . 6 , transl. 18 14 , I . p . 39 8 .

2 Cledat , J . : F ou illes in M emo ires , xii . 19 13 , p . 145—168 , Inst itu t

franeai s d’

Archéo lo gie o rientale .



without writing . The animals are chiefly camels , gazelles orcattle . There are some horsemen and some nondescriptanimals . Among the signs that are used are the Egyptianankh

,the Greek alpha and omega,

and the Christian cro ss ,showing that a great variety of persons passed there . Thewords are written without regularity; the animals and m en

are drawn with poor skill . They are , for the most part , unattractive scrawls , the interest of which lies in the informationwhich they indirectly convey .

The inscriptions in the wadis of southern Sinai were firstnoted by the lady Etheria who visited the peninsula aboutthe year 450 . A century later they attracted the attentionof Cosmas

,whose second name

,Indicopleust es ,

marked theextent of his travels . Cosmas was in Sinai about the year

545 , and in his Christian Topography wrote of the inscriptions ,which be attributed to Israelite industry .

And when they had received the Law from God in writingand had learnt letters fo r the first t ime , Go d made use o f thedesert as a quiet Schoo l and perm itted them fo r fo rty yearsto carve out letters on stone . Wherefore , in that wildernessof Mount Sinai one can see

,at all their halting places

, all thestones that have been broken o ff from the mountains , inscribedwith Hebrew letters

,as I myself can testify

,having travelled

in those places . Certain Jews t o o , who had read these inscript ions , informed me o f their purpose which was as fo llowsthe departure of so and so of such and such a tribe , in suchand such a year

,in such and such a month

,

—j ust as with ourselves

,there are travellers who scribble their names in the

inns in which they lodge — And the Israelites,who had newly

acquired the art of writing,continually practised it , and filled

a great multitude of stones with writ ing,so that all those

places are full of Hebrew inscriptions,which

,as I think , have

been preserved t o this day for the sake of unbelievers . Anyonewho wishes

,can go to these places

,and see fo r himself, or

at least can enquire o f others,about the matter

,when he will

learn that it is the truth which we have Spoken — When theHebrews therefore had been at the first instructed by God,and had received a knowledge Of letters through those tableso f stone

,and had learned them fo r forty years in the wilderness ,

they communicated them t o the Phoenicians at that t imewhen first Cadmus was king of the Tyrians

,from whom the

THE NABATEANS 8 9

Greeks received them,and then in turn the other nations

o f the world .

” 1

After the time of Cosmas we hear no mo re o f the inscriptions ,till the seventeenth century when they attracted the attentiono f Pietro della Val le about the year In the eighteenthcentury copies were brought home of some of them whichattracted further attention . In 1762 Niebuhr went to Sinaiwith the intention of visit ing the Gebel Mukat t ab ,

o r mountainof writing . He was taken , instead, by his sheykh t o the inscribedruins of Serabit . Some of the rough Sinaitic inscript ionsappeared In the Transactions of the Roy al S ociety of Literaturein 1832 ; others were incorpo rated by I. epsius in his wo rk on

Sinai . They were first claimed for the Nabateans by Levyin Prof . Palmer o f the Ordnance Survey collectedover 3000 between 1868—

7 0 ,and endorsed the view that they

were the wo rk of traders and carriers . Prof . Euting recentlypublished over 300 in facsimile and collected similar inscriptionsalong the wadis west o f Petra between Damascus and Pahn yra ,

and elsewhere .

4 It is said t o be habitual in Arabia to scrawltribal marks on walls and rocks in o rder to show the rightsof the tribe

,a name and a greeting being frequently added

as a notice to kinsmen and friends passing that way . Thesecasual marks and inscriptions have recently gained a newinterest , for the light which they throw on the developmentof the Arabic script .

Mo st of the inscriptions along the wadi s o f Sinai are inAramaic or other Semitic script

,a few are in Greek , a few are

in Kufic . The larger number are pagan , and their character isindi cated by such as the following, Remember Zailu ,

son

of Wailu , son of Bitasu (no . Think of Sambu, sonof Nasaigu (Ibid. ,

no . Many names are tho se o f theBible

,including Jacob (no . 5 10 and Moses (no . How the

sight of these names must have rej oiced the heart of Cosmas 1Others include names that are current in Arabia at thepresent day ;

1 Co smas Ind . : Christian Topography, t ransl. McCrindle, 189 7 , p .

2 Cf. Weill : La Presqu i le, p . 2 882 Tischendo rf Voyage en terre sain te, 1868 , p . 3 3 .

1 Eu t ing , J . Nabataeische I nschrif ten au s Arabien, 1885 .

5 Eu t ing , J . : S inai tische I nschrif ten, 189 1 .


In Greek script stand the words Be mindful (ax/40 013) ofChal io s the son of Zaidu (no . One inscription consistsof an Egyptian ankh with the alpha and omega on either side ,and the Greek words Ky rie eleison, with the figure of an animalthat may be intended for a camel (no . Again , in Greekstand the words An evil race " I , Lupus , a soldier, wrotethis with my hand (no . Another inscription consistso f a cross with the words “ Amen

,one God

,our Saviour

”

(no .

A definite date is conveyed by the following : Blessedbe Wailu , son of Sad Allahi , this is the 85th year o f the eparchy

(no . And again , Think of Aallahi,son of Iali , in the

year 106, which is that of the three emperors (no .

In the year A.D. 105 Trajan attacked the Nabateans in Petra ,which he conquered, and he established the Roman headquarters at Bosra , from which the so -called era of Bosra wasdated . The first of the inscriptions

“

which mentioned the85th year, therefore indicated A.D. 189 the second inscription

,which mentioned the 106th year, indicated A.D. 2 11 ,

the year in which the three emperors Septimus Severus ,Caracalla and Geta succeeded one another .Some authorities also make the Nabat eans responsible fer

the circular huts built of stone,the so -called Nawamis

,groups

of whi ch are found in the Wadi Wutah , the Wadi S igilliyeh ,

an d elsewhere . About the year 450 Etheria saw some onher way to the Moun t of the Law ,

and looked upon them ashouses built by the Israelites . The huts served at differenttimes as store-houses

,places o f burial

,and hermitages

their origin is quite uncertain . Besides these huts , rectangularhuts were noticed in the Wadi Aleyat , the Wadi Nasb , andelsewhere . Thes e also cannot , at present , be claimed for anyage .

The introduction of the camel to the wadis of S inai dealtone more blow at the vegetation of the peninsula . For thecamel is to all purpo ses a huge goat

,and

,like the go at , is a

most destructive animal . His introduction was necessarilyfo llowed by the loss of verdure which res ulted in looseningo f the soil and spread of the desert . In Egypt the introduction of the camel during Roman times depleted the floraand altered the fauna . Gazelles and antelopes sought pastureelsewhere, and the crocodile that lay in wait for them when



pwo s KOo pOt curti,al.

'

p . xetpao da i) , determined the name ofthe place .

1 l ts Egyptian name was probably Zaru (Fig .

The city gained in importance during Roman times .Strabo called it a city of Phoenicia

,close to Egypt , and an

emporium of Indian and Arabic merchandi se , whi ch wasdischarged at Leukokome and conveyed via Petra to Rhinoco rura , where it was dispersed .

2 The city is now partly enclosedby walls of considerable thickness

,and lies half a mile from the

coast on the edge o f the desert . According to the travellers ,Irby and Mangles , it contains some notable Roman remains .From this period probably date the marble columns

,later

appropriated to the churches which were eventually transported to Cairo .

West of Rhinocorura lay Ostracine , the site of which isnowadays surrounded by marshland which is flo oded atcertain times of the year . The city was formerly fed by acanal that bro ught water from the Tanitic branch o f the Nile .The strategic importance of Ostracine attracted the attentionof the emperor Vespasian . Fo r the ro ad coming from Syriadivided at Ostracine . One branch led north of the Serbonianbog, via Casium ,

Gerra and Pelusium t o Alexandria anotherpassing south o f the bog

,was the old military ro ad t o Memphis

with stations at Katia and Kantara . A third road led fromOstracine to Arsinoe (near the present Suez) , which Plinydescribed as mountainous and destitute of water (asperumm ont ibus et inops aquarum) .Ostracine has recently been excavated by Clédat . It

consisted of two parts,an inland part with a fortress and a

church which . have been excavated , and a marit ime port ,Ostracine Majumas , where Roman remains were found , including mosaics and sculpture

,now transferred to the museum

at Ishmailia . The buildings were not constructed o f brick ,but of stone

,which points to a certain wealth . Here also

there were the remains of a church . The name Ostracinesignifies shell

,a meaning reproduced in the Arabic El Flousiyeh

the name of the village that now occupies the site of theinland part o f the town .

West of Ostracine lay the Serbonian bog which stood outin men

’

s minds as the scene of the disaster which befell the1 B io d . S ic . : I . 5 , t ransl . 18 14, I 64.

2 S tra bo : xv i . 4,2 3 ; 7 8 0 .

1 Irby and Mangles : Travels in Egpy t, e tc . , ed . 1844, p . 54 .

THE NABATEANS 93

invading Persian fo rces in the year B .C . 350 . On the northernside o f the bog , beyond the break in the narrow strip o f landconfining it , layCasium ,

which hadahill with a temple dedicatedt o Zeus Casius or Jupiter Ammon . On the flank o f thishill a tumulus marked the place where the beheaded bo dy o f

Pompey the Great was buried . Pompey was murdered whenhe landed on the coast after his defeat at Pharsalia ; andHadrian , at a later date , erected a monument to his memoryof which remain s were found near Pelusium .

West of Casium lay Gerra , from Greek gerrhon,a shield ,

a name which corresponds in meaning with Shur,Hebrew

for wall, in the Bible . Shur that is befo re Egypt as thougo est toward Assyria (Gen . xxv. Brugsch identified itas the Egyptian Aneb .

1

Gerra was known also as the camp o f Chabrias, the Atheniangeneral , who entered the service o f the Pharaoh Nect anebo

(XXX I , B .C . 3 7 8 and later commanded the fo rces o f

his successor Zeher (XXX in Oppo sing the Persian invasiono f Egypt . The c ities along the Mediterranean coast wereat the distance of a Roman day’s march

,about 14 miles ,

from each other . Titus on his march from Egypt for theconquest of Jerusalem

,pitched his camp in success ion near

the temple of the Casian Jupiter,at Ostracine, at Rhino

co rura and at Raphia,as reco rded by Jo sephus (Wars, IV . I I ,

On the Table Peutinger, the Roman ro ad map of the secondcentury

,land and water are roughly marked with the stations

along the roads of communication . On this Table along theShore o f the Mediterranean we note Gerra miles to Casium,

26 miles to Ostracine, 24 miles to Rhino corura , 28 miles toRaphia .

1 B rugsch : D ict . Geog . , 18 7 9 , p . 52 ,

CHAPTER X

THE HERMITS IN S INAI

NEW era in the history of Sinai began with the advent o fthe Christian hermit . The desert has ever been the

home of liberty . The desire t o follow the New Way, coupledwith the need of escaping the Roman governor

,drove many

Christians into the wilderness,where

,remote from the claims

and the unrest of citizen life,they embraced life in a form

which meant reducing physical needs to a minimum .

This life in itself was no new departure . Again and againin the course of histo ry

,a recoil from civilisation led men

to seek enlightenment in remoteness , simplicity and solitude .

Eli j ah the Tishbite, with rough mantle and flowing locks ;John the Baptist

,who lived on locusts and wild honey ;

the Essenes in Palestine , and the Therapeutae near Alexandria ,were one and all actuated by the belief that a higher life ispossible here below

,provided that the amenities and the com

forts of this world count as no thing .

The hermits who came to dwell in S inai , settled in themountains of the south where many natural springs renderedpossible the cultivation of vegetables and fruit , their staplearticles of diet . Here they were outside the sphere of Romaninfluence . The extent of this influence can be gauged by theTable Peutinger.

On this Table two roads,the one coming from Syria , the

other from Egypt,lead to Pharan in Sinai proper . The road

from Egypt passed Arsinoe'

, Clesma, Lacas Mar, and a station ,the name o f which is obliterated

,but which Weill reads as

Medeia . From this it was 80 miles to Pharan . The roadfrom Syria , starting from Jerusalem

,passed Oboda ,

Ly ssa,

Cypsana, Rasa, Ad Dianam (later Ghadiana) , i .e . Ai la, fromwhere it was 60 miles to Pharan. Pharan was no doubt

94



that it was more meritorious to dwell alone in the desert,

so he wandered away,led by an an gel

,and met a hermit

who urged him to go five days further where he reachedCalidi omea (perhaps a corruption of caly bem, a hut) ,near whi ch stood a palm tree where he remained . He sufferedfrom hunger and thirst , from cold and heat , and lived on dates ,his clothes gradually dropping from him . He took Paphnut ius into his hut , and they were conversing to gether whena sudden pallor overspread his countenance

,and he in timated

that Paphnutius would bury him . He di ed there and then ,and Paphnutius tore a piece o ff his own cloak, in which hewrapped him and laid him in a crevice in the rock .

1

OnOphrius was perhaps the unnamed hermit who wasvisited by a monk of Raithou ,

where stood seventy palmtrees in the place which Moses reached with the people whenhe came out of Egypt .

” This monk described how, on hiswanderings

,he came to a cell in which he found a dead monk

whose body dropped to dust when he touched it . In anotherplace he came upon a hermit who had lived in an asceticcommunity at Hero opo lis , but he associated with a professednun ,

and yielded to temptation,whereupon he fled into the

distant desert where , as time went on , his hair grew and hisclothes dropped from him .

2

Of similar appearance was the hermit whom Po stum ianus

was bent on seeing when he went from Italy into Sinai sometime before 400 . In the Dialogues o f Severus the words areput into his lips I saw the Red Sea and I climbed theheight of Mount Sinai (j ugum Sina Montis) , the summit ofwhich almost touches heaven and cannot be reached by humaneffort . A hermit was said to live somewhere in its recesses ,and I sought long and much to see him

,but was unable to do

so . He had been removed from human fellowship for nearlyfifty years and wore no clothes

,but was covered with bristles

growing on his body,but of divine gift he knew not of his

nakedness . ” 3

Another hermit who was drawn to Sinai was Silvanus ,a native of Palestine

,to whom on account of his great

1 Paphnu t ius : Vi ta S t . Onophru , Migne : Patr. Gra c. ,lxxiii .

2 1 1—2 2 .

2 De Vi ta Patrum, v i . 1 1 , Migne : Patr. Lat lxxiii . 10 0 9 .

2 S everus : D ialogue, i . , 17 , Migne : Patr . Lat . , xx . 19 9 .

THE HERMITS IN SINAI 9 7

virtue,an angel was wont to minister . He lived in Sinai and

afterwards founded , at Gerari Gerra) , in the wadi , a veryextensive and noted coenobium for many go od men

,over which

the excellent Zacharias , afterwards presided .

” 1 Like otherhermits

,Silvanus Shared his cell with a youthful disciple

,

and cultivated a garden that was surrounded by a wall andserved by a water conduit . Various anecdotes told of himbear witness to his good sense and humility .

A certain brother once came to Sinai where he found thebrethren hard at work and he said to them , Labour not fo r themeat that perishes . Silvanus , who overheard the remark ,directed his disciple Zacharias to give him a book and lead himto an empty cell . When the ninth hour came , the brother lookedtowards the entrance expecting to be called t o a meal

,but

no one came , so he went to Silvanus and said, Father, do notthe brethren eat to-day P Silvanus replied, Oh yes , they haveeaten . Then why was

,

I not called Because,said Silvanus

,

thou art a spiri tual man who needs no such food . Weothers

,being carnal , must eat , and therefore we work . Thou

hast in truth chosen the better part , and art able to studyall day requiring nothing . On hearing this

,the brother

saw that he was at fault , and said, Father, forgive me . Sily anus replied, Surely Martha is necessary to Mary, it was duet o her that Mary was able to pray . Silvanus himself workedwith his hands , chiefly at basket-making, so as to earn hisliving and not depend on alms .

”

The baskets , we gather from other remarks , were used topack dates fo r export . Like other hermits , Silvanus hadvisions . One day he sat for a long time without speakingand then burst into tears . It was , he said , because he sawmen of his own kind going to hell , while many secularpersons went to heaven . Among the sayings at ribut ed tohim was thi s one , Woe unto him who has more renown thanmerit .” 2

Other early hermits were Galact ion and his wife Episteme ,whose experiences were no t ed

'

in the M enology of Basileus ,3and were worked up into a longer account by Simeon

1 S o zomenus : H ist ,v i . 32 .

2 Le Nain de Ti llem ont : M emozres pour servir d l’

histo ire eccles, x .

R 448-45 1

2 No v . 5 . Migne : Patr. Green , cxvn . 143 .

98 A‘

HISTORY OF SINAI

Metaphrast es . They were from Emesa and took ten days toreach the height called Pouplio s (PRubus, the Bush) , nearMount Sinai (7 6 ELI/3. apes) , where they found ten hermits whowere j oined by Galaet ion . Episteme dwelt at some distancewith four virgins . But the Roman governor (Ursus) sentfor Galact ion . Episteme

,apprised by a dream

,came forward

to die for him . Both endured the penalty of death,and

Eut o lrnio s , at one time their slave , recovered and bro ught backtheir bodies . 1

The settlement where Episteme dwelt was afterwardsallotted to the slaves who were brought in to Sinai and appointedto serve the convent by the emperor Justinian (T Thesettlement lay on a slope no rth-east of the convent facingthe valley, and was pointed out to Bishop Po co cke in the year

The existence here of a settlement of women,and

the value which was set on the bodies of the hermits , are worthnot ing in connection with the finding of the body of St . Katherineof Alexandria

,to which we shall return later .

Other saints who were connected with Sinai were the wellknown Cosmas and Damianus , Arab doctors who taughtChristianity . There are no traditions regarding their cominginto Sinai

,but their names were attached to a hermitage ,

now dilapidated , which stood at Tho las , in the Wadi Tla’

ah,and was dedicated to them.

It was customary at the time for the hermits to wanderfrom place to place . Among the famous hermits who visitedSinai was Julian Sabbas (T who left his cell near Osrho ene

(Edessa) , and, with a few devoted fo llowers , sought the remoteness of Sinai where he remained some t ime . On reachingthe desired height (7 6 n odmiuevov Opo s) , he built a churchand set up an altar on the stone on which Moses

,prince of

prophets,rested . Theodo ret (c . who related this , stated

that the altar remained in his day .

3 An toninus Martyr

(c. 530) noted the existence of an oratory above Pharan ,with its altar on the stones which supported Moses when heprayed .

4 The plan and ruins o f an oratory are figured in theOrdnance Survey (pl . X) , which probably mark this spot .

1 Vi ta S . Galactionis, M igne : Patr . Gra c. , cxv i . 94.

2 Po cocke , B isho p : A Description of the E ast , 1 7 43 , i . 147 .

2 Theodo ret : Relig iosa H istoria, M igne : Patr . Graze ,lxxxii . 13 15 .

1 Ant o ninus Martyr : I tinerarium, c . 40 , ed . Greyer, p . 186 .



present a hun dred and sixty bishops . about two-thirds ofwhom were semi-Arians . Theo ct ist es

, bishop of Ostracine, wasamong them .

1 He was therefore deposed by Athanasius,

patriarch o f Alexandria (T who appointed, in his stead ,

Serapion .

2 But the representatives of the neighbouring seeo f Rhinocorura firmly held by Athanasius

,and So zomenus

(T after praising the hermits of Nit ria,wrote of Rhino

co rura ,celebrated at this period for its holy men

,who were

not from abroad, but natives of the place . Among the mosteminent philosophers were Melas , who then administered thechurch in the country Dionysius

, who presided over amonastery to the north of the city ; and Solon , the brotherand successor of Melas in the bishopric . When

,owing to

a decision of Valens (c. A.D. there was a reaction infavour o f Arius , officers appeared at Rhinocorura who werecharged with orders to ej ect those o pposed to Arianism . Melas ,who did the lowliest work , o ffered a meal to the o fficers , waitingo n them himself

,and declared his willingness to go into exile .

His brother Solon gave up commerce in order to embracethe monastic life . The church of Rhinocorura having beenthus from the beginning under the guidan ce of exemplarybishops

,never afterwards swerved from their precepts and

pro duced go od men . The clergy o f this church dwell in onehouse

,sit at the same table

,and have everything in common .

” 3

Among these bishops was Polybius,a disciple of Epiphanius ,

bishop of Salamis in Cyprus (T who wrote a supplementto the Lif e of Epiphanius .

The religious di fficulties , combined with the general unrestwhich fo llowed the conj oint rule of the imperial brothers ,Valent inian and Valens (364 are reflected in the accounttold by the Egyptian monkAmmonius of what happened at thetime when he was on a visit t o Sinai with the hermits at theBush . The account which he wrote in Coptic is preservedin Greek

,in Syriac

,and in Latin .

4 It is a composition ofconsiderable merit , to which t he condensed account , whichfollows , can do but scant just ice .

1 Epiphan ius : Ha n , 7 3 , 2 6 . Migne : Patr. e c. , xlii . 454.

2 Lequ ien : Or. Chr . , i i . 545 .

3 S o zom enu s : Hist v i . 3 1 .

1 Nec tarins : Epi t . , p . 7 3—9 3 Sm ith-Lewis , Agnes : The Forty

M artyrs of S ina i in Ho ree S emi t . , no . 9 , 19 12 .

THE HERMITS IN SINAI 1

It occurred t o me,wrote Ammonius, as I sat in my

little cell near Alexandri a at the place called Canopus,that

I could go a j ourney and thus escape the persecutions (by theArians) o f the faithful , who included o ur ho ly bishop Peter

(l l , 3 7 2 who . was obliged to go into hiding, first at oneplace and then at another

,and was thereby hindered from

ministering to his flo ck . I was , mo reover , fired by the desireto see the memo rable places

,including the Ho ly Sepulchre ,

the place of the Resurrection,and o thers that were associated

with our Lo rd Jesus Christ . After worshipping at theseplaces , I decided to seek the ho ly mo untain called Sinai ,going the desert j ourney together with others who were benton the same purpose

,and I j ourneyed thither (from Jerusalem)

with the help o f Go d in eighteen days . And when I hadprayed I remained with the holy fathers in order t o visit theirseveral cells t o the pro fit o f my soul .

”

A description fo llows o f the o ccupations of the hermits ,their so litary life on week-days

,and their gatherings in church

on Sundays . Their aspect was that o f angels,fo r they

were pallid and,so to say ,

incorpo real,owing t o their ab

staining from wine,o il

,bread and other fo od that tends t o

luxury, living on dates only, just enough to keep themselvesalive .

”

A few days later, Ammonius continued , Saracens ,

whose sheykh (or king) had died , fell upon the fathers in theircells and slew them

,so that I

,together with the superio r

Doulas and o thers sought refuge in the tower, while thebarbarians slew all the hermits who were in Thrambe (Syriac ,Gethrabbi) ,

1 Choreb (Ho reb) , Kedar (Co dar) , and otherplaces . They would have dealt the same with us , bu t a greatfire appeared on the mountain which scared them so they fled

,

leaving behind their women,children and camels . We who

saw this from the tower,gave thanks to God

,and then sallied

fo rth t o the o ther settlements . We found 38 hermits whowere dead . Twelve belonged to Thrambe , including Isaiahand Sabbas who were badly hurt . Isaiah died while Sabbaslamented that he was not in the company o f the saints .But he died four days later (on the last day o f theThey were lamenting his death when an Ishmaelite brought1 We ill locat ed t his in the Wad i E th Themed , the upper part o f the

Wad i Hebran . 190 8 , p . 19 8 .


the news that the fathers who dwelt at Elim (Raithou) hadbeen raided also . Raithou is described as a level plain ,

situated at a distance of abou t twelve miles,with mountains

to the east like a wall,which those only could cross who were

familiar with the country . To the west was the Red Sea ,which extended to the ocean . The words correctly describethe district about Tur .The settlement here was attacked by the Blemmyes , a

nomad race of Nubia , of whom we now hear in Sinai for thefirst t ime . Pso es , a fugitive hermit , who arrived in the wakeo f the Ishmaelite , gave Ammonius particulars regarding thehermits at Raithou , and their message . He had lived 20

years at Raithou himself,he said ; others had lived there

40 , 50 , and 60 years . There was Abba Mo ses of Pharan , whohad the power of exorcising demons

,and who had cured

Obedianus , a sheykh o f the Ishmaelites,which led to many

conversions . There was also Sabbas,of whom Pso es was a

d isciple , but the way of living of Sabbas was so hard thatPso es left him . Again

,there was Joseph from Aila , who built

himself a cell with his own hands at a distance of two milesfrom the springs .Forty-three hermits dwelt near Raithou ,

to which placethe news was brought that the Blemmyes had seized anEgyptian boat which was bound for Clysma , and were comingacross the sea . The men of Raithou at once collected theircamels

,their women and children , while the hermits sought

refuge in the church . The barbarians spent the night on theshore , and then bound the sailors to the boat which theyleft in charge of one of themselves

,and came across the

mountain to the springs where they were met by the men ofRaithou . But the invaders were the more skilful archers ,and killed 140 men , the rest fled . Then they seized thewomen and children

,and rushed to the tower or church ,

expecting to find treasures,and went round it screaming and

uttering threats in a barbarous language while the hermitsinside prayed and lamented .

Paul of Petra , who was the superior of the settlement ,uttered words which were full of dignity

,and concluded with

s aying : O athletes of God,do not regret this good conflict

let not your souls be faint,and do no thing unworthy of your

cowl , but be clothed with strength and j oy and manliness ,


104 A HISTORY OF S INAI

the men of Pharan eighty-four were killed, others werewounded . The hermits were all dead except Andrew

,who

was wounded and recovered, Domnus , who died of his wounds ,and Pso es , who was left to tell the tale . The men of Pharanleft the dead enemies to the beasts o f the earth and the fowlsof the air . They buried their own dead at the foo t of themountain abo ve the springs

,and made a great wailing . Then ,

led by the sheykh Obedianus,they brought costly garments

,

in which,with the help of Pso es and Andrew they buried the

saints . Pso es himself then left Raithou ,which was deserted

,

for the Bush,where he begged to be allowed t o stay with

Doulas,a request which was readily granted . The account

concludes with saying that Ammonius wro te all this down afterhis return to Memphis , and the words are added in one MS .

,

I,presbyter Jo hn

,found this account written in Coptic in

the cell of a hermit near Naukrat is,and

,knowing Coptic , I

translated it into Greek .

”

The attacks made on the hermits were part of a widermovement . History relates that Mavia (or Mania) , the widowo f the phylarch or king of the Saracens

,collected her forces

and led them in person against Palestine and Egypt . TheRomans

,because they had to do with a woman

,expected

t o quell the disturbance without difficulty. But the advantagewas on her side

,and the expedition was celebrated in song

among the Saracens . Mavia proffered peace t o the Romanson condition that Moses , a converted Saracen , should beconsecrated bishop o f Pharan ,

and Moses went t o Alexandriaunder a military escort . But here a new difficulty arose .

The patriarch Peter II (37 2 the same to whom Ammonius

referred,was still absent . The Arian prelate Lucius (c. A .D.

3 7 8) occupied his see , and Mo ses refused to be o rdained byhim . The story was to ld by S o zom enus (T and bySocrates (T c . bo th of whom lived soon after the event .

I account myself indeed unworthy of the sacred o ffice ,Moses said but if the exigencies of the state require mybearing it

, It shall no t be by Lucius laying his hand on me ,for it has been filled with blood . When Lucius to ld him thatit was his duty to learn from him the principles of religionand not to utter reproachful language , Moses replied , Mattersof faith are not now in question but your in famous practices

THE HERMITS IN SINAI 105

against the brethren sufficiently prove that your doctrinesare not Christian . Fo r a Christian is not a striker

,reviles

not,does not fight

, fo r it becomes not a servant o f God t ofight . But your deeds cry o ut against y ou by tho se whohave been sent into exile

,who have been delivered up t o the

flames . These things which o ur own eyes have beheld are

far mo re convincing than what we receive from the report o fano ther . As Mo ses expressed these and like sent iments ,his friends to o k him t o the mountain

,that he might receive

o rdination from the bishops who lived in exile there . Mo seshaving been consecrated

,the Saracen war was terminated ,

and so scrupulously did Mavia observe the peace thus e nteredinto with the Romans that she gave her daughter in marriageto Victor the commander-in-chief of the Roman army . Suchwere the transactions in relation t o the Saracens .”1

The fame of Mo ses continued . In the I tinerary of Willibald (c. 7 50) we read that , after hi s return from Palestine , hewas received by Pope Hadrian in Rome at a time when St .Boniface was asking fo r help on his mission to evangelise theGermans . The Po pe , in his des ire t o persuade Willibald toundertake the task ,

referred to Mo ses the hermit,famous fo r in

numerable miracles in the desert, who was to rn away from

the solitary life he was leading at the request of Queen Maniat o the Roman empero r

,and placed as bisho p over the nation

o f the Saracens,and in a sho rt time he won t o Christ that mo st

fierce nation,and clo thed them in the fleece o f lambs .

” 2

The name of Mo ses was inscribed in the Roman Martyrolo gyo n Feb . 2 7 . In Egypt the feast o f Mo ses

,a venerable

bishop,who at first lived a so litary life in the desert

,and then

,

at the request o f Mauvia ,queen o f the Saracens

,being made

bishop , converted that mo st fero cious nation in great part tothe faith

,and made glo rious by his merits rested in peace .

”3

Mo ses was followed in the see of Pharan by Katyr,a

disciple of Silvanus,who was a strict ascetic .

1 S o crat es : Hist , iv . 36.

2 I t inerary, t ransl . Pal . Pilg . S oc vo l. 3 , p . 52 ,1 89 1 .

2 Acta S S . B oll . , Feb . 7 , ii . p . 45 .

CHAPTER XI

THE WRITINGS OF THE HERMITS

HE writings of the hermits from the fifth century on

wards throw light on the aspirations and the attitudeo f mind of these men of the desert

,to whom the interests of

ordinary mankind were as nothing .

Foremo st among these writ ings are those of Nilus,a man of

learning who ,after o ccupying a high position at Constanti

nople , visited the hermits , with whom he remained . HisNarrationes contain valuable information on heathen sacrificeat the time .

1

About the year 420 Nilus decided to separate from his

wife in o rder to visit the Bush at the fo ot of the holy mountainon which God conferred with the people

,taking his youthful

son with him . The barbarians,he tells us

,dwelt from Arabia

t o Egypt , from the Red Sea t o the Jordan , ever ready todraw the sword

,hunting wild beasts , attacking travellers ,

and making use of their camel-dromedaries fo r sacri fices whichthey devoured with do g-like voracity . They had no regardfor God

,but adored the Morning Star (Lucifer, da rpar

npwtvo'

v) , to which they sacrificed the best product of thechase

,o r boys of comely appearance

,on an altar of rough

stones . Failing these,they took a fattened white camel

without blemish which they made to kneel . They encircledit three times to the sound of chanting whereupon the sheykhwho acted as leader

,made a thrust at the beast ’s neck , and all

of them hast ily drank of the blood that gushed forth .

The whole band then fell upon the victim ,and each person

hacked o ff and devoured a piece of the beast’s flesh and skin .

It was the rule of the rite that the whole vict im with body ,1 Nflus : Narrationes, M igne : Patr . Gram,

lxxix . pp . 590-69 3 .

106



responsible for keeping the peace , in return for which theyreceive a grant in money which they must call for in personat Suez .

Envoys were therefo re despatched to the phylarch . Theycarried bows and arrows

,and a stone for striking fire

,which

would enable them to live by killing and roasting game,

“ for there is wood in abundance that serves as firewood,

since no one fells trees in the desert (p . During theirabsence Nilus and others wen t the round o f the neighbouringsettlements

,where the hermits had been attacked . At

Bethrambe (or Thrambe) they buried Proclus ; at Salael 1

they buried Hypatias Macarius and Marcus they fo und deadin the desert Benjamin had been slain at Elim Eusebiuswas still alive at Tho las in Adze they found Elias dead (p .

The envoys on their return brought word that KingAmmanns was anxious to maintain his relations with theempire

, and was prepared to make good the losses which hadbeen incurred . He bade those who had claims t o appearbefore him . Nilus and o thers accordingly sallied forth . Onthe eighth day Nilus

,who was looking for water

,actually

caught sight of the encamped Saracens on the twelfth dayof j ourneying they reached the end of their j ourney

,which

may have been Petra) . Here Nilus heard that his son wasalive and had been sold into slavery at Elusa . On the waythither

,he met a man who had actually seen him

,and on

going into the church at Elusa , he fo und his son Theodulo s ,who had been made doorkeeper of the church by the bishopo f the place . Theodulo s to ld his father how he and others laybound on the ground all night near the altar with a sword ,a bason

,a phial and incense beside them . But the barbarians

drank heavily at night and overslept themselves , and the sunstood above the horizon when they awoke , so the occasionfor the sacrifice was fo rfeited . They therefore moved on toSouka (perhaps a village , perhaps market , Arabic suk) , fromwhere they sold Theo dulo s into slavery. Nilus and his sonnow decided to settle permanently among the hermits lookingforward to a pleasant life . After being ordained by thebishop of Elusa they returned to Sinai where they apparentlyended their days . Their memory there continues to be keptt o this day . Their bodies were raised to gether with those

1 Weill lo cat ed Salael in the present Wad i S igilliy eh , p . 195 .

THE WRITINGS OF THE HERMITS 109

of others in the reign of the emperor Justinus Junio r (565and were translated to the Church of the Ho ly Apostles atConstantinople .

1

In the course of the fifth century the dispute regardingthe dual nature of Christ entered a further stage when Nes ~

to rins,who had been under the influence of Theodore of Mop

suest ia ,and was promoted to the see of Constantinople , raised

o bj ection t o the term God—bearer,Oeordk o s, as applied to the

Virgin . By do ing so he raised a storm o f dissent,the venera

tion of the Virgin being widespread and deep-seated, partlyowing to having been engrafted on an earlier mother-cult .

Pope Celest inus (422-432 ) called upon Nest o rius to recant ,but he refused

,and a Church Council therefo re met at Ephesus

in 43 1 t o discuss the matter . Among the two hundredbishops who declared against Nestorius were Hermogeneso f Rhinoc o rura

,Abraham of Ostrac ine

,and Lampet ius of

Casium .

2 The outcome of the dispute was that Nestorius,

in the year 435 , went into perpetual banishm ent . Hermogenes o f Rhino co rura was praised as a man of moderationand humility

,by Isidorus (T a monk and prolific letter

writer of Pelusium .

3

After the Council at Ephesus , Hermo genes went on amission t o Rome with Lampet ius of Casium ,

and was succeededin his bishopric by Zeno

, who was succeeded by Alphius .

4

It was , perhaps , this Alphius who sided with Lampetias

(possibly the bishop of Casium ) in the difficulty regardingthe vagrant ascetics called Massaliani o r Euchites , men andwomen , who gave themselves t o prayer and lived by begging,refusing to work . They were censured at the synod o f

Ephesus , 5 and their condemnation henceforth acted as adeterrent t o the wanderings of herm its generally . In consequence of his course of action Alphius was obliged to resignhis see . He was succeeded by Ptolemaeus of Rhinoco rura

,

who acted in concert with Timo thy,patriarch o f Alexandria .

A further difficulty was created when the Church Council

1 P erigraphe of Ho ly M oun t S ina i (first issued by the archimandrit eJerem iah in ed . 18 1 7 , p . 1 7 3 .

2 Labbé : Concilia , ed . Mansi , v . 615- 1 7 .

2 Isido ru s : Episto l. liber, v . 35 8 , 448 , et c . , in Migne : Patr . Greec . ,

lxxv iii .1 Lequ ien : Or . Chr ist , 11. 543 .

5 Labbé : Conc . , iv . 147 7 .


met at Chalcedon under the auspices of the empress Pulcheriaand her husband Marcian

,and in 451 laid down articles

as t o the nature of Christ which remain to this day thestandard of the Catholic faith . Of the bishops of the seesin Sinai only Beryllus , bishop of Aila , set his signature t othe declaration .

1 And when Juvenal,bishop of Jerusalem

(451 returned to his see and declared his intention ofabiding by the decision

,the fanatical monks seized the city

,

turned him out and set the Egyptian monk Theodosius inhis place . It was in vain that Juvenal sought to settlethe matter by leniency . Theodosius ruled in Jerusalem duringtwenty months . When he was finally expelled he fled toSinai . The emperor Marcian hereupon addressed a letter toBishop Macarius and the monks of Sinai , warning themagainst Theodosius , who went from place to place spreadingheresy , and who is now in Moun t Sinai (iv 7 4; 2m; Opel )where there are monasteries which are dear to you and whichhave our respect

,in which he is working against the true

belief . ” 2 The emperor also wrote t o Juvenal saying that hehad written about Theodosius and his adherents to themost worthy bishop Macarius , to the archimandrite and to themonks

,

” warning them of his false arguments ,and asking

them to ej ect him and hand him over with his satellites tothe prefect of the provin ce .

3 It is unknown what became of it .Other writings of the hermits give an insight into the

speculative zeal and boundless credulity of these devotees t oa simple life

,to whom everything surprising appeared in the

light of a miracle . Collections of S ay ings of the Fathers

(Verba Senio rum ) , and incidents in their lives were a favouritebranch of literature at the time . An astasius (c . 561

a monk o f Sinai , John Clim acus (T who dwelt at Tho las ,and then at the convent

,and John Moschus (T who

habitually dwelt in Jerusalem,but went about visiting ,

were among those who collected anecdotes and sayings regarding Sinai .Pillar saints at this t ime were attracting attention near

Antioch . There was an Older Simeon who died in 460 , anda younger Simeon who died in 596. A monk of Raithou went

1 Labbé : Conc. , v i . 567 .

2 I bid. , V I I . 48 3 .

2 Lequ ien : Or. Christ , i ii . 7 5 1 .



practices that he had the power of seeing demons (no .

Malocha at another time harboured Stephen,whose plantation

was ravaged by animals , here called XopoyptM o z, i .a. porkers ,

possibly they were hyaenas . But Stephen reared a leopard

(probably a panther) from a cub whom he set t o guard hisplantation (no . This Stephen originally occupied a cellnear the cave of Elij ah, which he left for S idde , situatedabout seventy miles from the tower, perhaps in WadiS idreh,

a lower reach o f the Wadi Umm Agraf . He thenreturned to his cell where he found his two disciples anddied from exhaustion .

2 His body was conveyed to theconvent

,where it was set up at the entrance to the crypt .

The Perigraphe of 18 17 stated that he is still at the convent,

not confined by coffin or sarcophagus , but standing uprightwith crossed hands and bowed head .

” 3 And there theshrivelled figure wearing hermit clothing remains standing tothe present day .

At S idde we also hear of a hermit who was walking oneday in the desert and saw a Saracen appro aching

,whereupon

he “ transformed himself into a palm tree . It was onlyanother hermit

,and so he returned t o his natural appearance .

Many stori es were told of John the Sabait e who dwelt fora time at Malocha . He was walking one day across thedesert with the imperial ruler (archiater) Demetrio s , when theycame upon the fo otmarks of a dragon . Demetrios proposedthat they should fly

,but Jo hn said they would pray, whereupon

t he dragon ,was carried aloft and was thrown back to the

ground shattered to pieces (Anast . , no . Another storytold of John the Sabait e shows how the imaginary world wasto these men the greater reality . He was dwelling in themost distant desert

,

” when a fellow monk came to see him , who ,in reply t o his question how other monks fared, replied, Theyare well

,thanks to your prayers . He then asked after a

monk who had a bad reputation , and heard that there was nochange in his behaviour . Afterwards he fell asleep and hada vision of the crucified Christ , and himself kneeling. ButChrist called to His angels and thrust him forth

,Since he had

1 Anastasius : Réci ts inédi ts , F . Nau , 190 2 .

2Job . Climacus : S cali P aradisa , n o . 7 in M igne : Patr. Gra c. .

lxxxv iii . 8 14 .

2 P erigraphe, p . 164.


passed judgment on a fellow monk , thus anticipating divinejudgment . As he was thrust fo rth , his cowl caught in thegate and he lost it . He awoke , but the thought o f his cowllost in his dream

,showed him that God had withdrawn from

him,and he wandered in the desert seven years , eat ing no

bread,sleeping in the open and speaking to no one

, unt il hehad ano ther dream in whi ch the Lord restored his cowl tohim (Anast . , no .

John the Sabait e also dwelt at Arselao (a place not ident ified) , where he was appro ached by a female porker (o r hyaena)who laid her blind yo ung at his feet . He mixed his spittlewith earth and applied it

"

to the eyes of the creature whichbecame seeing . On the fo llowing day the mother-beas treappeared dragging an enormous cabbage which she laidat the feet of the old man . But he smiled, charging her withstealing it from another man ’s garden

,and bade her take it

back, a command which she forthwith obeyed (Anast . , no .

Arselao was the home also fo r a t ime of a certain George,who was fetched to the convent to pray for oil , as the sto rehad given out , and the road to Palestine was held by thebarbarians .” His prayers brought oil to the cask , like Elijah

’st o the widow

’

s cruse, and like that of the cruse , it never failed .

The cask was placed under the protection o f the Virgin(Anast no . The need o f oil led the monks to cultivatethe olive in their gardens

,which they did with considerable

success , olives being among their produce which attractedthe attention of the Arab writers .At Tho las , which was mentioned in the earlier accounts ,

Jo hn Climacus dwelt for forty years,at the conclusion of which

he became head o f the convent . The Wadi Tla’

ah is one ofthe few valleys which has preserved its character . Prof .Palm er described it in glowing terms in the Ordnance Survey .

Another herm itage was at Gonda,situated fifteen miles

from the Holy Bush (Anast . , no . John the Sabait e wasliving here with Stephen of Cappadocia

,when Father Martyri os

arrived with a youthful disciple,who was John Climacus.

Jo hn the Sabaite , having the gift of foresight , recognised thefuture superior of the convent in him (Anast . , no .

This Stephen of Cappadocia told John Moschus that hewas once in the church at Raithou when two men entered

,

who were without clothes . No one saw them but himself .


He followed them out and begged to be allowed to accompanythem . But they bade him stay where he was , and he sawthem walk away acro ss the Red Sea (Mo schus, no .

There was also the monk S iso eis, who dwelt in theherm itage of St . Anthony between the Red Sea and Egypt ,where he was visited by a monk of Pharan who told him thatit was ten months since he had seen a human being . Towhich Siso eis replied that it was eleven months since he hadseen one himself .The hermit life in Sinai was at its height when the lady

Etheria visited the peninsula,intent on identifying the sites of

which she had read in the Bible . Her eagerness seems t o havest irred the imagination of the monks

,and led to decisions as

t o localities whi ch were accepted as authentic for centuriesto come . The account of Etheria calls for a few words ofcomment .The MS . of her j ourney was discovered in the library of

Arezzo by Gamurrini in 1883 . It was incomplete andits author was not named . Gamurrm1 provisionallyclaimed it for St . Silvia of Aquitaine , and dat ed the j ourneybetween 37 8 and 383 . But the abbé Perotin 1 has sincepointed out that Valerius (c. abbot of a monastery nearAstorga in Spain , wrote a letter In praise of the blessedEtheria ,

”in which he described how this nun with a m d

heart undertook a j ourney across the world . He mentioneddetails o f her j ourney which establish beyond a doubt thatthe writer of the Arezzo account was meant . 2 A Germanwriter, Karl Meister, on the internal evidence of the account ,hereupon dated the j ourney between 534 and 539 . Buthe overlooked the fact that Etheria , in connection with hervisit to Seleucia , ment ioned by name her dear friend, thediacom

'

ssa Marthana, who is named also as one of the dis

t inguished women o f the place by Basileus,bishop of Seleucia

who died in the year There were convents in the southof France before the close o f the fifth century, as we know fromthe rules drafted by Caesarius, bishop of Arles (501the date o f Etheria may be about 460 .

1 Féro t in : La veri table au teur de la P ereginatz’

o S ilvia , 1903 .

3 Valerius : De B . E theria in M igne : Patr . Lat . , lxxxv i i . 42 2 .

3 B asileus : De Vi ta et M ir. 3 . Teclaz. M igne : P atr. e c. , lxxxv .



in the ground and where there was much herbage and manypalm trees . From the crossing of the Red Sea near Sur therewas no pleasanter place . The description and the nameArandara po int t o the present Wadi Gharandel.Etheria was bent on seeing all the sites

,including the

place where it rain ed manna , the cells with Hebrew writing,the desert o f Pharan where there were neither fields norvin eyards but water and palm trees ,

” the place Faran,

where Amalek opposed the Israelites , the place where theIsraelites called for water, and the place where Jethro metMoses

,his son-in-law,

the spot where Mo ses prayed whileJoshua fought Amalek

,is a high , steep mountain above

Pharan , and where Mo ses prayed there is now a church

(Petrus , ed . Geyer , p . This was probably the churchmentioned above which was fo unded by Julian Sabbas .

“

rom Pharan Etheria ’s party moved t o a place where themountains opened themselves out

,and found a great valley

beyond which appeared Syna,the holy Mount o f God

,

which is united with the place where are the Graves o f Lust

(i .e. Kibro th Hata-avah) . The guards said that it was cust omary t o offer prayers . So then we did .

” From here tothe Mo unt of God it was perhaps four miles altogether

,the

lengt h of the valley being sixteen miles (0 . 3 1) The plainwas presumably the present plain of Er Raha .

Acco rdin g to Etheria the Israelit es waited in this plainwhen Mo ses went up into the Mount of God— there was alsothe place where the calf was made— it was the valley at thehead of which was the place where holy Mo ses was when hefed the flocks of his father-in-law when God spoke to himfrom the Burning Bush . But as their route was first toascend the Mount of God at the side from which they wereapproaching because the ascent was easier, and then todescend to the head of the valley where the Bush was , thenceretracing their steps so as t o see the places mentioned inScripture

,they spent the night at a certain monastery where

kindly monks dwelt and where they were all well received .

There was a church there and a priest (this place has not beenidentified) . It was the night preceding the Sabbath , and earlyon the following morning they made the ascent of the mountainsone by one with the priests and the monks that lived there .

And you must go straight down each mo untain until you


an ive at the foot o f the central one, which is strictly calledSinai . And so

,Christ our God commanding us , and en

co uraged by the prayers of the ho ly men who accompaniedus

,although the labour was great

,fo r I had t o ascend on foo t

because the ascent could no t be made in a chair (sella) , yetI did no t feel it .

” At the fourth hour they reached the peakof Sinai where the Law was given , the place where the majestyof Go d descended on the day when the mountain smoked ,

and then they found a church , small because the summit o fthe mount where it sto o d was small , but with a large measureof grace . They were jo ined by the priest of the monasterywho served the church, fo r no one permanently lived on themountain where was the cave and the church where holyMo ses was (c . Passages were read o f the bo o k o f Mo ses

,

the party communicated and received a present o f first fruits

(pomis) from the monks , and Etheria asked questions aboutt he vari ous sites , including t he cave where Mo ses was whenhe ascended the mo untain a second time t o receive the tablesand o ther sites , bo t h tho se which we asked t o see , and thoseabout which they themselves knew . But this I would have y ouknow

,ladies

,venerable sisters , that the mountains which we

had at first ascended without di fficulty, were as hillocks compared with the central one on which we were standing . An d

yet they were so eno rmous that I thought I had never seenhigher

,did no t this central one o vertop t hem by so much .

Egypt and Palestine,the Red Sea and t he Parthenian (i .e.

Medit erranean) Sea , which leads to Alexandria , also the

bo undless territories o f the Saracens , we saw below us , hardthough it is to believe all which things these ho ly men po intedo ut t o us (c . As a matter of fact

,the Red Sea is no t

visible from the Gebel Musa , but from t he Gebel Katrin .

Etheria ’s mention o f a church on the height , however , showsit was the Gebel Musa she ascended .

From the Mount o f God they descended t o the mou ntainj o ined to it called Ho reb ,

where t here was a church and wherethey saw the cave where Elijah hid and the stone altar (sic)which he built . This description and the later accoun t o f

Antoninus Martyr (cf . below) show that at this period Ho rebwas accounted a di fferent height from the Moun t o f the Law.

After seeing a great ro ck with a flat surface on which sto odAaron and the seventy elders when Moses received the Law


and in the middle there is a sort of altar made of stonesthe party began the descent at about the eighth hour and atthe tenth hour they reached the Bush it is alive to thisday and puts forth shoots . Here there were many cells ,a church , and a garden with the Bush, and the party partooko f a light meal in the garden and remained the night (c .

On the next day they explored and saw the following : theplace of the camp of the Israelites

,

— the place where thecal f was made

,a great stone is fixed in that place t o this

day , — the spot from which Moses watched the Israelitesdancing,— the rock on which the tables were broken ,

—thedwelling places of the Israelites o f which the foundationsmade in circular form remain to this day

,— the place where

the Israelites ran from gate to gate,

—also the place where thecalf was burnt , and the stream out of which the Israelitesdrank — the place where the seventy received the spirit ofMo ses (Num . xi . —the place where the Israelites lusted

(Num . xi . — the place where the camp too k fire (Num .

xi . and the place where it rain ed manna and quails . Thereader is aware that according to the Biblical account

,these

latter sites were far removed from the spot where the Law wasgiven . Thus having seen all the places which the sons ofIsrael visited both go ing and returning

,

” Etheria and herparty started back to Pharan

,distant thirty-five miles . They

then stayed at a station (mansie) in the desert o f Phar'

an thennear the coast

,and then at Clysma (near the present Suez) ,

where they rested,for we had stoutly made o ur way through

the soil of the desert .” Etheria had previously passedthrough Goshen on her way from Egypt into Sinai ; but shenow decided to fo llow up the places visited by the Israelites .So she j ourneyed to Migdol with its fo rt and an o fficercommanding the so ldiery in accordancewithRoman discipline ,

”

and passed Epauleum (LXX fo r Pihahi roth) on the furtherside of the water ; and another fo rt

“Balsefon

” also Othon(LXX for Etham) , Succo th and Pithom . The present Pithomis now a fort

,she wrote , and reached Hero ,

ancientHero opo lis .

Here the party entered the borders of Egypt leaving behindthe territories of the Saracens (c . and moved on to thecity of Rameses , described as a come (i .e. xo

'i jan) situated

near t he presen t Tell er Ro t ab . Finally they reached“ the

city of Arabia ,” and met its bishop . Probably the ancient



after her,lo oked upon Horeb not only as the site t o which

Elijah fled after crossing the desert , but as identical with theplace where he set up the great altar at which he confoundedthe prophets o f Baal .Elim

,again

,was mentioned as a monkish settlement by

Amm onius (c. and his description leaves no doubt thatRaitho u near the present Tur on the coast , two days

’ j ourneyfrom the Bush

,is meant . This settlement retained its name

,

Elim , t ill recent times . Some o f the mediaeval pilgrims lookedupon it as the -actual Elim of the Bible . Thus the Ritter vonHarff, who visited it in 1497 , held that the Israelites hereleft the Red Sea

,and asserted that bones that lay on the

sho re were those of the pursuing Egyptians . But Etheriaand Cosmas (c . 550 ) with a better appreciation o f possibilities

,

located the passage o f the Israelites near Clysma (near thepresent Suez) , and sought Elim o f the Bible

,no t at Raithou ,

but at Arandara,the present Wadi Gharandel .

CHAPTER XII

THE BUILDING o r THE CONVENT

ROM the reign of the emperor Justinian (527—563 ) datesthe fo rtification of the hermit settlement known as the

Bush,which was thereby transfo rmed into a convent

,and as

such , braved the vicissitudes o f many centuries . The fo rt ification was apparently part o f a wider scheme by which theemperor used the peninsula of Sinai as a bulwark against theinvasion from the east . Mo vements among the Easternpeople were threatening the frontier line o f the Roman empireat the time

,and its internal organisation was by no means

secure .

The care which was bestowed on the convent itself mayhave been due t o the favour which the monophys ite fo rm o f

belief fo und for a time with Justinian , and mo re especiallywith his wife , the empress Theo do ra (T It was owingto her influence that Anthimus I was raised t o the see o f

Constant inople , but a syno d convened in the year 536 depo sedhim . At this syno d there were present Paulus II bishop o f

Aila , 1 and Theonas , who described himself as presbytero f Ho ly Mount Syna , and legate o f the church o f Pharan andthe hermitage o f Raithou .

” 2 Theonas apparently acted aslegate owing to the age and infirmity of Pho tius

,bishop of

Pharan . His appo intment shows the close connection thatexisted at the t ime between the three chief hermit settlements in Sinai proper . The presence o f Theonas at Constant inople no doubt furthered, if it did not o riginate , theidea o f fo rt ify

'

mg the convents of Sinai .The building activity of Justinian began about the year

535 . Procopius , his secretary, wrote an account of his1 Lequ ien : Or. Christ , i ii . 7 59 .

2 Labbé : Cone v iii . pp . 8 84, 8 89 .

122 A H ISTORY OF SINAI

relations with Sinai and described the life of the monksas a careful study of death .

” They therefore sought thesolitude that was clear to them . The emperor

,he says

,

built a church for them whi ch was dedicated to the Theotokos,

s o that they might spend their life in continual prayer inthe service of God, not on the summit of the mountain , butbelow it , for on the summit thunder and other heavenlyphenomena were heard at night , which made it impossiblet o spend the night there . Here it was that Moses is said t ohave received the Laws o f God and proclaimed them . Atthe foo t of the mountain Just inian built a military station

,

so that the Saracens might not unawares attack Palestine .

1

A later age produced a decree of Just inian dated to 551 ,which declared the independence of the foundation . Thedecree is no doubt a forgery

,but the independent standing

of the convent was generally accepted . The terms of thealliance which secured the safety of the settlement were firstset fo rth by Said ibn Bat rick , otherwise Eu ty chius , patriarchof Alexandria (933 to whom we owe a full accoun t ofthe building of the convent .

The monks of Sinai , he wrote,hearing of the piety

of Justinian,and the delight that he to ok in building churches

and monasteries , went to him and described how the Ishmaelit e Arabs harmed them by plundering their food stores ,invading and emptying their cells , and entering their churcheswhere they devoured the eucharist . When the empero renquired into their wishes , they said We beg for a monasteryin which we shall be safe . For at that t ime there was noconvent building in which the monks could congregate . Theydwelt scattered in the mountains and along the valleys nearthe Bush from whi ch the Lord spoke to Moses

,having only

a large tower above the Bush which is standing t o this day ,

and a church dedicated to the Virgin ,where they sought

pro tection when those appro ached whom they dreaded .

The emperor despatched with them a legate with full autho rityto the prefect of Egypt , asking that he should be suppliedwith building materials , with men and provisions in Egypt .

He was charged to build a monastery at Kelzem (Clysma) ,and a monastery at Raya (Raithou) , and one on Moun tSinai

,this t o be so fortified that no better could be fo und .

”

1 Pro co pius : De E difie. , v . 8 , t ransl. Pal. Pilg. S o c . , i i . 189 7 , 147 .



mountain , and built the monastery near the Bush enclosingthe tower, an d a church on the summit of the mountainwhere Moses accepted the Law . The name of the superio rwas Doulas . But the change of plan so annoyed the empero rthat it co st the legate his life .

In o rder to safeguard the building,Roman slaves were

brought from the Black Sea (traditionally from Wallachia) ,a hundred in number

,and transferred to Sinai with their

wives and children,to gether with a hundred men with their

wives and children from Egypt . Dwellings were erectedfo r them in Mo unt Sinai so that they might safeguard themonastery and the monks they received their supplies fromEgypt . Their settlement was

"

known as the Deir Abid (i .e.

monastery o f slaves) , and their descendants cont inued theret ill the spread of the Mo slim faith . Moreo ver the BenuSaleh were appointed to act as ghafirs or protectors t o themonks

,that is

,they were responsible — for those moving t o

and fro across the desert , in return for which they receivedlargess in the form of foo d .

1 The same terms were mentionedby Makrizi (11441 ) in his History of the Copts, 2 and by thePerigraphe 1n its Arabic translation of the yearAccording to this the Benu Saleh

,the Saidi and the Halig

(Aleyat ) were attached t o the service of the convent which ,in return , supplied them with food .

The impo rtance which the agreement attached to theBenu Saleh

,was in keeping with the ancient establishm ent

of this tribe in the peninsula,and their association with

rites o f religious impo rtance in clo se Vicinity to Gebel Musaand on Gebel Musa itself . The tomb of Nebi Saleh lies inthe Wadi Sheykh at a distance of a few miles from the convent .It is the scene of an annual tribal festival which concludeswith a pilgrimage half-way up the Gebel Musa , where a sheepis sacrificed over a natural hole in the rock . This is lookedupon as a fo otprint of the holy camel

,no doubt originally o f

the Naga,whi ch was the creation of Nebi Saleh .

Early references and the nature of the festival leave nodoubt as to its antiquity .

1 Eut y chius : Annales , 10 7 1 .

2 Makrizi : H isto ry of the Copts , p . 1 16 .

3 Cheikho : L es arehév ues da S ina i , in M elanges de la faculléo rien tale de S t . j o seph, i i . 19 0 7 , p . 40 8 , ff.

THE BUILDING OF THE CONVENT 125

Thus , the writer Antoninus Martyr, who , about the year

530 ,entered Sinai from Gaza

,j o urneyed by way o f Elath

(Elusa) , at the beginning of the des ert that go es to Sinai,

and ment ioned a festival that was about to take place . Thepeople who entered the greater desert were in numbertwelve thousand (c . On the eighth day after leavingGaza

,he reached the place where Mo ses brought fo rth water

from the rock,and came t o Ho reb

,which , in his estimation ,

was distinct from Sinai .Mount Syna

,

” he wrote , is stony,and there is little

earth,and in its neighbourho od are many cells of men who

serve God , the same in Ho reb . And in this part of themountain the Saracens have an ido l of marble white as snow .

A priest (sacera’

os) of theirs dwells there , who wears a dalmatica and a linen

'

cloak (pallinrn) . And when the t ime oftheir festival comes previous to the appearance of the mo on

(prceenrrente lune ) , before it appears on the festive day ,the marble begins t o change its co lour

,and when they begin

t o ado re it,the marble is black as pitch . The time o f the

festival being o ver,it returns to its fo rmer co lour . At this

I wondered greatly .

” 1

The rites that are accounted ho ly in this neighbourho o dare asso ciated with different prophets . Prof . E . H . Palmer

(T 1882 ) remarked‘

that the Bedawyn o ften fail t o discriminate between Nebi Saleh

,Mo ses and Mohammad . Thus

,

the foo tprint o f the camel which was venerated at the con

elusion o f the festival o f Nebi Saleh ,has been inco rporated in a

tradition regarding Mohammad, who after death was carri ed

alo ft by a camel of so prodigous a size that it sto o d with one

foot in Damascus,one in Cairo

,one in Mecca

,and one in Sinai . 2

The monk Antoninus Martyr made a short stay at theconvent , and wro te that the days o f the festival of theIshm aelites were drawing t o a clo se

,and the order went forth

that no one should remain in the desert through which wehad come , so some returned to the Ho ly City Jerusalem)through Egypt , o thers through Arabia (c .

1 Ant o ninu s Martyr , c . 3 8 . Acco rding t o ano ther t ext printed byGeyer : Quando et iam venit t empu s fest iv it at is ipso rum recurrent e

luna , an t equam egred iatur luna , ad d iem festum ipso rum inc ipitco lo rem mu t at e m arm o r illa (ed . 1 89 8 , p . 184,

2 o rd . S urvey, 1. 67 .


The work o f feeding the Arabs who came to the conventwas no mean undertaking . Anastas ius , the monk ,

wrote thatthe Armenians more especially came there , it was theircustom as it was the custom of every one .

” There were sixhundred of them on one occasion , and a man amongthem who waited on them and then disappeared . In theestimation of Anastasius this was Moses himself

,who came to

receive his visitors (no . The number of pilgrim s at thist ime (0. 600) was less , he remarked , than thirty years before ,when as many as eight hundred came and ascended the holymountain ,

where they saw a vision of God and a miracle,

the summit of the mountain appearing enveloped in fire

(no . The appearan ce of fire on the mountain hadpreviously been mentioned by Ammonius about the year 3 7 2 .

It may have formed part of a system of signalling adoptedby the Bedawyn .

This confusion between the di fferent p rophets is reflectedin a statement in the Perigraphe in the Arabic translationof 17 10 ,

which described Saleh as a Christian who had histomb not far from the monastery .

1 This tradit ion shouldbe compared with one current in the Middle Ages thatMohammad the Pro phet was the disciple of a Christian monk .

The tomb of Saleh in the Wadi Sheykh was noticed byBishop Po co cke in 17 26 (i . and Burckhardt , in 18 16 ,

mentioned the celebration held here which took place in thelast week in May (p . This festival was described in detailby Tischendo rf who saw it in and by Prof . E . H . Pahn er

,

who witnessed it in June ofThe fest ival took place at the time when the dates ripened

,

and lasted three days . Tribes from all parts of the peninsula ,including women and children ,

assembled in the Wadi Sheykhnear the insignificant -looking tomb which consisted of adomed chamber cemented over , with an empty coffin standinginside . Pieces of cloth ,

ostrich eggs,tassels and other parts

of camel equipment were brought as offerings and suspendedfrom the roof . The first step in the festivity consisted inrenovating and whitewashing the tomb . In a large tenterected o utside forty to fifty men assembled and sat in a

1 Che ikho : p . 41 1 .

2 Tischendo rf Voyage, 1868 , p . 55 .

2 o rd . S urvey, i . 2 0 9 .



Christian pilgrims hardly slept all night . It included abestial service in the belief that tho se who were here conceivedwere endowed with a holy and prOphet ic spirit (prolesenim hic concepta , sanct o et prophet ico spiritu plena ab eisaest imatur) .

1 The spot chosen seems.

to have been a cavebetween the chapel of Mo ses and the small mo sque . Similarunions led , from the same belief according to Tobler, t o thedesecration at one t ime of the holy cave at Bethlehem .

2 Thiscave

,according t o a statement of Jerome

,was connected with

the cult of Adonis in ancient times . Perhaps the ho ld whichthe Saracens had on the Gebel Musa in early days wasanother reason why the convent builder chose the lower site .

No further mention is made of the church of S t ..Athanasius

which the empero r Justinian had constructed at Clysma .

The monastery which he built o r fortified at Raithou frequentlyserved as a refuge t o the monks o f the convent in times o fstress . Its church was dedicated to St . John the Baptist ,and co ntinued till the perio d o f Turkish domination when itwas destroyed .

The convent o f the Bush alone continued . It had anindependent standing , perhaps owing t o its being originallymerged with the bishopric of Pharan . The head of the housewas chosen from its inmates

,and he called himself bisho p.

Later he assumed the title of archbishop . Owing, however ,to his peculiar standing he was referred to as archbishop ata t ime when he called himself bishop only

,as we shall see

later .The convent at first served as the nucleus o f the numerous

hermitages in southern Sinai . Later, as these disappeared ,it cont inued in proud isolation . In addit ion to the house atRaithou ,

it acquired property and built priories in manyo utlying districts , and rose t o a position of importance thatwas in every way exceptional .The convent retains to this day its original appearance .

It is enclosed by walls built of well dressed blo cks o f greygranite forming an irregular quadrangle , 280 feet at it s greatestlength

,and 2 50 ft . at its greatest breadth . The walls enclosed

the old tower,a church, and the convent buildings , with the

1 Grego r v o n Gam ing : Ephemeris peregrinationis , in Pez : ThesaurusAnecdo l . , i i . part 3 , p . 49 8 .

2 To bler : Go lgo tha ,ed . 1 849 ,

p . 13 9 .

THE BUILDING OF THE CONVENT 129

cells fo r the monks , a guest-house , bakeries , stables , and alibrary . Adjoining these buildings was the garden , whichextended on one side , along the valley about 200 feet , withseveral springs of good water, and plantat ions of fruit trees ,including olive

,pomegranate , almond and peach

,pear and

apple trees .

“The produce of these remained famous throughout the Middle Ages .

The church was a basilica in the Byzantine style . It waslighted by five windows on either side , and the entablature o fthe nave rested on round arches which were suppo rted by sixpairs o f granite co lumns with leafy capitals . The ro of waso f cypress wo od co vered with lead , and contained three contemporary inscriptions . One o f these commemo rated “

o ur

ho ly king , Justinian the Great ; ano ther was devo ted t othe memo ry o f Theo do ra , who died in 548 the third calleda blessing on the builder , Stephano s and his family . Lo rdGod

, who didst appear on this spo t , save and bless thy slaveStephano s

,the builder of this monastery

,from Aila

,and No rma

(his wife) , and give rest to the souls o f their children ,George

,

Sergius,and Theo do ra .

” 1

The church was dedicated to the Virgin , as we learn fromEu ty chius , whose statement was confirmed by MagisterThietmar in 12 17 , and by the Papal Bull of 1226. In the MiddleAges it was sometimes spoken o f as the church o f St . Katherine

,

and later still as the church of the Transfiguration . Thelatter name was due to a great mosaic representation on the apsewhich is shown by its style t o belong t o the seventh o r eighthcentury . The mo saic was first drawn and described by Labo rdeand Linant . 2 On this mosaic the youthful Christ was represented soaring towards heaven

,with Elij ah on one side pointing

t o Him , while Moses on the other side stands with handupraised . John is seen kneeling , Jam es also is representedkneeling, Peter is prostrate . Each figure is named . This sceneis framed by thirt y medallions , which represent the TwelveApostles

,Paul

,the superior of the convent , who is not named ,

and sixteen prophets . Above , t o the right , Moses is seenkneeling before the Bush to the left , he is representedholding the Tables . Below,

are two angels with extended

1 Nec tarius : Epi t , p . 159 . Ano ther read ing is“ S t ephano s, so n o f

Martyrio s , bu ilder and arch it ec t , from Aila .

”

2 Labo rde c t Linan t Voyage de l’

Arabie P . trc"e, 183 0 .

130 A HISTORY OF S INAI

wings and two further portraits of which the one showsa bearded man with flowing locks

,the other a woman with

clo se-fit t ing head-dress . They are sometimes pointed o ut asConstantine and Helena , sometimes as Justinian and Theodora ,but their identity remains unknown . Below

,stand the words

in Greek , In the name of the Father,the Son

,and the Holy

Ghost , the who le of this work was executed for the salvationo f those who contributed towards it by Longinus

,most

holy priest and superior (7 05 do iwr ofr o v wpeo fivre’

pov Ka i.1 The floo r was covered with a mosaic which

was torn up by the Arab treasure seekers in the fifteenthcentury

,but restored by Bishop Anastasius (1583

Two crypts inside the convent walls served to house thebones of the dead . Their corpses were first laid for two o r

three years on an iron grating in a cellar the skull was thentransferred to one crypt and the bones to the other . Thebones were sorted and added to the piles of correspondingbones

,so that the femurs

,the tibias

,etc .

,lie piled together .

The archbishops ’ corpses were , however preserved intact , and,wearing their robes , 2 were placed in mummy coffins . The useof the iron grat ing and the crypts dates back to the earliestdays of the convent

,for among the sto ries collected by

Anastasius , one described how two corpses were laid sideby side on the grat ing, but the one , disliking the proximityof the other, repeatedly moved, throwing it out o f place ,until it was officially adjured not to do so .

The convent in cluded a hostel for the aged and for pilgrims ,built by a certain Isaurus (quedam I sauro ) . It attractedthe attention of Pope Gregory the Great (592 who ,

hearing of it,forwarded to John Climacus

,who was superior

at the time,woo llen coverings and bedding for fifteen beds ,

together with money wherewith t o purchase feather-beds .At the same time he wrote to Father Palladi ns , to whom he

fo rwarded a cowl or tunic . The Pope had previously writtento John Climacus , complimenting him on having reached aharbour of safety while others were to ssing on a sea of religiousdifficult ies .

3 He seems to have made a perm anent grant to

1 Nect arius : Epi t , p . 159 .

2 Ro binso n , E . : Researches , v o l. i . 9 9 .

2 Grego rius : Epist . L iber in M igne : Patr. Lat . , lxxvn . xi . 1 ,

p. 1 1 18 ; xi . 2 , p . 1 1 19 ; i i . 2 3 , p . 562 .



Greek Old Testament , of the New Testament , and of someimportant early Christian works , including the S hepherd ofHermas . Attention was attracted to this Codex by Tischendorf

, who came to the convent in 1844 to inspect the MSSand having identified some of its pages

,returned in 1853 ,

in 1854, and in 1859 , when he finally acquired it for Petrograd,a facsimile copy being deposited at the convent . A fewleaves are at Leipzig . Another notable treasure was aSyriac Codex of the Gospels of a very early date

,whi ch was

disco vered as a palirnpsest and photographed by the sisters ,Mrs . Smith-Lewis and Mrs . Gibson , in 1893 . Again

,there

was the Evangeliarium Theodosianum,a collection of passages

from the New Testament written in gold lettering on parchment

,which was seen and described by Burckhardt in 18 16

,

and is dated to about the year 1000 .

The Greek MSS . that are in the library were recentlyexamined and catalogued by Prof . Gardthausen o f Oxford .

The list contains 1230 entries of MSS . that are all o f a religiouscharacter . Prof . Gardthausen noted the names of over twohundred scribes , and other details which show that some ofthe MSS . came from Crete , Cairo , and Cyprus . 1 The Syriac andPalestinian-Syriac MSS . were catalogued by the ladies SmithLewis and Gibson . They are over three hundred in number .The Christian Arabic MSS . catalo gued by the same ladies ,amounted to six hundred and eighty entries .2

The importance which was secured to the convent reactedon the standing of the bishopric of Pharan

,the representative

o f which seems to have removed to the convent . WhenPeter

,patriarch of Jerusalem , (524—

544) summoned his bishopsto a synod in 538 , Photius , bishop of Pharan ,

who was closeupon seventy years of age , was unable to leave MountSinai

,which suggests that he lived there . Stephen of

Cappadocia , mentioned above , Dulcet ius and Zosimus weredeputed to represent him . We again hear of Zosimus as oneo f three monks o f Sinai

,whom Apollinaris

,the orthodox or

Melkite patriarch of Al exandria (550 summoned toAlexandria . Of these he consecrated Theodor bishop ofLeont 0po lis , an unnamed monk ,

bishop of Heliopolis,and

Zosimus bishop o f Babylon (Cairo) . But Zosimus had no1 Gard thau sen , Vict o r : Catalog . Cod . Gm ’c . S in . , 18 86 .

2 Smith-Lewis, Agnes : S ina it ic S tudies , nr . 1 , nr. 3 .

THE BUILDING OF THE CONVENT 13 3

taste for the episcopate,and soon returned t o his cell in

Sinai . 1

Likewise do we hear that Gregorius, who had presided over

the monks in Sinai , was cho sen t o succeed Anastasius , bishopof the see of An tioch who was evicted in the year 569 .

Acco rding to information provided by Evagrius hehad there been besieged by the Kenite Arabs .2 The countrygenerally seems to have been at the mercy of the Arabs ,which resulted in the abandonent o f the hermitages

,while it

added t o the prestige o f the convent .

About this time the convent became the home o f a youngmonk who was always silent . He was the only surv iv ing sono f the emperor Maurice

,and was saved by his nurse when all

the other sons were put to death by Phocas (602 Whenhe died hi s bo dy disappeared . Perhaps it was carried byGod to the realms of the living

,was the verdict of the monk

Anas tasius (no .

The last bishop of Pharan we hear of was Theodor,who

proposed the so -called mono thelite mo dificat ion o f the mono

phy sit e do ctrin e , h0ping thereby t o secure re-union with theChurch . In its interest he went to Constantinople

,where

he was honourably entertained by the patriarch Sergius

(610—638) ,wh0 impressed Pope Hono rius (625—638) in Theodo r’

sfavour . Obj ection was

,however

,raised t o the new doctrine

by the monk S ophron ius , who later became patriarch ofJerusalem (634 and disapproval of it was expressed bythe Lateran Syno d of and by the Sixth General Councilof Constant inople in 68 1 .

In the Wadi Feiran lie the ruins o f a convent and a churcho f some importance which were described by the OrdnanceS urvey (1. and are without doubt the remains of theepiscopal seat of Pharan .

1 Mo schus : Pratum ,no . 12 3

—4, 12 7 .

2 Evagrius : H ist . E ccles . M igne : Patr . Gram, lxxxvr. 2 , p . 2 8 0 3 .

2 Eu t y ch iu s : Annales , p . 10 8 2 .

4 Labbé : Conc . , x . 1 0 7 1 .

CHAPTER XIII

MOHAMMAD AND ST. KATHERINE

HE collapse of the Roman power in the East preparedthe way for the Moslim conquest o f Sinai and

Egypt . During the lifetime of Mohammad changes wereeffected along peaceful lines . The efforts of the Prophetwere directed , in the first place , against standing abuses andobsolete customs in Arabia itself . But

“

the strong desire forexpansion westwards among the Arabs drew his attentiono utside the limits of Arabia proper, and we hear of his enteringinto relation with neighbouring centres . Thus it is said thatTahhieh Ibn Robah of the port of Aila , waited on the Prophetwhen he was staying at Tarbuk, and that he received fromhim a woollen garment in return for paying a po ll-tax . IbnIshak cited by Makrizi (T 1441) stated that thus firmdn wasdated to the ninth year of the Hegira

, i .e. 530—53 1 ,

and assuredp rotection to Tahhieh, the people of Aila , the bishop and all

on land and water . And the city did not cease to prosper . ” 1

The garment whi ch Makrizi called a cloak of the Prophet ,was subsequently purchased by the Caliph of the Benu el

Abbas . Aila cont inued to flourish,and Mukaddisi (c. 985)

described Wailah as a populous and beautiful city amongmany palm trees with fish in plenty

,and the great port of

Palestine and emporium of the Hedj az,

” but the true Ailalies near by it and is now in ruins .2

A later age claimed that the convent of S inai also securedafirmdn under the hand o f the Prophet . It was alleged thatMohammad

,on one of his j ourneys with Ali

,al ighted under

the wall of the convent , and that Ali penned the firmdn,t o

which Mohammad, who could not wri te, set the mark of his1 Makrizi : Desc. , 11. 2 5 , t rad . 19 0 0 , De la vi lle d

’

E ilah, p . 532 .

2 Description of S yria, transl. Pal . Pilg . 1892 , vo l. 3 , p . 64.

134



how the Christian Saracens , who dwelt near the tower ofPharan and the Holy Bush

,sought refuge in the holy mo untain

,

but could not resist the numerous invaders,and therefo re

decided to accept the faith o f the Pro phet .

‘One man was aboutto fly

,when his wife begged him to kill her and the children

rather than leave them at the mercy of the barbarians . Hedid so

,and then fled to Horeb , where , like Elij ah , he dwelt

with wild beasts t ill he felt the approach o f death . Then herepaired t o the Ho ly Bush

,where he lay in the guest-house

and where “ some of the monks,st ill among the living

,

saw him and heard him describe the shining figures whichhe saw appro aching as he lay on the point of death . Theywere

,I believe

,the angelic bands of the martyrs who came

fo rth to greet him (no .

In Egypt itself,the Christians continued to be Oppressed .

A government survey, undertaken by the min ister of finance ,Obeidallah Ben Hab-Hab

,resulted in a poll-tax being levied

o n them in addit ion t o the usual land-tax . Again , Osannaben Said eI Tanuchi confiscated the property of the Christians ,branded each monk with a sign on the hand , and he who hadno sign fo rfeited his hand . Hence the Copts o f Egypt t o thisday are marked with a cro ss on the hand . Mo reo ver

,every

Christian who had no legitimation papers was mulcted tendinars . In 7 37 , in 7 50 ,

and again in 83 1 o r 852 the Copts o fEgypt were in revo lt .

1

In spite of the Arab conquest , Sinai , like Jerusalem andRome

,continued t o stand o ut as a goal o f Christian pilgrimage .

‘According to the account of a monk of Redon in Brittany,

a certain Fromont and his brother,men of high standing

,

went there . They had murdered their uncle,an ecclesiastic

,

and repented,and went before King Lothair (855 His

bishops decreed that the bro thers should be chained andbound together and should do penan ce by going to Rome

,

Jerusalem and Sinai . In Rome they were received by Po peBenedict III (858 who gave them his blessing, an d theyto ok bo at fo r Jerusalem

,where they spent several years .

From there they went into the Thebaid -where they fasted withthe monks

,and they finally reached Sinai , where they spent

three years . Still wearing the chains that boun d themtogether, they returned by way of Rome to Rennes , where the

1 Renaudo t , E . S . : H ist . Patriarch. Alex. ,1 7 13 , p . 841 .

MOHAMMAD AND ST . KATHERINE 13 7

one brother died . Fromont t hen went to Redon , and oncemore started fo r Rome . But he returned t o Redon where ,his penance being at an end

,his chain was taken from him ,

and where he died .

1 Bishop Po co cke was shown a cellsome way up the Gebel Musa where two bro thers dwelt whowere chained together . 2 The bro thers from Rennes are probably meant .Another account which seems to date from the first half

o f the ninth century described the Houses of God,and thus

described Sinai . In ho ly Mount Sina there are four churches ,one where the Lo rd spoke t o Moses on the summit o f themountain ; one dedicated to St . Eli j ah ; another dedicatedto St . Elisaeus and a fourth in the monastery of St . Mary .

The abbot is Elias,who has under him thirty monks . The steps

that lead up and down the mountain are 7 700 in number .” 3

A list of the archbishops of Sinai was compiled at theconvent in the seventeenth century

,which begins with Marcus ,

who se date is given as But the official report of theFourth Syno d held at Constantin ople

,in 869

—87 0 ,contains

the signature o f Constantine,bishop of Syna .

5 Ano therbishop was Jo rins

,who died and was enshrined in Bethune in

Belgium in the year 1033 . A hymn there written in his honourdescribed him as bishop o f Sinai .

” 6 He was probablytravelling fo r the purpo se o f co llecting alrns fo r hi s convent .

From the histo rian Ro do lfus Glaber (0 . 900— 1044) we

hear that the dukes of No rmandy,more especially Duke

William (92 7 -942 ) and his successors , were liberal in their giftst o churches and convents

,and that monks from Mount Sinai

came every year to Rouen,from where they departed loaded

with gifts (exenia) in gold and silver .

7 It was in connectionwith these grants that the fame o f St . Katherine o f Alexandriaspread to Europe in the course o f the eleventh century .

The cult o f St . Katherin e , virgin saint and martyr, is

1 De Fro t omundo , in Mabillo n : Acta 0rd . S t . B enedicti . , v o l . 11, 2 19 .

2 Poc o cke : i . 146 .

2 Commemorato rium , a MS . o f the 9 th o r 10 th century , edit . To blerDescripti ones Terrae S anctae, 18 7 4, p . 139 .

4 Perigraphe, p . 152 .

5 Labbé : Conc . , v o l . xvi . p . 194.

6 Lequien : Or . Chris i ii . 7 54 .

8

7 Glaber : H ist . Lib. Qu inque, in Co llect ion pour servir (i l’

histo ire,1 8 6 .


among the curious developments of legendary hi story,for

her name appears for the first t ime about three hundred yearsafter her reputed existence . She is first named in the Life ofPaulus j unior (T who was called a Latro from MonsLat rus

,where he dwelt . The account of his life was written

by a contemporary .

1 It describes how three hundred monksfrom Sinai and Raithou sought refuge in Mount Lat rus inKaria from the persecutions of the Saracens (c .

The monks continued in close connect ion with Sinai .Gabriel sang the Psalms of David as he had done at the Bush

,

and when a pilgrimage was undertaken to pray fo r rain,

Gabriel obtained the desired result (c . The fame of themonks of Sinai as rain-makers was no ted by Robinson and byProf . Palmer .2 Paulus himself was devoted to various saints ,among whom was the martyr Aekatherina ; the thought ofher filled him with j oy

,and gave him a special power . One

day the monks were s i tt ing down to a meal in the Open air whena rain cloud came up . Paulus bade them remain seated , andnot a drop of rain fell un til they had finished their meal , whenit poured .

Direct information on St . Katherine , in this case calledAekatherina, stands in the M enology of Basileus which isdated between 957

—102 7 . It stated that the saint dweltat Alexandria

,and was the daughter of a wealthy king .

She was dignified in appearance and learned in Greek letters ,philosophy

,and language . After witnessing a fest ival o f the

Greeks,she approached the emperor Maxim ianus (A.D. 307 )

and blamed him for igno ring the living God and adoring lifelessidols . The empero r summoned fifty learned men to meether in argument

,threatening them with death if they failed

to confound her . But the learned men were convinced bythe lady and accepted baptism

,whereupon they were put t o

death . Aekatherina was beheaded .

3

A detailed account of the martyrdom was written bySimeon Metaphrast es (j c . with discussions between thelearned men and the lady

,and with further in cidents including

the conversion of the general , Porphyrios ; the interest whichthe Augusta took in Katherine ; the fashioning of spiked

1 Vita Pauli Jun . , in Analecta B o ll. , xi . 18 9 2 , p . 1—7 4, 136-18

2 Robinso n : 1. p . 13 2 0rd. S urv. , i . 60 .

2 No v . 2 5 . M igne : Patr . Green , cxv i i . 1 7 9 .



he served for several years in the convent before he became ahermit near the Red Sea . But here he was so much disturbedby the sailors and others who came fo r the oil petro leum) ,that flowed from the rock near his cell , that he removed firstt o the summit O f Mount Sinai , where the Law was given , aplace deserted because o f the restless Arabs , and then to theconvent itself . It was the time of the great famine in Egypt

,

(probably that o f but in the convent there was plentyof food fo r the brethren an d for the Arabs who crowded therewith their wives and children .

From the Chronicle of Hugo of Flavigny (c. 1096) we learnthat it was customary for the monks at the convent to taketurns in ascending the mountain on the sabbath , in order tocelebrate mass at the shrine of St . Katherine and collect theo il that flowed from the bones .

1 This shows that the bodyo f the saint at this t ime lay enshrined on a mountain whichwas probably the Gebel Musa itself . For an ancient prayercontains the wo rds Lord

,who didst give the Law to Moses

on the summit o f Mo unt Sinai,and who

,on the same spo t ,

dids t depo sit,through thy holy angels

,the body of the blessed

Katherine,virgin and martyr .

” 2 At a later date we hearof bodies o f saints lying enshrined in the small church thatstoo d on the summit o f the Gebel Musa . The fact that o il

flowed from the bones is to ld o f many saints . Contrary t o theusually accepted belief

,the scientific explanation is probably

as fo llows . The body lay in a co ffin of cedar wood o r o therwood that is naturally charged with o il . If the heat generatedin the co ffin is great

,it wo uld cause the oil t o o o ze and co llect

on the bones or any o ther co ld substance , forming into drops .

The monk Simeon was serving his turn at the shrine,and

drawing o ff the o il that had co llected into a glass phial , whenthree small (finger) bones of the saint came lo ose and werecarried down with it . Simeon took charge o f them as apriceless treasure . As an envoy was needed to go to No rmandyt o co llect the usual alrns

,he started

,carrying the relics with him .

He travelled by way of Egypt , but the Italian galley in whichhe sailed was seized by pirates . He escaped by jumping overboard and eventually reached An tio ch

,where he fell in with

'

a band of pilgrims,with whom he j ourneyed to Normandy

1 Chron ico n , i i . 2 6 in M igne : P a tr. Lat . , cliv . 2 52 Can isius, H. Thesaurus M on . Eccles . , iv . 1 7 2 5 ,

p . 345 .

MOHAMMAD AND ST. KATHERINE 141

by way o f Belgrad and Rome . In the meantime , DukeRichard III

,duke o f No rmandy (993 had died, but

an abbey was in course o f ccnst ruct ion near Rouen ,and Simeon

deposited the relics with the abbo t Isambert befo re he leftfo r Verdun and fo r Treves . The relics wo rked wonders .Isambert suffered from to o thache and was divinely di rectedto the oil which bro ught him relief . Other miraculous curesfollowed . And the Abbey of the Trinitv near Rouen gained

[Pho to Exclus ive News Agency .

Fig . 17 .— Chapel o n Gebel Musa .

such renown that it came to be known as the Abbey of St.

Katherine .

1

A wave o f enthusiasm fo r St . Katherine now swept acrossEurope . Her name was inscribed on the local NormanKalendar, 2 her sto ry was written and re-written in Latinand in the vernacular, in prose and in vers e . A Latin version

1 Translati o, p . 42 3 , fo o t no t e .

Hardwick : H istorical Enqu iry, et c . , 1849 .


was the work of Amandus , a pupil of Isambert of Treves ,and a semi-Saxon version was written during the reign ofHenry II . An early French version of about 1200 was perhapsthe work of a nun . There were a host of others , many o f

which are in MS . and await tabulation .

1 All accoun ts concludewith the translation of the body to Sinai ; the earlier o nesdwell on the oil

,a cure for all ills . And the story was not only

read . In 1 119 Geoffroy o f Go rham came from Paris toDunstable and wrote a Ludus deKaterina

,which was perfo rmed

by his scho lars,on which o ccasion the clothes that had been

borrowed,to ok fire and were burnt .

Churches and chapels were now built and placed under theprotection of the saint . In 1148 Queen Matilda founded thehospital and church of St . Katherine near the Tower whichcontinued till 1825 , when it was destroyed to make room fo r

the docks . In 1229 King Loui s of France built a church ofSt . Katherine in Paris , which had been vowed by his knightsat the Battle o f Bouvines . First the University o f Paris ,and then the University of Padua

,accepted St . Katherine

as its patron saint,and in the year 1307 the Doge Pietro

Gradenigo founded the Festa dei Dotti in Venice , in honourof her . The numerous incidents in her story supplied pictorialart with a new cycle o f subj ects . The scene o f the martyrdomand translation t o Sinai were first represented on small pictures of a great panel painted by Margarit one d

’

Arezzo

(12 16 which is now in the National Gallery .

In Sinai itself the importance of St . Katheri ne was moretardily recognised . We loo k in vain fo r mention o f her in t heaccount of the Anonymous Pilgrim o f the eleventh century ,

and in the booklet On the Holy Places, which Fret ellus , archdeacon o f Antioch

,wrote fo r the Count of To ulouse about the

year 1 130 . It is no t till the year 12 16, when Magister Thietmar visited Sinai that we hear of the exhibition to a pilgrimof the relics which had now been translated from the height ofthe mountain to the convent church .

1 Knus t Geschichte der Legenden der heil . Katharina von Alert , 189 0 .



that the Christians had a convent there,and some well

cultivated fields , and olive trees of great excellence .

1 TheChristians called it Po rta Santa Katerina or simply SantaKaterina The use of Tur as a po rt bro ught the Sultano f Egypt into relation with the monks , and acted as a safeguard to the convent .

In 10 10 the Saracens bore down on the’

Church of the HolySepulchre at Jerusalem and destroyed it . They then movedon to Sinai with the intention of destroying the convent also

,

but they were warned o ff by seeing the mountain aglow withfire . The chronicler , Ademar , stated that when the repo rtof the proposed attack reached the Sultan

,he and his Saracens

repented .

2 An attack on the port of Aila may have causeda further deviation of trade to Tur . Makrizi (T 1441) recordedthat Aila was pillaged by Abd Allah ben Edits ben Dgo fair,go vernor of El Korah , with the help o f the Benu el Garrah .

3

This put a stop to the transit of goods via Aila to Damascus ,and the Eastern goo ds for Syria as well as those for Egypt werenow disembarked at Tur . This change is reflected in the factthat Tur, sometime between 1020 and 1050 took the place ofKo lzoum as a customs station , although it remained for sometime so poor a place that the appointment there was considered equal to a disgrace .

The rule of the Mo slim until now had brought endlessburdens and Oppression t o the Christ ians in Egypt . Thechurches had been robbed

,the convents had been mulcted

and their inmates had been disgraced by the emir who actedfo r the Sultan . But a change now took place . Bononius ,a Benedictine monk from Bo lo gne

,came to Cairo in 1025 ,

having obtained an interview with the Sultan to request thatthe Christian prisoners should be set at liberty . Bononius

also visited Sinai and Jerusalem .

4 In 1045 the patriarchwho had hitherto dwelt at Alexandria

,removed to Cairo , and

we now hear , in the sparse annals of the convent , of directrelations between the monks and the Sultan .

In the year 1069 John the Athenian ,bishop of Sinai , was

killed during his stay in Egypt under circumstances that are

1 Mukaddisi : 3 , 65 .

2 Ademarus : Chronicle, 3 , 47 , ed . 189 7 , p . 1 7 0 .

2 Makrizi : Descrip. , i i . 2 4 .

Vi ta in Acta S S . B o ll. , Aug . 30 , p . 62 7 .

SINAI DURING THE CRUSADES 145

no t r ecorded . He was canonised at the convent . In theyear 1 103 the bishop Zacharias was mentioned in a firmdn

(eis E'

va Opt apdv) o f Emir Elmoumne , a term explained asimperator fidelium perhaps it was Arnir Abu Mansur (1 10 1

The next bishop,George

,was also recognised by the

Sultan in 1 133 . His successo r at the convent named Gabriel ,who was mentioned in 1146,

was learned in Arabic,and wro te

sermons as is shown by an Arabic bo o k in the convent . Hewas in touch with the Sultan Kaim Impnes Rhaila ,

” who was

Fig . 18 .— El Arish . (Times History of the War. )

perhaps Zafir Abu el Mansur Ismael (1 149 The nextprelate was John

,who se date is fixed at 1 164 by an Arabic

letter which he addressed t o the monks at Raithou . Thenext bishop was Simeon .

1

Of the religious life o f the cities along the Mediterraneancoast little is known at this period . The last bishop of Ostracine known by name was Abraham , o f the year 43 1 . AtRhinoco rura called El Arish by the Mo slim

,later bishops

were Pto lemaeus and Gregorius . Lequien made the mistakeof identifying Rhinocorura with Farma , and mentioned the

1 Nectarius : Epi tome, p . 2 11 Perigraphe, p . 153 .


Jacobite prelates of Farma as prelates of Rhinocorura .

Farina , famous for its palm groves , was near the ruins ofthe ancient Pelusium . El Arish continued an importantcity under Moslim rule , but its architectural features werenot respected . Abu Saleh , the Armenian , who wrote anaccount of the churches and monasteries of Egypt about theyear 107 1 , mentioned E1 Ari sh or Rhinocorura . In thisregion there are two large churches which have stood fromancient times and are now in ruins , but their walls remain upto our time ; and the wall of the city which ran along theside of the Salt Sea , is still existing . It is said that of all themarble and columns which are to be found at Misr (i .e. Cairo)the greater part and the largest specimens came from ElArish .

” 1 (Fig .

The connection of the monks and the Sultan attractedthe attention of Arab writers to the convent . Edrizi (c.

Ibn Zobeir (c. mentioned its existence in generalt erms . Benjamin of Tudela , the Jewish rabbi who acted fo ra time as vizier to Adid (T the last of the Fatim ite rulers

,

held that it was occupied by Syrian monks,who were subj ect

to the Sultan . He also remarked that at the fo ot of themountain lay Tur Sina , a large town ,

the inhabitants ofwhich spoke the language of the Targum (i .e. Syriac) . Itwas close to a small mountain and five days ’ j ourney fromEgypt . 2

The trade v ia Tur naturally brought the monks intocontact with the Further East . Fretellus of Antioch (c. 1130)declared that the monks of Sinai , from the confines ofEthiopia to the utmost bo unds of the Persians , were veneratedin every tongue , possessing their property freely and quietlyamong themselves . Th ey had cells throughout Egypt andPersia

,around the Red Sea and Arabia

,from which all they

required flowed mo st liberally .

” 3 In addi tion t o this,grants

were made t o them by the Crusaders in the lands which theyconquered .

The Pope , from the first , had favoured the Crusades as ameans of extending the influence of Latin Christianity .

When Jerusalem was conquered in 1099 , the Greek patriarch

1 Abu S aleh : Churches, etc. , trans. Bu t ler, 1 89 5 , p . 167 .

2 B enj am in o f Tudela : I t inerary , t rans . Adler, 19 0 7 , p . 7 7 .

1 Fret ellus : j erusalem, et c . , Pal . P ilg . S o c . ,1 892 , vo l . 5 , p . 16 .



1 170 , had a fleet built , with which he sailed around thepeninsula , and attacked and retook Aila . But the enterprisingRenaud de Chatillon (the Alairis of Makrizi) collected materialfor ships on the Dead Sea , conveyed them to the Gulf ofAkaba on camel-back

,and seized Aila from where he pillaged

the coast , and made piratical descents on the shipping for overa year . The small island , I o tabe, later Emrag ,

the presentZigiret el Paraun , lies at a short distance from Aila . It hasno harbour, but is almost entirely built over by a castle withsquared towers in the mediaeval style . The work wasprobably begun in Roman times

,but was added to by Renaud

de Chatillon . But in 1 184 Melek el Adel (Abu Bakr, 1 199t he brother o f Saladdin (117 1 came with a fleet

t o Aila and attacked and finally routed the Franks . Advancingacross the country he re-conquered Petra

,which henceforth

remained under Mo slim rule .

In the meantime the monks were profiting by the goodgraces of neighbouring prelates . In 1203 the archbishopof Crete , described as a lover of St . Katherine , the Virgin ,

bestowed on the monks of Sinai property in Crete whichrepresented an annual income of four hundred ducats ,1

whereupon Simeon , bishop of Sinai went into Crete, where hebuilt a priory (p eréxco v) . In 1204 the Venetians acquired thewhole island of Crete by purchase from Boniface

,marquis

of Montferrat , and Simeon went to Venice where lossesincurred by the monks , were made goo d to him .

2 A letteris extant of the Doge Pietro Ziani of 12 11 ,

in which he confirmedthe ruler of Mount Sinai in the possessions which he held inCrete . It describes the ruler as archbishop

,

” which seemsto be the earliest use of this t itle . Crete remained in thepower of the city of Venice t ill 1645 , and letters are extantfrom successive doges which confirm the rights held by themonks in the island .

3

From Venice Simeon probably went to Rome,where a

general synod was convened by Pope Innocent III (119812 16) in 12 11 . Its purpose was to discuss the state of theHo ly Land , where the son of the bondswoman (i .e. Hagar) ,the most detestable Agarenes, hold our Mother of all the

1 Tafur, P . : ( 1435 Andances et Viaj es , ed . 18 74, p . 94 .

2 Muralt : E ssai de Chron . B yz . ,p . 3 12 .

2 Grego riades : Ho ly M ount S ina,p . 9 8 .


faithful in bondage .” 1 A sermon in Arabic , written by

Simeon , bishop o f Sinai,

” is among the MSS . of the Vatican .

2

In the Regesta o f Pope Honorius III (12 16-2 7 ) we come acrossrepeated mention o f Simeon ,

bishop o f Sinai . A grant o f 12 17gave the pro tection o f St . Peter t o the Monastery of the Virginat the foo t o f the mountain and t o it s possessions ano therconfirmed the bishop o f Sinai and his chapter in those possessions which they held at the time o f the great synod (o f 12 1 1)or had acquired since others advised the bishop of Crete torespect the monks and ho ld them exempt from paying titheson the pro perty which they held in Crete .

3 In the year 12 26

[Pho to Exclusive News Agency .

Fig . 19 .— Zigiret el Faraun .

Pope Honorius granted a bull to Simeon and the monks ofSinai

,o f the o rder o f St . Basil . It is difficult to procure

the text ; its wo rding was probably much the same as thato f a bull granted in confirmation of it by Pope Grego ry IX

(12 2 1 o f which a copy was preserved at the convent .This bull enumerated the po ssessions which the convent heldin tho se co untries o ver which the Pope claimed autho rityby virtue o f the conquests made by the Crusaders .The bull 4 first named Robo e , Fucra ,

Luach , places that

1 Mann, H . K . L ives of the P opes , vo l . 2 , p . 2 9 3 .

2 Assemanni : B ibl. Orien talis, i i , p . 5 1 1 .

2 Ho no riu s, P0pe : Regesta , 188 8 , i . 12 3 ; 11, 1 7 8 , 39 1 , 3 94, 3 9 6 .

1 Chabo t : A propos du co nvent in Revue de l’

Orient . Chrétienvo l. v . ,

190 0 ,p . 495 .


have not been identified . Mention was then made of Rayton

(i .e. Raithou) , with its palm gro ves and property of ho usesand property near the city of Egypt (i .e. Cairo) ,

lan d on theRed Sea ; property and palm gro ves in Faran ; rights (obedientia in the church of St . Michael in Al exandria , and libertyof transit by land and water ; vineyards and olive groves mthe val ley o f Mo ses (i .e. near Petra) ; in Monreale , houses , amill

,vineyards and o live groves ; property in Cro ce (no t

identified) in Jerusalem , rights in the church of St . Michael ,houses and a bakehouse ; in Jaffa , houses and land ; nearAcre

,houses an d the church o f St . Katherine in Laodichea

(near the so urces of the Orontes) , the hospital o f St . Demet rio s and a house ; in Damascus , the church of St . George,houses and property ; at Odavero sa (not ident ified) , houses ,land and vineyards ; near Antioch ,

a house and a bakehouse ;near Constant inople

,rights in the church of St . George o f

Mangana ; in Crete , extensive property , including severalchurches with land pertaining thereto

,several mills

,vineyards

,

etc in the island o f Cyprus,houses

,vineyards

,wo o ds

,

rights of pasture and o f trading .

Simeon,who secured the Papal recognition to these rights ,

was bishop o f Sinai from 1203 to 1253 ,acco rding to Grego riades .

But the list o f bishops which was compiled at the conventby Nect arius named Euthym ius in 12 23 Macarius (I)in 12 24 ,

Germanns in 12 28 ; Theodosius in 1239 ; andMacarius (II) in 1248 , who was named also in an ancientArabic MS .

1 In the year 1258 the ruler was again Simeon .

Some writers ho ld that this was the same Simeon who wentto Europe , and possibly he was the suffragan of the Catholicbishop of Petra . The statements regarding him are di fficultto reconcile . According to Grego riades , the monks of Sinai ,owing to the liberality of the Crusaders , owned property alsoin Tripoli and Gaza

,and the produce of these places and that

o f Damascus was so plentiful as almost to supply their entireneeds .In the year 12 16 a truce was concluded between the Sultan

of Egypt and the Chri stians,whi ch restored freedom of

mo vement to the pilgrims . Magister Thietmar,2 who was in

the Holy Land, availed himsel f of it“ to carry out his fervent

1 Nect arius : Epi t . , p . 2 1 1 ; Cheikho : p . 418 .

2 Th ietmar Magist er : P eregrinati o , ed . Laurent , 185 7 .



frequently saw,by day and by night , a light of great brightness

in or near the place where the bo dy lay . Wondering what itwas

,he went t o the church at the foot of the moun tain ,

anddescribed the sight that he saw and the place where he saw it .The monks

,after fasting

,ascended the mountain , in a pro

cession that was led by him . When they fo und the body,

they greatly wondered whose it was , whence it had come , andhow it was taken there . As they stood there wondering , anaged hermit from Alexandria declared, like Habakkuk theprophet who spoke to Daniel

,that the bo dy had been brought

to Sinai by the grace of God,and he assured those who doubted,

that it was the body o f the blessed Katherine , and had beencarried there by angels . At his instigation , the bishop andthe monks translated the bo dy to the church because theplace where it lay was quite inaccessible (c .Thietmar then asked t o be taken to the height on Momi t

Sinai,where Moses received the Law ,

and on his way thitherhe saw the chapel where the Virgin met the monks who

,on

acco unt o f the lack o f food,and the verm inous condition o f

the convent,were about to leave

,but she bade them turn

back (0 . He also saw the spot where the Virgin promi sedthe monks a plentiful supply of oil for their lamps likewisethe chapel of Elij ah on Horeb the imprint on the ro ck o f

the body o f Mo ses ; and the place where the body of St .Katherine was laid by the angels (c . Befo re leaving theconvent he received some of the precious oil (0 . His homeand the place t o which he went are unknown . An account ofthe Mo slim faith which he added to his narrative

,reflects a

liberal spirit,and

,taken together with his Latinity

,indicates

a man of learning and understanding .

The call of Pope Innocent III , in 12 11 , stirred up an ew thespirit of the Crusaders

,but efforts were now di rected

,in the

first place,against the Sultan in Egypt . Damietta , which lay

on the Tanitic mouth of the Nile,where the Mo slim had

a fo rt , was the scene of many struggles . From January , 12 18 ,to November

,12 19 , it was occupied by the Franks . In the

meantime , the emperor Frederick invaded Palestin e on his ownacco unt , and in 12 29 secured a truce by which the Christianpilgrims were once more enabled t o travel to Jerusalem . Theadvantages which he received were forfeited

,however

,owing

to quarrels among the Christians themselves . The Sultan


marched on Gaza in 1244,and attacked Jerus alem , which was

finally lo st to the Christians . It was in vain that the Frenchking Lo uis IX

,in 1249 ,

occupied Damietta and pillagedOstracine

,which alto gether disappeared . But Louis was taken

pri soner and the resto ration o f Damietta was part of hisransom . Changes among the Mo slim rulers hurried on events .

The Mongo ls,pressing in from the East

,o verthrew the Caliph

o f Baghdad and destroyed the Syrian kingdom . A descendantof the true Prophet was established on the throne of Egyptas a nominal ruler

,while the general

,Eibars (T with the

tit le o f Sultan,extended his autho rity over the greater part

o f Arabia and Syria . Eibars successfully led the campaignagainst the Crusaders . Antio ch fell in 1268 , Tripoli in 12 89 ,

Acre in 12 91 . By these losses the spirit o f the Crusaders wasbroken .

Of the bishops o f Sinai during this perio d, little is known .

In succession t o Simeon (I or II) , John I I I ruled from 1265t o 1290 ,

an d was fo llowed by Arsinius , who was a bo ok. lover .Several books in Greek which are now in the convent librarywere written at his instigation

,and one of them was owned by

him .

1 The next bishop was Simeon (II or I I I) , who ruled from1306 t o 1324,

and was followed by Do ro theus (1324 who

secured a firmdn from the Sultan ,

2 and a bul l from Pope

Jo hn XXII, who was at Avignon at the time . In this bull ,

dated 1328 , the po pe called upon Hugh, kin g o f Cyprus,t o

respect the rights which fo rmer kings o f Cyprus had grantedt o the monks o f Sinai . He also reco gnised their right o f burialin the church of St . Simeon at Famagusta in Cyprus

,and

granted one year’s indulgence to pilgrims who visited theshrine o f St . Katherine in Mount Sinai .It was presumably Bishop Do ro theus who received Duke

Henry II of Brunswick in Sinai in 1330 , who came bearinga lett er from the Greek emperor t o his dear relatives ,

” theGreek prelates . According t o the German record

,the

archbishop o f Sinai ” received the duke in person,and

bestowed on him , among other relics , a thorn from the crowno f Christ , which he had himself received from the king ofFrance t o whom he was sent as envoy . Duke Henry receivedalso oil , and perhaps a bone , from the shrine of St . Katherine ,

1 Gardthau sen : no s . 94, 65 7 , 662 , 67 0 .

2 Nectariu s : Epi t . , p . 2 12 .


which,together with the thorn , he deposited in the church of

the monastery of Walkenried after his return to Germany .

1

The ruler in succession to Do ro theus was Germanus III ,and he was followed by Marcus who is named in an ArabicMS . ,

and went t o Rome in 1376 to collect alrns for hisconvent . It was probably owing to his influence that a bullhad been granted to the monks by Pope Inno cent VI m 1360 .

2

Later bishops included Job , whose name appears in aninscription in the convent church , and the following, whowere named in a Arabic MS . without record of their date .

Athanasius (I) Sabbas ; Abraham ; Gabriel (I I) ; Michael°

Silvanus ; Cyrillus . Mention is also made of one Solomon ,

whose name is not o therwise recorded .

1 Maderus : An tiqui tates B runvicenses , 1661 , p . 2 67 .

2 Bu lls in Archives de l ’

Orient Lat in ,18 8 1

,i . 2 7 4 , 2 8 3 .



wrote an acount of their j ourney, and made mention ofSinai . After this there was a break , no doubt attributable tothe Black Death which swept acro ss Europe in 1348

-49 ,and

t o the war whi ch Peter,king o f Cyprus , waged on Egypt ,

which led to the sack of Alexandria in 1365 . Towards theclo se o f the century pilgrims again became numero us , and sixfurther accounts between the years 1384 and 1397 describea visit to St . Katherine .

1 Again,during the first half of the

fifteenth century visitors to St . Katherin e were relativelyfew, whereas large parties of pilgrims sought the conventbetween 1460 and 1497 , several members o f the same partysomet imes wri ting a description o f their j ourney .

The pilgrims,fo r the mo st part

,sailed from a port in Italy

,

more especially from Geno a or Venice,in galleys , which were

timed to meet the caravans which brought the produce o f

the East to Alexandria and Jaffa . From Alexandria they wentto Babylon (Cairo) , where they pro cured a firmdn from theSultan whi ch established their peaceful intentions in the eyeso f the Bedawyn (Baldensel, p . 343 Frescobaldo

,1384, p . 99 ,

Or they went t o Jaffa and Jerusalem where tho se whowished t o extend their pilgrimage to Sinai proceeded onmule-back t o Gaza

,where camels were chartered for cro ssing

the desert . Travel was facilitated at the t ime by thepermanent foo tho ld which the Franciscans

,fo llowing in the

wake of St . Francis himself had secured at Jerusalemand at Gaza

,and by the est ablishmm t , in various cities , o f

consuls who se chief duty it was t o befri end and protect t hepilgrims . The cities of Florence

,Venice

,Geno a

,and the

Catalans each had a consul in Alexandria in 1384 (Frescobaldo , p . Venice had a consul in Jaffa in 1413 , and one

in Jeru salem in There was a house o r ho stel setapart for the use o f pilgrims in Cairo in 1384 (S igo li , p .

where food was given t o poor pilgrims who were on their wayt o St . Katherine (Martone , p .

1 S igo li , S imo ne Viaggio at M onte S ina i , ed . P iro t i , 183 1

Fresc o baldo , Lio nardo Viagg io ed . 1 8 1 8 ; (Gu cc i : Viaggio inGargio lli : Viaggi in terra

'

santa , 18 62 Mart o ne , N10 L iberP ereg . ad lo ca sancta in Revue de l

’

Orien t Lat in ,iii . 189 5 Briggs ( 139 2 )

inO

Archives de l‘

Orient Lat in , 18 84 ; Anglure , Og ier d (c . Le

sc

é

i n

S

t voyage, ed . B o nardo t et Legno n : S oc . des anciens textes franeais.1 7

2 Heyd , W . v on Gesch. des Levanthandels, 18 7 9 , v o l. 2 , 466 .

THE PILGRIMS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 15 7

Among t he earlier accounts was that of the friar An toninusof Cremona

, who set out from Cairo to Sinai with seven Latinpilgrims in 133 1 ,

going on t o Jerusalem by way of Gaza .

The wish t o visit t he shrine o f St . Katherine was aroused inhim by paintings

,represent ing her story, which were a gift to

his city by a merchant o f Piacenza (p . Again,there was

the Italian no tary,Jacopo of Verona

,who

,after a stay in the

Ho ly Land in 1335 ,pro ceeded t o Gaza

,which he left on

August 28 ,arriving at the convent on September 10 . Jacopo

mentioned as stopping places between Gaza and the conventNo cale (Kala

’at en Nakhl) in o ur language called Phurfurbran) , and Co lebmaleo . At No cale at the Fountain of the

Sultan (Pa tens S oldani) he met over twelve thousand pilgrimswith six thousand camels

, who were on their way back fromMecca

,and who moved in bands acco rding to the countries

t o which they belonged,an arrangement which greatly im

pressed Jacopo (p . At the Pulcas S o ldani the Seigneurd

’

Anglure who was on his way from Gaza t o the convent inOctober of 1395 , met ten thousand Mo slim pilgrims (p .

Ano ther pilgrim,Wilhelm de Baldensel

,in the summer of

1336, rode on ho rseback from Cairo to the convent in ten days ,much t o the surprise of the monks .

“

From here he went ont o Jerusalem (p . Again

,Ludo lf o f Sudheim

,during the

thirteen years which he spent travelling in the East visited thec onvent some time between 1336 and 1341 , and Sir JohnMaundeville was there some time in the course o f his twentyfive years of travel . These pilgrims , like Thietmar

, in 12 16

found the relics of St . Katherine enshrined in a marble chestor sarcophagus which stoo d in the convent church, and wereallowed to see them after they had been the usual round ofthe sights (Ludolf , p .

The relics of St . Katherine consisted of the head and someof the limbs . Jacopo stated that

,besides these

,the monks

had bones stored away in another ches t or area (p .

Maundeville writes he saw the head o f St . Katherine rolled ina bleeding clo th

,and many other holy and venerable relics

,

which I lo o ked at carefully and o ften with unworthy eyes ”

(p . Wilhelm de Baldensel first no ted a silver sco op orspoon which was used for taking up the drops of oil whichexuded not from the sarcophagus

,but from the bones

(p . and whi ch was given in small glass phials t o the


pilgrims (Jacopo , p . This use of a scoop shows that theoil flowed less plentifully than at the time when the chest thatcontained the bones stood on the height , where it was drawno ff by Simeon .

The view was now held that the body of the saint wasoriginally laid by the angels , not on the Moun t of the Law

,

but on the Mount of St . Katherine ,” as we learn from Anto

ninus . Here the impress made by the body on the stone wasshown , which induced the pilgrims to make the ascent of theGebel Katrin . The impress of the body was seen also byRudolf von Fraymansperg ,

who visited Sinai in 1346 (p . 3 bySimone S igo li in 1384 (p . and by others . According todifferent accounts , the body lay exposed on

‘

the height two o rthree or four or five hundred years before it was bro ught tothe convent .

Other legends are related by the pilgrims . Antoninusstated that about a hundred ravens were fed every dayat the convent kitchen in memory of Elij ah , who was fed byravens (p . Sir John Maundeville improved on thisstatement by relating that all ravens

,choughs and crows

of the district flew once a year in pilgrimage to the conventbearing a branch of bay or olive (p . In connectionwith these legends , both the story of Elij ah , and the ravensthat flocked to the convent , it is well to bear in mind thatthe words for raven and Arab sound alike in Arabic .

Many hanging lamps were now kept burning in the conventchurch

,the number of which Jacopo estimated as three

hundred . Sir John held that they indicated the presence ofas many monks , and he added that when the prelate of theabbey died, his lamp Went out and lit again of its own accord,if his successor were worthy (p .

On the Mount of the Law stood the small church whichat one time contained the relics of St . Katherine , and whichcontinued to contain bodies of saints as late as 1384. Nearit was the cavern in which Moses stood when the Lord passed

(Sigo li , p . 82 Maundeville , p . Bey ond it was the smal lmo sque which the Saracens sought in pilgrimage

,and which

t o Antoninus was an ido l o f abomination (p .

The relative position of these buildings and sites is shownon the topo graphical sketch made by Jacopo

,which is here

reproduced (Fig . On it we note the convent church with



its tower, and we are told that inside the convent walls therestood likewise a mosque with a tower of its own ,

from whichthe cazes

,or priest of the Saracens ,pro claimed the Mohammedan

faith,a proceeding to which the halogeri or monks could raise

no o bj ection , since they were under the dominion of theSultan who would have it so (0 . 1335 , p . This mo squeo f the nuzladetta fede was noticed also by the party o f

distinguished Italians who came to Sinai from Cairo in 1384.

These included Leonardo dei Niccoh Frescobaldo fromFlorence,

Simone S igo li from Venice , and a certain Giorgio di MesserGucci di Dino

,each of whom was attended by his serving

man .

The sketch of Jacopo further shows the path leading upfrom the convent to the Mount of the Law where the lawwas given to Mo ses , with the chapel where the BlessedMary appeared ; the church of St . Elij ah ; and the mosque ofthe Saracens . There is also a garden with a fountain , anda zigzag path leading up to a higher mountain where lay thebody of the Blessed Katherine .

” From the summit of thismountain Jacopo saw the Red Sea

,and watched the ships that

carried pepper,ginger, cinnamon , and other spicery from

India . He also went the two days ’ j ourney to Tur,which

he called Elim , where he bathed in the Red Sea . Here hesaw the place where the Israelites came out of the water

,

and remains of the Pharaoh , apparently bones , lying on thesea shore . In the belief that this was Elim o f the Bible

,he

no ticed that there were here, no t seventy palm trees as stated,

but ten thousand date palms , the produce o f which themonks sold at a high price at Cairo (p . From an Arabicsource we hear that special attention was given to Tur in theyear 137 8 , by Salah ed Din Ibn Gourram ,

grand vizier ofEgypt . 1

The number o f pilgrims from Europe who visited Sinai isdifficult to estimate . The guide who was engaged to conductthe Italians from Cairo to the convent in 1384, had takenpilgrims along this route seventy-six times (Sigo li , p .

The knights who wished to be enrolled as Knights of theOrder of St . Katherine , hung up their arms in the conventchurch (Tafur : dexa mi s armis

’ and received a badgewhich showed a broken wheel that was pierced by a sword

1 Weill . Presqn'

fle. P 9 3

THE PILGRIMS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 161

Some pilgrims noted the names and scutcheons o f earlierones

,which

,together with coats of arms , were scratched on

the wall spaces .The zeal of the pilgrims was responsible fo r further develop

ments in the sto ry o f St . Katherine . Ludo lf o f Sudheim in1341 sought the spo t outside Alexandri a where the saint wasbeheaded (p . 827 ) the Italians of 1384 identified the pri sonin which she was confined, the co lumns on whi ch were placedthe spiked wheels that broke o f their own acco rd

,and her

dwelling place where now stands the palace o f the lamelech,

”

i .e. the emir of the Sultan (S igo li , p . 90 Frescobaldo,p .

The co lumns which were of red po rphyry were no ticed also byThomas of Swynburne , an Englishman and mayo r of Bo rdeaux at the time

, who paid a hurri ed visit to Egypt andSinai in 1392 ,

of whch his companion , Briggs , wro te a sho rtaccount .And more than this . The oldest account of Katherine

claimed for her royal descent . The Speculum o f Vincent ofBeauvais (c. 1190

—1264) gave her father’

s name as Co stus .

Another line o f tradition called him Constantius and madehim into a king o f Cyprus , where the monks o f Sinai hadpossessions in the year 12 16. A chapel dedicated t o St . Katherine situated near Salamina or Constantia in Cyprus

,was

visited by Ludolf in 1341 (p . In the year 1394 Niccolode Martone

,the Italian no tary from Carniola , whose desire

t o reach the dominion o f the blessed Virgin in Sinai too khim t o the East

,went from Famagus t a in Cyprus to Constantia ,

which in his estimation was built by Constantius,the father

o f St . Katherine , Here he saw the palace and the chamber,“now in ruins ,

” where St . Katherine dwelt , and near it herchapel

,which many persons sought in pilgrimage (p .

From Famagusta he visited an island to which St . Katherinewent at the suggestion of her mother, in order to consult ahermit regarding her marriage . His advice was that she shouldwed Christ , and in the night an angel appeared, who gaveher a ring (p . This is the first we hear of the mysticmarriage o f St . Katherine

,which henceforth formed an inciden t

in her legend and was further developed . The History ofS t . Katherine, whi ch was written by the Augustinian monkCapgrave about the year 1430 ,

described how a hermit namedAdri an was sent to Alexandria by the Queen of Heaven . He


took the maid into the desert where Christ appeared to herin a dream and gave her a ring .

1 This incident does notappear in the story o f St . Katherine as to ld in the LegendaAurea of Jacopo o f Voragin e , whi ch was written about theyear 1255 . But the English version of the Go lden Legend,which was printed by the Caxton Press about the year 1483 ,

described the gift of an actual ring, further developing thestory . Fo r according t o this acco unt Costus , king of Cyprusand the father o f the saint , was the son of Constantius , kingof Armenia

,who se second wife was Helena

,the daughter of

King Cole o f Britain , and the mother of the emperor Const ant ine . Thus St . Katherine was linked up with the kingsof Britain on the one side

,and with the emperors of Rome on

the otherIn the convent of Sinai no attent ion was given to these

developments,and the Life of S t . Katherine that was read in

the convent confined itself to the facts related by SimeonMetaphrast es .

The convent reached the high-water mark of its pro sperityduring the fourteenth century . It drew a large income fromits o utlying possessions , it received gifts from the Sultanand from the pilgrims , it levied tribute on the goo ds that wereunshipped at Tur . The basis of this arrangement is notdirectly stated, but the writer Piloti , about the year 1440 ,

declared that the tax levied on the goods at Tur was 10 percent . of their value,2 and the Ritter von Harff, about theyear 1497 , held that the monks went shares with the Sultanin the pro fit made on the go ods .

3

The Italians who visited the convent in 1384 found twohundred monks in residence , of whom one hundred and fiftyserved the convent ehapels, and fifty the chapels on theMount of the Law . There were besides a very large numbero f Moslim ,

who dwelt inside the convent precincts (Fresco'

baldo,p .

Foo d was cooked in the convent kitchen every day forfour hundred persons , in huge cauldrons that came fromVenice

,and were conveyed across the desert on camel-back

1 Ed . 189 3 , p . 2 47 .

2 P ilo t i : Tractatus , in M onuments pour servir a l’

histo ire ; Brussels,v o l . iv . p . 35 7 .

2 Harff, A . vo n : Pilgerfahrt, ed . 1860 ,p . 133 .



deal with Mount Sinai, and are as follows (the spelling i smodernised)

In that mount up highI s a m inst er o f o ur LadyThe minst er o f the Bu sh , men call i t ,Wherein the b o dy o f S t . Katherine was pu t .

Also behind the high alt ar

I s where Jesu s did appearIn t hat church t o M o ses ,

When he kept Jethro o f M id ian’

s sheep t ru ly .

In t h e m idst o f t hat hill is a placeWhere did penance t he pro phet Elij ahOn the he ight o f t hat bi ll, by Clerk ’

s saws,Go d gav e t o Mo ses bo t h t he LawsWrit t en in t ables, w ithou t m iss .

Plenary rem issio n t hen i t is .

A garden t here is at n o d ist anceWhere Ono rius (i .e . O n0phrius) did h is penance .

Ano ther hill also is there ,

To whi ch angels did bearThe blessed b o dy o f S t . Katherine ,S he was a ho ly v irg in .

Under that hi ll t ru st tho u m e ,

There runneth the Red S ea .

At each o f t hese places t hat I t o ld ,

I s VII years , and VI I len t o nez ,

” 1 be tho u bo ld .

Thu s from S inai wo u ld I skipAnd t ell o f the pilgrimage o f Egypt et c .

2

1 The m ean ing o f this wo rd m ay be Len ten pardons2 In Purchas His Pilgrims

,reprint , v i i . 566 .

CHAPTER XVI

THE PILGRIMS OF THE MIDDLE AGES

HE war o f retaliation,which the Sultan waged against

the king o f Cyprus , interrupted the flow of pilgrims t othe East in the first half o f the fifteenth century . Moreover

,

the sultans,more especially Bursbai (1423 began t o

squeeze the Christian merchants . Their grievances raised theire o f Emmanuel Piloti , a native o f Crete , who spent twentyfive years in Egypt and Syria , and acquired considerableinsight into affairs generally . He was moved ' t o compo sea missive which he addressed t o Pope Eugenius IV (143 1In this he spoke o f the achievements o f the Crusaders

,in

sisting that Mohammad had called fo r toleration o f theChristians

,a call that was disregarded by Sul tan Bursbai

,

who oppressed them grievously . The resources o f theSultan were eno rmo us . He ruled from Mecca t o India

,and

had full contro l o f the spicery that was unshipped at To rre,

as the port of St . Katherine is now called .

” He levied 10 percent . on the value o f these go ods , not once , but several t imeso ver, as they passed through his dominions . Why

,asked

Pilo ti , did no t the head o f all Christendom arise in defence ofthe Christians

,sally fo rth like the Crusaders

,conquer Cairo

,

and supplant the Sultanate ? In doing so,he would have

the support o f the Arabs o f the desert .The Church of Rome, however, was bent on propaganda

along mo re peaceful lines . After the Crusades the Franciscans,

start ing from Jerusalem,penetrated into Tartary and China .

The plan was now formed of securing a foothold in Sinai asa stepping-stone on the way to India . With this end in view

165


Pope Calixtus III (1455-58) addressed a letter to the Franciscans urging that they should secure further sites , includingone on Moun t Sinai concedimus ut nova loca etiam inMonte Sina capere po ssit is The direct steps that weretaken are not known , but in the course of the fif teenthcentury we hear of Franciscans

,popularly known as Cassis ,

moving to and fro between Gaza where they had a house ,and the convent

,where at first a room and later a chapel was

reserved for the celebration of a Roman Catholi c service .The desire to penetrate to India and beyond was very

general . Thus , Pero Tafur, a Castilian nobleman , arrived at theconvent in the year 1435 on his way to Tur, where he hopedto embark for India . But at Tur he met Niccolo da Conti ,fo r many years a resident in India

,who was on his way to

Cairo , where he intended to lodge a complaint with the Sultan

(Bursbai) , because of the indignities to which he was exposed .

His account made Pero Tafur give up the thought of his

j ourney .

Tafur found only about fifty to sixty monks at the convent ,which had fallen on evil days . The Turk was advancing.

In the year 1453 he took possession o f Constantinople . Ashe advanced on Sinai , he laid a heavy hand on the convent ,from which he claimed an annual tribute of three hundredducats . Jacob , the patriarch of Jerusalem (T hereupondespatched a monk of Sinai to the princes of Europe , with aletter asking for help . This monk , besides the letter, carriedwith him some valuable relics

,including a tooth of

St . Katherine . 2 His appeal met with a ready response .King Louis XI of France (1463—83) made an annual grantto the convent of two thousand ducats

,

2 which was still paidby King Charles VIII in 1497 (Harff, p . Queen Isabellao f Spain (1481—1504) gave five hundred ducats a year, a sumwhich was still paid by King Phillip in The emperorMaximilian I (1493—1517 ) and the king of Hungary gavemoney (Fabri , ii .Unrest , however , now spread to the Bedawyn . A German

1 Lammens : M élanges in Revue de l’

Orient Chre’

t ien, vi i . , 19 0 2 .

p . 50 3 , ff .

2 Lequien : Or. Chr. , i ii . 5 15 .

2 Grego riades : p . 9 5 .

I bid . , pp . 10 1—10 7 .



of Mayence,who came east with the artist Rewich of Utrecht

,

whose drawings served to illustrate his patron’

s account of hisj ourney . The other party included Felix Fabri , who actedas chaplain to the young Count Solms

,Fabri became a friar

in 1452 out of lo ve of St . Katherine , his spouse .

” On thearrival at the convent of their party mass was also celebratedin the chapel set apart -for Lat in use (Fabri , ii .Ano ther pilgrim was Jan van Aerts of Malines

,who sailed

from Venice fo r the East in 1484, with a party of twentyFranciscan friars travelling with a Portuguese whom Janreferred to as the grandfacteur. It was customary at the timefor each visitor t o deposit two ducats in the chest of St .Katherine . In addition to this , the grand facteur gave athousand ducats t o the monks . From the co nvent he andhis party proceeded t o Tur, where they took boat fo r India .

But at the port of Medina they were forced to turn backowi ng to the enmity of the Arabs . The desire t o penetratet o the far East was increasing . Mynher Joos van Ghistelles visited the convent in 1485 , and went on t o Tur, wherehe met the Venetian Bonajut o del Pan (Albani) and theMilanese Benedetto da Navara , who were on their way toOrmuz on the Persian Gulf, in order to visit the co ral andpearl fisheries (Joos , p . In 1487 the two Portuguese,Pedro da Cavillan and Alfonso da Paiva , came from Cairo t oTur

,from where they sailed fo r Aden ,

Alfonso on his way t oEthiopia

,the lesser India , in search o f Prester John Pedro

on his way to the coast o f Malabar, in order to see the spicegrowing districts and t o co llect information on Madagascarand Calicut

,which he laid before his king .

1 In 1489 Joannesde Hese passed through the convent and Tur on his way t oIndia . The Ritter von Harff went from the convent witha letter of intro duction t o the monks at the convent of St .John in Tur, where he left for Mecca and Madagascar, returning t o Egypt by way o f the Mountains of the Moon and theco urse o f the Nile . Von Harff illustrated the account of hisj ourneys with many cuts , of which the one here reproducedshows the knight before St . Katherine (Fig . These variouswritings supply information on the cost and routes of travelat the time . According t o the English I nformationf orP ilgrims

1 Francesco Alvarez : Voyage in Ramusio : Prima volume delle

Navigaz ion i , 15 8 8 , p . 2 36 .

THE PILGRIMS o r THE MIDDLE AGES 169

of about 1450 ,the cost of going from Venice to the Holy Land

and back was 50 ducats .1 One party of pilgrims of 1483 paid

42 ducats each on the understanding that they were allowedfull time t o see the Ho ly Places

,and received two meals a day

the other party paid 45 ducats each ,their meals including

wine . The party o f twenty persons in 1484 paid a thousandducats , i .e. 50 ducats for each person . Half the moneywas paid at Venice befo re starting

,the other half on arrival at

Fig . 2 1 .—Rit t er vo n Harff befo re S t . Katherine .

Jaffa . A certain Zulnhart fell ill at Venice after paying his 25ducats , and as he was unable to sail , his money was fo rfeited .

2

From Jaffa the pilgrims visited Jerusalem,where he had

the Option of returning home via Jaffa or go ing on t o Sinaiand Cairo . If he decided on this course he was allowed tenducats on his return fare , and was pro vided by the Franciscans with an escort t o Gaza . The charge for the round wastwenty-three ducats , half o f which was paid at Jerusalem ,

1 Ed . 1824, Roxburgh Club .

2 Ro hrich t : p . 3 1 1 .


the other at Gaza . An agreement was drawn up in writingby the dragoman ,

the wording o f which is much the same asthe one that is drawn up at the present day . In the courseof the fifteenth century Noe Bianchi , a Franciscan , wrote aguide bo ok called The Way from Venice to the Ho ly S epulchreand M ount S inai , which contained practical advice forpilgrims . It estimated the cost of go ing the round from Venicet o Jerusalem ,

Gaza,the convent , Cairo and back to Venice

at two hundred ducats , i .e. one hundred fo r general expenses,

fifty to serve in case of sickness , fifty for the sea-voyage .

The pilgrim was advised to carry a mattress (strapontino ) , abarrel for water

,a barrel for wine , and he was warned against

discussing matters of faith with infidels .

The chief danger which threatened the pilgrims was sickness . Many died on the way . The Italians in 1384, betweenCairo and the convent , met nine Frenchm en eleven out oftheir party of twenty had died on the way . In 1483 there wasso much sickness in Gaza that many pilgrims gave up thethought of going to the convent and the young CountSo lms died on the way back (Fabri , ii . There wereother dangers . Arnold von Harff in 1497 saw the effect ofa sandstorm whi ch had cut o ff a caravan the corpses of sixhundred camels and of fifty men , mauled and rott ing , strewedthe roadside (p . The pilgrims were oft en in dread ofthe Bedawyn ,

who swooped down on them clamouring for food,

and call ing fo r the payment of dues for crossing their territory .

The shortage of food at the time was aggravated , no doubt , bythe curtailed largess at the convent . The pilgrims of 1483carried three times as much bread as they needed for themselves in order t o meet all possible deman ds .The routes followed by the pilgrims were the ordinary

caravan routes,subj ect to some variation . Thus the pilgrim s

of 147 9 , mindful of the raiding o f a caravan by some Catalansbetween Gaza and Tur, left Gaza by

“ a route that had not beenfollowed fo rtwent y years they went by Rappa (Rafa) ,Makati No ckra (low-lying gro und) , where there were manygazelles and entered the Wadi el Arish (Rieter , p . Thepilgrims of 1483 ,

after leaving Gaza,stopped at Lebhem ,

”

where therewas a mosque,cro ssed a sandyplain to Chawatha ,

( called Cades by the Latins , where it rained,and where

there were large cisterns in ruins (Fabri , ii . Ain Kadeis



Here they were taken the usual round .o f the churches andchapels

,and ascended the Mountain of the Law

,access to

which was now forbidden t o the Jews . They repaired t o theconvent of the Arba

'

i'

n from which they made the ascent ofGebel Katrin . They saw the stone in the shape of a GoldenCalf

,about which Fabri had his doubts (i i . 594) the stone

o n which the Tables were broken the convent o f St . JohnClimacus the convent of SS . Co smas and Dam ianus , with itswell-kept garden the spot where Dathan and Abiram disappeared (11. 590) the boulder with twelve channels o f

water,one for each of the twelve tribes . Finally

,they were

shown the relics of St . Katherine , lying in their chest , intowhich they dropped two ducats each

,and were allowed t o

touch the relics with trinkets they had bro ught for thispurpo se (ii . The flow of sacred oil had ceased . Therewas none available in 1483 in 1489 it was co llected at therate o f three d10ps a week (Jo annes de Hese , p . Thi sis the last we hear of it . Pilgrims received , instead , a piece ofcotton wool or of s ilk which was taken out of .the chest o f St .Katherine

,and steeped in the oil of the lamps . The cessation

o f oil was attributed to the desecration of the shrine by theArabs .From the convent some of the pilgrims went on to Cairo

by way of “ El Phat ,” and the white hills o f

“ Lacrara,

”

where they j o ined the caravan ro ad coming from Tur . Furtherstations along the road were “

Enaspo”

(Wadi Nasb) , H0renden ”

o r Do renden (Wadi Gharandel) ,“Werdachii

”

(Werdan) , and“ Marath or Merach ,

” perhaps the o ld

Mara , and the present Ayun Musa . These stopping-placesare the same as those chosen by pilgrims and travellers atthe present day .

CHAPTER XVII

THE LATER HISTORY OF THE CONVENT

HE size of the caravans that plied between Sinai andEgypt were a source of wonder t o the m edimval

pilgrim . This development o f trade received a check in thesixteenth century

,through the discovery o f the sea-route

to India by the Portuguese . Prince Henry o f Portugal (T 1460)brought the west co ast o f Africa within reach o f his country .

In the year 1487 Bartho lomew Diaz sailed from Po rtugal tothe Cape of Go o d Hope

,which Vasco da Gama doubled ten

years later,sailing on to Calicut . Every year a fleet now

left Lisbon for India,where spicery was shipped direct fo r

Portugal .This trade detracted from the resources o f the Sultan

,and

spelt ruin to the seapo rts o f Italy . In 1503 the Sultanaddressed a letter t o the Pope in which he threatened dest ruction to the Ho ly Places

,including the Ho ly Sepulchre and the

convent o f Sinai , if the Po rtuguese were not interfered with .

But King Manuel o f Portugal induced the Pope to ignore theletter, and , on his side, o ffered spicery free of duty to theVenetians

,if they fetched it at Lisbon

,instead o f Alexandria .

But the Venetians,averse to the chan ge

,persuaded the Sultan

t o set up a direct communication by bo at between Suez andIndia

,and a tower was accordingly built to fortify Suez .

Tur was passed over ; its days as a port on the way to Indiawere drawing to a close , for the Portuguese were determinedt o monopolise the trade with India . They seized a boatcoming from Egypt with the ducats it contained .

They fitted out a war fleet (1504) whi ch enfo rced their superio rclaims in India

,and attacked all other shipping . In 1509

they entered the Red Sea with their war fleet , and interferedwith the pilgrims t o Mecca . It was in vain that the Venetians ,

I 7 3


whose annual tum -over at Alexandria fell from t o

ducats in 1511 ,pleaded with the Sultan to diminish

the tax on Eastern go ods,so as to enable them to compete with

the Po rtuguese . The Sultanate was at the mercy of shorts ighted and intrigu ing emirs , and was weakening. Theconquering Ottoman Turk was steadily gaining ground .

There had been rej oicing at Cairo when Constantin ople , in1453 , fell to the power of Islam ,

but the struggle for supremacyso on afterwards began between the Egyptian and the OttomanSultanate . In 1516 the Ottoman Sultan Selim (T 1520)o ccupied Damascus , and in the following year he advancedalong the road of El Ari sh with wheeled transport . Afterdefeating the Mameluks at Radunieh in 1517 , he led hisdisciplined j anissaries into Cairo

,where he appropriated the

sacred banner of Islam and the relics , which he removed toConstantinople .

In the meant ime the shipping languished even at Suez .

Odoardo Barbosa , who was sent to Egypt to report on matterso f navigation to the merchants of Italy in 1516, mentionedSuez as the station for spicery

,but added that the traffic had

almost ceased .

1 Certam the Ottoman Sultan , roused tothe needs of the hour

,made the attempt to facili tat e the transit

o f Eastern goods by cutting through the isthmus of Suez .

He also built a castle at Suez in order to defend himself againstthe Portuguese . But the centre of the Ottoman rule was nolonger Cairo

,but Constantinople

,to which the wealthy mo re

and more migrated . Egypt was placed under a pasha , who wasappo inted at Constantinople

,and who was frequently changed

so as to anticipate any scheme on his part of making himselfinto an independent ruler. Cairo retained its university andremained a centre of learning ; its halcyon days as a centreof art and luxury were at an end .

The Suez canal was st ill in course of construction in 1529 ,

but was never finished,

2 and no term was set on the advance ofthe Po rtuguese . In 1541 Dom John (Joao) de Castro , who bo rethe proud title of Viceroy o f India

,sailed up the Red Sea with

a fleet,intending t o attack Suez

,but when he espied the

fo rt and the ships at ancho r there,he turned back . In

sailing up the Gulf of Suez,and again in sailing down

,Dom John

1 Barbo sa : Let t er in Ramu sio : Delle Nav. ,188 8 , p . 2 9 1 .

2 Heyd : Levanthandel, i i . 540 .



another , and the road continued in use t ill recent times .But whatever the reason

,the bisho p of Sinai at this time

incurred the displeasure of the surrounding prelates . Marcus,

the Cyprian,who was appointed in 1540 , perhaps owing to

some fault o f his own (Nect‘

arius called him kaxo s) ,1 was

deposed by a synod held in Egypt under the auspices o f thepatriarchs o f Alexandria

,of Cairo

,and o f Jerusalem , and the

bishopric o f Sinai was declared abrogated .

2

But a new protector to the monks now arose in the Tsaro f Muscovy

,who

,when Constantinople fell to the Turks

,

took it upon himself to protect the ortho dox . In the year1547 Gregorius , a monk of Sinai , visited Moscow, where hecomplained of the tax which the Turk levied on the convent .The Tsar at the time was Ivan the Terrible (1533 whoforthwith arranged that Gennadius

,archdeacon of St . Sophia

,

at N ovgo ro d,together with the merchant Po sniakow and

another should visit the patriarch of Alexandria and thearchbishop (sic) of Sinai , and present them with 1000 ducatseach . At the convent

,after praying at the shrine o f St .

Katherine , they spread o ver it a covering o f gold bro cade,

a gift of the Tsar . Po sniakow,to whom we owe an account

o f the embassy,lo o ked upon the monks as connected with

St . Basil,and described the mo sque inside the convent as

originally a church of St . Basil . 3

The Musco vite further arranged that a caravan bearingfo od should be annually despatched from Cairo t o the convent

,

at his expense,as we learn from the account o f the German

pilgrim Wo rmbser,who went from Egypt t o the convent in

the year 1561 (Reissbuch,1609 ,p . 396 His companion , Count

Loewenstein,on his return t o Alexandria , there asked fo r an

o fficial attestation of having been the Long Pilgrimage,which

he included in the account o f hi s j ourney (1bid. p . Thesetravellers in 1561 found between thirty and fo rty monks atthe convent , but were told that these sometimes left the placealtogether because o f the clamo rous Arabs (Lo ewenst ei11,p .

It had recently stood empty four or five years (I bid. , p .

Ano ther party of Germans,who reached the convent in 1565 ,

actually found it empty and its gates walled up . They were1 Nec tarius : Epi t . , p . 2 12 .

2 Perigraphe. p . 15 3 .

2 Voy age, ed . 18 89 in Khit owo : I tinéraires russes en Orient, p . 2 88 .

THE LATER HISTORY OF THE C ONVENT 17 7

met outside by a monk who,apprized o f their coming, hurri ed

o ver from Tur to act as their guide . From the height of theMount of the Law they looked down on the empty conventwith its deserted garden (I bid , Helfferich , p .

Owing t o Muscovite influence a change was effected .

A letter is extant drafted by Jeremiah II , patriarch of Constant in ople (157 2 which bears the signature of the patriarch o i Antio ch

,the patriarch of Jerusalem , and o thers by

which the bishopric of Sinai was resto red .

1 The decision wasbased on the decree of Justinian which is dated t o the year

551 and is preserved at the convent , but which is looked uponas a fo rgery . Anyhow ,

a prelate was reinstated in the persono f Eugenius (1565 who

,in the capacity of bishop o f

Sinai andRaithou,

” wro te to Emperor Maximilian II (1564declaring that the monks were called upon t o pay 5000 ducatst o the Turkish Sultan ,

which were they unable t o raise .

The outcome o f the appeal is no t reco rded . They probablymade an appeal also t o King Henri III o f France (1574In the year 157 9 Eugenius o f Sinai was in Jerusalem

,

where the patriarch Germanus abdicated because of oldage .

3

Direct intercourse with Russia continued .

‘We hear o f

one Ko robe’

iniko ff who was in Sinai in 1583 , and again in1593 . It was

,perhaps

,with the help o f the Muscovite that

Bishop Anastasius I (1583—92 ) laid down the mo saic pavement

in the convent church,which had been dest royed by Arab

treasure-seekers . Anastasius was succeeded by Laurentius

(1592 but Melit o s , patri arch o f Alexandria,obj ected

to his appointment,whereupon he appealed t o SOphronio s VI ,

patriarch o f Jerusalem (157 9 who ratified his appointment .

4 Perhaps the gates o f the convent were walled up inconnection with these difficulties , and anyone wishing t o enterwas now hauled up by means o f a rope and a pulley . HenriCastale who visited Sinai in 1600 ,

was the first t o describe thearrangement

,which continued t ill the British occupation o f

Egypt . Castale , in the account of his j ourney, enlarged on

1 P erigraphe, pp . 156—160 .

2 Lammens : M e’

langes , p . 503 .

2 Lequ ien : Or. Chr. , ii i . 5 17 .

‘1 Cf . Dobsch ii t z : S ammelhandschrif t in Bye . Zei tschrif t, vo l. 15 ,1906, pp . 247

-5 1 .


the starving men and women in the desert . He found onestarving monk in the convent .1

But things now improved under Bishop Jo asaph , who

ruled from 1617 to 1658 , and travellers gave a betteracco unt of the convent .The thought of the inscriptions of the children of Irsael

brought Neit zschit z into the desert about the year 1639 . Hewas a Lutheran to whom many o f the stories were fables .

”

He was received by the archbishop Jo asaph and foundtwenty-three monks at the convent , who distributed foo ddaily t o between fifty and a hundred Arabs .

2 The thoughto f the inscription was prominent also in the mind of Balthazarde Monconys , who , in 1647 , visited the convent . Here heremarked on the tunic of gold brocade embroidered withpearls and on the splendid tiaras

,presents of the Muscovite

,

that were worn by Joasaph .

2 Again , Thevenot came to thec onvent in 1658 , and saw a silver chest , a gift from the empressAnna of Russia m which the relics of St . Katherine were nowenshrined . Theveno t related that on some days as many as150 Arabs , on o thers as many as 400 ,

clamouring for food,

assembled outside the convent . He also related that theTurks had destroyed the church which the monks owned atTur (perhaps that of St . John the Baptist) , in order to makeroom for a fo rt where an aga was stationed, who had thecommand of cannon .

‘1

A papal bull,apparently the last , was granted to the

convent by Pope Urban VIII (1623 It confirmed themonks in their various possessions

,and has the additional

interest that it enumerated the popes who previously grantedbulls to the monks . They were Honorius I IIGregory IX (122 7 Paul 11 (1458 Innocent VIII

(1484 Julius 11 (1503 Leo IX (1513 and Paul 111

(1534—50

Duriiig the rule of Jo asaph, Nectarius , a Cretan by birt h anda man of considerable ability, came to the convent , the interestsof which he furthered in vario us ways . The Vaivode Basil

(1634 of Moldavia , was encouraging the establishment o f

1 Le sa int voyage, 1619 , p2 Neit zschi t z : S iebenn

z'

ahr Wanderung, ed . 1674, p . 544 .

2 Mo nco ny s : j ourna de Voyage, ed . 1665 , p . 164 .

Theveno t , Jean de : Voyages, 1689 , vo l. v . p . 5 32 .



to accept the declaration of faith that was submitted to them,

and nothing came of it .

1

Joann icus , in 167 2 , was in Bethlehem where he subscribedto a declaration against Calvin , in whi ch the Maronites , theCopts and the Armenian Christians j oined . In 1675 he wenton an embassy to Turkey . He also engaged in correspondencewith Ignatius

,archbishop o f Ochrida in Serbia , on the firmdn

which had been granted to the monks of Sinai by the emperorJustinian . A visit to Mo ldavia resulted in the gift of theproperty called Rimineke to the monks of Sinai by VaivodeBrancovan (T The traveller Poncet

,who visited the

convent about the year 1699 , coming from Sherm ,was received

by Joannicus, who was in his ninety-third year and paralyt ic .Like other travellers Poncet was hauled into the convent bymeans of the seat attached to a rope . He was treated to someof the liqueur called arac

, which was made by the monks outof the fermented juice of the date .

2

The prelate in succession to Jo annicus was Cosmas I o f

Chalcedon , who became patriarch of Constantinople withina year of his election , but he soon abdicated and returnedto the convent where he spent the rest of his days underAthanasius I I of Bari (17 06 The next prelate was

Jo annicus I I of Mytilene (17 18 during the term of who serule Jeremiah , patriarch of Constantinople , was deposed bythe vizier and exiled to Sinai . He was staying there at thetime of Bishop Po co cke

’

s visit (i .It was probably Athanasius of Bari who received the

Franciscan prefect Claude Sicard of the mission De Prepaganda Fide, wearing an exquisite crown . The Franciscanprefect wrote a short account of his visit which attracted theattention of Bishop Po co cke and was translated into Englishby Bishop Clayt on in 17 53 . This translation was addressedt o the So ciety of Antiquaries in London

,and Bishop Clayt on

offered the sum of £500 ,spread over five years

,to assist in

an exploration of Mount Sinai . But no definite step wastaken in the matter, its chief result being to add to the Biblicalexplorers of the peninsula .

1 Gubernat is (Dom . de) Orbis S eraphicus : H istoria de TribusOrdin . , 18 8 8 , ii . 2 9 3 , 3 10 .

2 Poncet , C . J . : j ourney in Pinkert o n : Voyages, vo l. 15 , 18 14,

p . 10 5 .

THE LATER HISTORY OF THE CONVENT 181

Chief among these was Bishop Po co cke, whose Descriptionof the East , first published in 1743 , attained considerablecelebrity . Several chapters were devoted to an account ofSinai and the progress o f the Israelites . It contains a carefuldescription of the monastic buildings with several plans .Bishop Po co cke ,

like other travellers before and since,accepted

the sites po inted o ut by the monks as the actual spo ts mentionedin . the Biblical narrative , regardless of the impossibilit iesimplied . He only questioned the spot where Dathan andAbiram were swallowed

,remarking that when this happened

they had left the desert o f Sinai (i .Owing to the difficulties of dealing with the claims of the

Bedawyn ,the prelates o f Sinai now found it preferable to take

up their residence in one of the dependencies of the convent .Nicepho rus Mortales , sum amed Glaukos (17 29 was

from Crete,to which he returned and where he died . His body

was conveyed t o the convent for interment . The next prelatewas Constantius (1749 who resided for the most part inMoldavia under Vaivo de Michael , paying an occasional visitt o Sinai . On one occasion he was accompanied by KhalilSabag ,

who wrote an account of his visit . The next prelat eCyri llus II (17 59—

90) dwelt in Smyrna , Jerusalem and Mo ldavia . He was in contact with Carsten Niebuhr, who visitedSinai in 1762 ,

where he was the first European to visit anddescribe the great ravines at Serabit . Cyrillus was in relationalso with the traveller Vo lney, who visited the convent in17 83 ,

where he found fifty monks .It was owing to the efforts o f Cyrillus II that the standing

of the convent o f Sinai as an independent centre was definitelyestablished . A synod met in Constant inople in 17 82 ,

whichdeclared in favour of its autonomy . The archbishop is electedby a council of the monks , who manage the affairs of theconvent in Sinai and its branch establishment in Cairo . Thearchbishop is always selected from the priests of the monastery .

He is consecrated as bishop by the patriarch o f Jerusalem inconsequence o f the ancient connection , and he becomes oneof the four independent archbishops of the Greek Church

,

the others being at Cyprus,Moscow and Ochrida .

1

Cyrillus II was the last prelate who paid a visit to theconvent fo r over a hundred years . The reason was that

1 Robinson : i . p . 130 .


large sums and gifts had to be presented to the Arabs by thenew prelate on his installation . These were so considerablethat the monks , in their impo verished state , were unable toraise them . Perhaps owing t o this difficulty, there was aninterregnum of four years , between the death o f Cyrillus in17 90 and the establishm ent as p i elat e of Do ro theus of Byzant ium (17 94 after whose death there was again an interregnum of eight years .



Ro sieres were sent on a tour of inspection to collect materi alfo r the work which he planned . On this tour they cameto the convent of Sinai in 1800 , where they fo und six monksand twenty-two lay bro thers in residence . The east wall o fthe convent

,built by Justinian , had co llapsed . By o rder of

General Kleber at Cairo , the monk Hallil, with forty-twomasons and a hundred and fifty camels , were dispatched fromCairo to do the necessary repair . The camels were furnishedby the Towarah .

1

In the meantime Nelson , scouring the seas in search ofthe French fleet

,came upon it near the coast of Egypt

,and

attacked and scattered it at the Battle of the Nile (Oct . ,

The Turks , aware that Bonaparte’

s descent on Egypt wasprompted by his desire for self-aggrandi sement

,felt called

upon to declare war on the French in Egypt Hereupon Bonaparte

,with nearly the whole of his army, marched

along the desert road to Gaza and took Jaffa by assault , buta few months later he was in full retreat . A Turkish army soonafterwards reached Aboukir and j o ined forces with theBritish fleet

, but Bonaparte inflicted a crushing defeat onthem . He then left Egypt leaving his army in charge ofGeneral Kleber . But a further expedition was launched bythe Turk

,one detachment of troops was landed at Damietta ,

another under Yussuf Pasha approached by the El Arish road .

They were defeated by the French,but General Kleber soon

afterwards was assassinated (June , The English noweffected a landing at Abouki r (March , and the French ,after some struggles

,evacuated the country .

In Egypt itself confusion reigned . The Mameluks wereregaining their influence ,when MehemedAli (T the leadero f an Albanian corps

,secured the adherence of the sheykhs

and claimed the Pashalik with the support of the French . Anexpedition made by the British t o oppose him in 1807 miscarried . In 1811 he caused a massacre of the Mameluks andextended his influence by carrying war into Arabia and invading Syria . The interference o f the English reduced , butdid not break, his power . In 1841 he secured the hereditarysovereignty of Egypt .The period of upheaval naturally re-acted on the desert

and rendered travelling unsafe . Seet zen visited the convent1 0rd. S urvey , i . 2 00 .

SINAI IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 185

under Russian orders and found the road dangerous . Therewere twenty-five monks in the convent

,who longed for the end

o f the Turkish government and the establishment of Europeaninfluence in Cairo .

1 Seet zen was murdered in Syria on a laterj ourney . Again the traveller Boutin was in Serabit in 1811 ,

where he scrawled his name on a stone in the temple whereRiippell found it . Boutin also was murdered in Syri a . Burckhardt travelled in the disguise of a Bedawyn and repeatedlyvisited Sinai , and the convent (1816, Both Riippelland Burckhardt travelled in the interest of geography .

With the return o f more settled conditions travellersbecame more numerous . Lo rd Prudhoe and Maj o r Felix

(1827 ) were among tho se who visited the ruins o f Serabit .

The account of their j ourney was lost,but Lord Prudho e ,

after inspecting the temple ruins,was the first and , as far as

I am aware , the only traveller to whom it occurred that thismight be the sanctuary that was visited by the Israelites .The fact was recorded by Edward Robinson who came intoSinai in the interest of Biblical research in 1838 an d 1852 (i . 7 9)and who was himself immensely impressed by the ruins atSerabit . Other travellers who made a prolonged stay wereLaborde and Linant to whom we owe the first detailedand illustrated account of the convent church

,its architecture ,

its great mosaics and its numerous side chapels Tischendo rf ,who secured the famous MS . for Petrograd , as mentionedabove Bartlett

,who se rapid visit in 1839 established

interesting geolo gical facts , more especially with regard t o

the lie of the land between Sinai and Syria ; and Lepsius ,who came into Sinai in 1845 fo r the express purpo se o f Copying the hieroglyph inscriptions at Maghara and Serabit , whichhe incorporated in his DenkmalerUnder the rule o f Mohemed Al i safety was resto red to the

hadj route acro ss Sinai by the rebuilding o f the fo rts at Adj rud

(near Suez) , Nakhl and Akaba . The settlement o f a garrisonbrought regulari ty of transport which reacted favourablyon the Bedawyn who underto ok it . Mehemed Ali , also , wasfavourably disposed towards the convent . His nephew , AbbasPasha , who succeeded him in 1849 , visited Sinai in 1853 , andformed the plan of building himself a summer residence onMount Horeb . A road was therefore planned leading up

1 S eet zen : Reisen ,180 7 , vo l . 3 , o n S inai .


from Tur on the coast,which crossed the desert and then led

through the relatively luxurious valley of Hebron , with itsmany stream s and the tamarisk grove of S o laf . It was partlycompleted in 1854, when the Pasha was assassinated . Hissuccessor Said Pasha (1854 was in friendly relations withFerdinand Lesseps

,whom he zealously supported in the

scheme for constructing a canal through the Isthmus of Suez .

The enterprise was financed by French and Turkish subscript ions , and was at the o utset worked by means o f forcedlabour

,later with the help o f modern engineering appliances .

The canal was completed under Ishmael Pasha (1863—7 9) i n

1869 ,and the British Go vernment became a large shareho lder .

Ishm ael Pashawas an Oriental despo t who depleted the treasuryand robbed the people

,but who mo dernised Egypt by building

scho o ls,laying down railways

,and sett ing up telegraph com

municat ions . In return fo r a large annual tribute he wasraised t o the rank of Khedive

,o r Viceroy, o f Egypt by the

Sultan in 1867 . But the financial diffiult ies ,in which he

became invo lved,were such that France and England brought

pressure to bear on him and finally depo sed him . He wassucceeded by his son Tewfik Pasha (187 9Among the visito rs t o the peninsula in 1845 was Maj o r

Macdonald, who came t o inspect the turquoise that was left ,

and who settled near the mines at Maghara in 1855 , where heremained ten years . His mining was done with the helpof Bedawyn labour . He to ok considerable interest in thegreat inscriptions

,and it was no t he , but a French engineer , who

too k up the work after he left,who destroyed by blasting a

large number of valuable rock inscriptions , including tho se ofKing Khufu and o f the Pharaohs of the Sixth Dynasty . Thegeneral interest taken in the peninsula led t o the sending outan expedition under General Wilson in 1868 , who engaged ina survey o f Sinai

, i .e. the mo u ntains o f the south ,under the

auspices o f the Palestine Explo ration Fund . The wo rk waspublished in 187 1 and contains text , maps and a number o fphotographic views . Am ong tho se working on the Surveywas the Rev . F . W.

‘ Ho lland,who had previously stayed in

Sinai in 1861 and 1867 and the distinguished Arabic scho lar,Prof . E . H . Palmer

, who made the acquaintance of Sir RichardBurton on thi s occasion

,and who was brought into prolonged

contact with the Bedawyn . Prof . Palmer published in 187 1 a



Of the property that is at present owned by the monks I failto find a complete list . At different periods mention is madeof priories in Alexandria

,Jerusalem

,Tripoli

,Gaza , Constanti

nOple, Crete and Cyprus , besides the house owned at Cairo .

1

Wolff , in 1839 , mentioned property held by the monks atConstantinople

,Cyprus

,Belgrad

,. Bukarest , Jassy, Athens ,

India and Calcutta 2 Robinson mentioned houses at Bengal,

Golconda,Crete and Cyprus (p . According to Burck

hardt the monks received their supplies from Gaza andCairo .

After an interregnum o f eight years Constantius II ruledas archbishop from 1804 to 1859 ,

and was succeeded byCyrillus II I (1859 The next archbishop

,Callistratus (1867

was the first prelate who returned to the convent in 187 2 ,

but his installation was attended by difficulties . His successor ,Porphyrius , fell out with the patriarch of Alexandria , whocaused him to be expelled from Cairo . He was in residenceat the convent in the winter o f 1905—6 .

Modern accounts give a further insight into the tempero f the men of the desert .The pilgrims of the Middle Ages generally dreaded the

Bedawyn who were apt to swo op down on them , clamouringfor dues , as they passed from the territory o f one tribe intothat of ano ther

,but we hear of few excesses committed by

them . Burckhardt , Prof . Palmer and Sir Richard Burtongave an account of the different tribes .The Bedawyn of southern Sinai are co llectively known as

Towarah from Towa,Arabic for mountain

,as distinct from

the Tiyaha,o r Bedawyn of the Plain and the tribes who hold

the northern districts .

Among theTowarah Prof . Palmer included (1) the Sawaliheh,

who are divided into three clans or families,o f which each has

its sheykh,so that there are three sheykhs t o each tribe . In

187 0 the sheykhs of the Sawaliheh were Patir, Kadir IbnSimhan and Abu Farh

,of Whom Fatir was agy d o r commander

in-chief of all the military Operations undertaken by theTowarah generally . Burton spoke of the Salihi (i .a. Sawaliheh

or Benu Saleh) as the principal tribe of the Sinaitic Bedawyn .

The next tribe,included among the Towarah

,were (2) the

1 Grego riades : pp . 8 8— 11 7 .

Cit ed Weill Presqu’

z‘

le, pp . 2 50 ,fo o tno t e .

S INAI IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 18 9

Auled Said , who include several families . The sheykhs in187 0 were Hasan Ibn

‘Amir and Embarek ed Dheiri .1

The next tribe mentioned were (3 ) the Garrasheh , who areprincipally found in the neighbourhood o f Wadi Feiram.

Their chief sheykh,Ibn Nasir

,was made responsible to the

Egyptian government fo r the good conduct o f the Towarah .

He had died when the expedition returned to England .

Husein Abu Ridhwan was the only remaining sheykh in 187 0 ,

Mansur Ibn Go rmah also having recently died .

Another tribe were (4) the Aleyat (or Aliki) , whose districtwas the neighbourhoo d o f the (western) Wadi Nasb . Theirsheykhs were Suleiman Ibn Emdakkhal, Juma Abu Shawish ,

and Amdan Abu Ukri . This tribe was described as notnumerous by Pro f . Palmer .There were further

, (5) the Emzeineh , (Muzaineh) thedescendants of an illustrious tribe who are regarded by theTowarah as comparative strangers

,though no t excluded from

the right o f intermarriage . They ro am over the eastern coastof the peninsula and are said to have come in to Sinai from theHedjaz in comparatively recent times . Acco rding to SirRichard Burton five persons

,ancestors of the Muzaineh , were

forced by a blo od feud to fly from their native country andlanded at Sherm , where they were received b y the Aleyat .

With these they j ointly own the palm trees at Dahab , and therights of transporting the people landing at Dahab and Sherm .

Anyone who knows the Bedawyn ,

” wro te Sir Richard , cansee that the Muzaineh are pure blo od . Their brows are bro ad ,

their faces narrow,their features regular, and their eyes of

mo derate size,whereas the other Towarah clans are as palpably

Egyptian . They are of an impure race,Egypto -Arabs , whereas

their neighbour,the Hedjazi , is the pure Syrian or Meso

po tamian .

Besides these tribes Pro f . Palmer named (6) the AuledShahin as the branch o f the Towarah

, who occupy the countryimmediately around Tur and the mountain which borders onthe plain o f El Kaa they are

,properly speaking , a branch of

the Aleyat .

There are also, (7 ) the Gebeliyeh ,

the so -called serfs ofthe convent

,who are held to be the lineal descendants of the

1 Palmer, Pro f . in o rd . S urvey , I , p . 456 , ff . ; Burt o n : Pilgrimageed . 18 7 9 , p . 100 ,

fi Burckhardt : No tes on the B edou in ,18 30 .


four hundred Wallachian and Egyptian slaves whom theemperor settled in the peninsula . Their distri ct comprisesthe Wadi esh Sheikh and the immediate neighbourhood ofthe convent . Their chief sheykhs in 187 0 were Awwad IbnAtiyeh

,Eid Ibn Suad and Suleiman Ibn Ghanaim .

Of these tribes the Saidi and the Aleyat are the recognised

ghufara ,o r pro tecto rs o f the convent . The MS . account of

17 10 calls them Waled Sahin ,three tribes , the sons of Saleh ,

t .e. the Selim ,the Saidi and the Haliq (Aley at ) . These met

at the annual festival at the tomb of Nebi Saleh .

The fluctuations of the tribes are insufficiently kn own .

In Burckhardt ’s days Harun'

Ibn Amer , sheykh of the Saidi ,was accounted one o f the most powerful sheykhs o f theTowarah (p .

Of the Towarah generally,Sir R . Burton wrote that in the

reign of Mehemed Ali no go verno r of Suez dared to flog orlay hands on a Tu ri

,whatever o ffence he might have com

mit t ed in the town o f Suez . Later the wild man ’s swo rd wastaken from him before he was allowed to enter the gates .

In his estimatio n the mo st go o d-humoured and sociableof men

,they delight in a j est and may readily be managed by

kindness and courtesy . Yet they are passionate , nice on thepoint of honour

,revengeful and easily o ffended when their

peculiar prejudices are misundersto o d . I have always foundthem pleasant companions

,and deserving of respect

,fo r their

hearts are good and their courage is beyond a doubt

(p .

In distinction to the Towarah or men o f the mountain ,

t he Bedawyn further north are known as Tiyaha ,or men of

the plain,who go south as far as Nakhl . They have fo r their

neighbours the Terrebin ,a powerful tribe , who se territo ry

extends from about fo rty miles south-east of Suez on theSinai road as far as Gaza in the no rth . There are also theHeiwat t occupying the land between Akaba and Nakhl ,who have a bad reputation fo r raiding

,and their neighbours

the Anazeh , whose pasture grounds extend from aboutMedina in Arabia t o Palmyra in Syria

,including the Arabah .

Another wealthy tribe are theHoweitat who can raise as manyas twelve hundred camels .The difficulty of dealing with the Bedawyn ,

was shown bythe events that attended the rising o f Arabi in Egypt , in 1880 .



agents and scouts , and no effort was apparently made toorganise them . Although Sinai was politically an Egyptiandependency

,with the frontier line between Rafa and Akaba

,

the Suez Canal was chosen as the means of defending Egypt,

and bridgeheads were constructed along it , chief of whichwas the one at Kantara . The peninsula was therefore opento the Turks

,who advanced across it along three routes

,

i .e. along the coast , along the pilgrim road from Akaba by wayof Nakhl

,and by a. route half-way between the pilgrim route

and the Mediterranean . Nakhl became a Turkish militarycentre . The attacks made at different points along the canalwere defeated . The Turk , from the first , engaged the helpof the Bedawyn of the eastern desert , but he failed to raisemuch enthusiasm among them . Only the Terabin

,the

Ayayme,and some of the sub-tribes of the Howeitat supplied

irregular lines,the Ruala and the Anazeh promised to defend

Syria,other tribes failed altogether . When a raiding party

of Turks advanced from Nakhl on Tur, they were j oined bysome Bedawyn from Midian and Sinai , who were tempted bythe promise of loot . On the way , they requisitioned fo od atthe convent

,but they found Egyptian troops in occupation

of Tur and were repulsed .

The advance along the shore of the Mediterranean , andexpeditions from the bridgeheads and secured posts

,engaged

the Allied forces in 1916. Ayun Musa was fortified andconnected with Suez by means of a light railway

,and a

railway was constructed along the Mediterranean . In thecourse of this progress the walls and water cisterns on whichthe enemy depended were naturally destroyed

,and one

does not wonder to find the Bedawyn acting in concert with theTurk in their defence . It was not till January

, 1917 , thatRafa was captured, and the Turk swept out of northernSinai . Along the eastern frontier the Arabs were preparedto side with the Allies . As early as 1916 Prince Hussein ofMecca organised his forces to resist the Turk

,but his progress

was indifferent , when he was sought out by Capt . Lawrence ,who urged him to advance and persuaded Auda Ibn Tayyi ,the great sheykh of the Howeitat , to act in concert with him .

The result was a camel charge on the fort of Akaba,which

wiped out the Turkish battalion stationed there,and freed

the Arab and the Allies from a centre of enemy plott ing . By

SINAI IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 193

Fig. 2 3 .— Map o f the Peninsula.


their action the Arabs made a further step in realising themselves as a nation .

1

In the light of these recent events , one is set wonderinghow they will affect the chances of well-being of the men o f

the Sinai desert,and what future may be in store for the

convent .

1 Times Histo ry of the War, part s 48 , 12 8 .


196 INDEX

7Benedict I I I , P 136

Benjamin o f Tu ela ,writer, 146

Besant , writ er, 19 1

11115 01Aila, 1 10be . S ee Thrambe.

Bianchi, writer, 17 0Bibars, Sultan, 153Birch, S . , wri ter, 8 ,

B it Themed, 5 1 , 7 8Bishops and Archbishops o f

Bonajuto del Pan, 168

Bonaparte, 183Bononius, 144Bo utin, traveller, 185

Breast ed, History , 30 , 3 1

Brea sted, Records, 171, 2 5 , 3 2 ,Hwydeubach, writ er, 167 11.Briggs, writer, 156Brugsch, D iet . Geog " 9 3Bmgsch , Religion, 2 6Bulls, Papal, 149 , 1 7 8Burckhardt , Notes , 189Burckhardt , Travels, 44. 99 .

Burning Bush , 67 , 69Enrobai, Sultan, 165Burton, writer, 82 , 186, 189Bush , se t t lement , 98 , 100 , 106 ,

DAD—KA-RA, 33 , 34Dahab, 5 , 189

Deli tzsch, wri ter, 5 1Deme trius, wri ter, 65Den-Semi , 31 , 41Desher, 46

Cau xrvs I II , Pope , 166

Calimt ra tns o i S inai , 188Ca pgrave, writ er, 161

Casium, ci ty , 109Castale, wr1ter, 1 7 7Castro , Don Jo hn de , 17 4

Charm VI I I o f France , 166Cheikho , wri ter, v ii, 124, 150

Clay tomM opJ So

C1édat , w1 iter, 86, 92

Clm a o r a ysma, 94 , 1 15, 12 2 , 143also Kolzoum .

Co dar or Kedar, se tdement , 10 1Co nst ant ine o i Sinai, 137Co nstant ius I o f S inai , 181Cons tantius I I o f S inai, 18 1Co nvent , building o f, 12 1 fi.

Do ro theas o i Petra, 147Do rotheus o f Sinai , 153Do ro theas II o f S inai, 182

ty , wri ter, 24, 50 , 7 0

Don , monk , 10 1, 104Doulas , Superior, 12 4Dulcet ius, monk, 132

Ea , d ivinity, 10 , 15Ebers , wri t er , 46, 1 8 7

Eugenius o f S inai , 1 7 7Eusebius , mo nk,Eusebius, wri t er, 10 , 66. 7 9En thymins o f S inaL 15o

Eut ychius , writ er, 82 , 12 2 ,

1 2 9Evagri us , wri t er, 133

Faran , wri ter, 166, 167Faran , 8 1 , also Pharan .

Fau na, c it y , 145 , 14 7Pero tin ,

wri t er, 1 14Franci scans m S inai ,Fraymansperg , writ er ,

1 55 ,1 58

Frescobaldo , wri ter,Fret ellus , wri t er , 142 , 146

From ont , 136 fi.

Ga sm l o t Sinai , 145Gabriel II O f S inai, 1 54

Gamurrini, wri t er, 1 14

Gardthausen ,wri t er, 132 , 15 3

INDEX 19 7

Gebel Lima , 4, 12 4, 12 7 , 141

Gebel Thebt , 4

Giustiniani , wri ter, 139Giz iret el Farann, 46, 149

Grego riades o f Rhino co rura , 145Gregoriad es ,

writer, 148—50 , 166

Gregorius , S uperio r, 13 3Gregory I , Pepe, 130Grego ry IX, Pope, 149 ,

1 7 8

a em at is, wri t er, 1 80

Ham , 184

Hardwick, wri ter,Harfi, Rit t er v on ,

120 , 162 , 169Harnakt , 36Hatho r, d ivini t y, 2 2 fi. , 35 ii , 56 fi. ,

8 3

Gebel Umm Shomer, 4Gebeliy eh , t ribe, 189 , 19 1

George, monk, 1 13Gemg e om ar, 145Germanus I and I I o i S inai ,Germanus I I I o f S ina i, 154

92 . 9 3 . 9 7

w t . queen. 26 . 5 3 . 56-7

Ha 2 45 . 47Hazero th , 8

Hedj az , pro v ince , 45 , 13 5Heiwat t , t ri be , 190 , 192

Helfierieh. wri t er , 1 7 7

98 INDEX

Henri I I I o f France , 1 7 7Henry I I o f Brunsw ick , 15 3Herm its , 94 ff .

Herm o genes o f Rhino co rura 10 9Heyd ,

writ er, 156High Places , 2 0 ,

2 7 , 5 8 , 67Hima , 6 ,

18

Ho bab , 7 8

Ho lland , Rev 5 , 186

Ho no riu s I I I , Po pe , 149 , 1 7 8

Ho r, Mount , o r Gebel Haro un ,68 ,

7 9Ho reb ,

67Ho reb ,

o r Cho reb, set t lement , 10 1 ,

Ho r-em -h eb , 9 1

Ho rit es , 41Ho rmah , 8 0Ho ro ura , 3 8

Hughes , writ er , 2 9 , 7 5Hugo o f Flavigny, writ er, 140Hu ll, Ed writ er, IHum e

, W . F writ er, 4Hykso s, 42 , 48

Hypat ius , m o nk , 10 8

I BN ISHAK,writ er, 13 4

Ibn Zo beir , writ er , 146

Inno cent VI , Po pe , r54Inno cent VI I I , Po pe , 1 7 8Inno cent IX ,

Po pe , 1 7 9Irby and Mangles , writ ers , 9 2Isabella o f Spain , 166

Isaiah,m o nk , 10 1

I sauru s , m onk , 1 3 0Ishmael, 46, 47Ishmaelit es

, 47 , 9 5 , also Saracens .

Isido rus , writ er, 10 9Israelites in S inai , 64 ff .

JAco p o , writ er, 155 , 15 8Jacques o f Vitry, writ er, 147Jast row, writ er, 10Jerem iah o f Co nstant ino ple

,18 0

Jethro , 67 , 7 4 , 7 8 ,8 1

, 1 16

Jo annes de Hese , writ er, 167 , 168Jo annicus I o f S inai , 1 7 9 ,

1 80

Jo annicus I I o f S inai , 180Jo asaph o f S inai

,1 7 8 ff.

John Cilix , wri ter, 1 1 1John Climacu s

,1 10

, 1 12 , 130 , 1 7 2

LABB I’

s, writ er, 10 9 , etc .

Labo rde and Linan t , writ ers,185

Lachm ienses,people, 135

Lamm ens , wr it er, 166Lampet iu s o f Casium , 10 9Laurent ius o f S inai , 1 7 7Leman , 167Le Nain de Tillem o nt , 9 7Leps iu s, writ er

, 4 , 46 , 185 , 18 7Lequ ien , writ er, 9 9 ,

et c .

Leuko kome,8 5 ft .

Lo ewenst e in , writ er, 1 7 6Lo nginus, Superio r, 130Lo u is IX o f France, 142 , 153Lou is X I o f France , 166

John,m onk, 10 7

John Mo schus, 110 ff .John I o f S inai , 144John I I o f S inai , 145John I I I o f S inai , 153I o hn t he Sabait e

,1 12 , 1 1 3

Jo o s van Ghi st elle , writ er, 167 ,1 7 1

Jo riu s o f S inai , 13 7Jo seph , mo nk

, 10 2

Jo sephu s, writ er , 41 , 65 , et c .

Jo shua , 2 2 , 8 0

Julian S abbas , m o nk, 9 8 , 1 16

Julius I I , Po pe, 1 7 8Ju st inian , empero r, 12 1 fi. , 1 7 7

KADESH, 68 , 15 1 , also Ain Kadeis .

Kantara , 86, 9 2

Katherine, S t . , 134 ff . , 15 1 , 154 ff.Kat ia , 86 , 9 2

Kedar, set t lement , 10 1

Keduma o r Aduma, 43Kenit es , 68Khalesa . S ee Elusa .

Khalil S abag , wr it er , 18 1Khalu o r Kharu

, 42

Khent , queen , 35Khent i-ho t ep , 36

Khu fu , 14 , 15 , 3 3 , 41 , 186

K ibro th—Hat a-avah, 7 8 , 1 19

Knu st , writ er, 142Ko lzoum

,8 1

, 143 , 144 , also Clesma .

Ko ran, 18 ,

2 4 , 49 , 5 0 ,8 1 , 9 2

Ko robeiniko fi,writ er, 17 7


200 INDEX

Perigraphe , 10 9 ,1 12 , 12 4

Per-So pd , 2 6 , 8 3 , o r Pa-kesem .

Pet er o f Aila , 9 9Pet er o f Alexandria ,

10 1 , 104Pet er o f Jeru salem , 132

Petra. cit y. 44. 49 . 7 9 .86. 9 0 . 9 2 .

10 8, also Mo nreale .

Petrie, Pro f . Abydos , 1 2 Egyplz’

an

Tales, 2 6, 3 2 , 43 History , 42 , 43Researches , ix, 1 8 , et c .

Petrus Diaconus, 1 15 , 1 16Peut inger Table , 9 3 , 94Phacusa , 1 19 , also Per-S opd o r

Pa-kesem .

Pharan , cit y, 44, 9 4, 104, 1 16, et c .

Phillip o f France, 166Phi lo , writ er , 65 , 67Pho t iu s o f Pharan ,

132

Pietro della Valle , 89Piet ro Ziani , Do ge ,

148

Pi-hahiro th , 7 0 , 1 18

Pilgrims , 155 ff .Pilo t i , wri t er, 162 , 165Pithom , 1 18

Pliny, 46, 9 2

Po co cke , B isho p, 9 8 , 12 6, 135 , 18 1Po lyb ius o f Rhinoco rura ,

10 0

Pompey the Great , 9 3Poncet , writ er, 180Po sniakow, 1 7 6

Po stumianus , 96Pro clus, m o nk , 10 8Procopiu s , writ er, 12 2 ,

12 7Pro perty o f co nvent , 149 , 1 50 , 180

Prudhoe ,Lo rd , 185

Psam t ek I , 8 3Pso es, monk, 10 2 , 104Ptahwer

, 39 , 42

Pt eleo s, 1 1 1Pt o lemaeu s o f Rhinoco ru ra ,

10 9 ,145

P t o lemy, geo grapher, 44, 46 , 49 , 5 1

Pu t eus S o ldan i , 2 ,15 7

QASR GHA IT , 86

RAAMSES,c ity, 65

Ra-en-user , 3 3 , 42Rafa , also Raphia , I , 44. 9 3 . 17 0 .

19 1

Raguel . S ee Reuel.Raha o r Rahan

, 46 ,1 16

Raitho u , 48 , 10 2 , 11 1 , et c .

Raleigh, S ir W. , 1 7 5Rameses , c ity, 65 , 7 0 , 1 18

Ramessu I , 60Ramessu I I , 62 , 64Ram essu I I I , 43 , 62

Ram essu IV and V ,63

Ramessu VI , 63 , 8 3Raphi a . S ee Rafa .

Ras Partak , 5Ras Mohammad , 4 , 5 , 46

Ras Safsaf, 4 ,1 1 1

Ra-smenkh-ka ,66

Reissbuch , 155 , 167 , 1 7 6

Renaudin ,Dom ,

writ er, 183Renaudo t , writ er, 1 36Rephaim , 41 , 44Ret ennu ,

people , 36, 42

Reuel o r Ragu el, 67 , 7 8

Rewich , 168

Rhino co rura , 1 1 , 10 0 , 109 , etc .

Riet er, writ er, 167Rob inson , writ er, 7 8 , 130 , 18

Ro ehrich t , writ er, 167Ruala, tr ibe, 19 2Rfippell, writ er, 56,

185Rust iciana, 13 1

SAB BAS, m o nk , 10 1 , 10 2S abbas o f S inai , 154S afed , 2 7 , 2 8

Sahura , 3 3Said Pasha ,

1 86

S aid i , t ribe , 12 4, 189S aladdin , 147S alael set t lement , 10 8

S aleh , prophet , 49 , 50S aleh ,

B enu , o r S awaliheh , 49 ,12

Sanekh t , 32

Saracens , 9 5 , 12 5 ,163

S arbu t el Khadem . S ee S erab it .

Sawaliheh . S ee S aleh , B enu .

Sayce ,Pro f 8 , 1 7

S ebat , princess , 3 5S ebek-her-heb , 38

S eet zen , writ er, 1 7 , 184, 18 5 ,18 7

S elim , Sultan , 13 5 , 17 4, 1 7 5S em erkhet , 14, 3 1

S en-usert I , 2 6, 34, 35 , 43

INDEX 201

S en-usert I I , 2 6, 36Sen-usert I I I , 36S erabit , 3 , 12 , 1 7 ff . , 8 3 , e tc .

S erapio n o f Ostracine, 8 3S erbal , 4 , 7S erbo nian B og , 9 2

S ergius, Abbas , 1 1 1Sergius, mo nk, 10 3S et -nekht , 62

S ety I , 43 , 60S ety I I , 62S everus, writ er, 96Shaddad ,

king , 48

Shahin , Auled , t ribe, 18 9Sherm , 5 , 189Sho eib, 8 1 , 82

‘

Shophet , 2 8

Shur, 2 , 45 , 7 0 , 9 3 , 1 15S icard , Prefec t , 180

S idde , set t lement , 1 12

S igo li , writ er, 156S ilvanus, m o nk , 96S ilvanus o f Pharan , 154S ilv ia o f Aqu it aine , 1 14S imeo n Metaphrast es , 9 7 , 138 , 162

S imeon ,m o nk, 12 7 , 139

S imeo n o f S inai, 148 , 153S in , m o on-god ,

8

S in , w ildernes s, 2 ,8, 7 0

S iso eis, m onk, 1 14Smith-Lewis , Mrs , 10 0 ,

132

Smith, Ro bertson , 2 0 , 24, 41 , 42 , 48

Sneferu , 13 , 32 , 34, 5 7S ocrates, writ er, 105S o lms, Count , 168 , 1 7 0S o lomo n o f S inai , 154S o lo n , mo nk, 10 0S o ng o f Debo rah , 8 , 68S Opd o r S Opdu , 2 5 , 39 , 56, 59 , 67S o zomenus, writ er, 9 5 , 9 7 , 10 0Sprenger, writ er, 49 , 9 5S tephano s , bu ilder, 12 9S t ephen Mart yr, 66 URBAN VI II , Po pe , 1 7 8S t ephen ,

monk, 1 12 Uz, land o f, 47

S t ephen o f Cappado cia, 1 13 , 132S trabo , 84, 8 7 , 9 2 VALERIUS, writer, 1 14Succo t h, 7 0 , 1 18 Vo lney, writ er, 18 1Sy llaeus, general, 8 7

WAD I ALEYAT, 90

TABERAH , 7 8 , 1 19 Wadi Baba, 3 , 6, 1 7Tafur, writ er, 148 , 166 Wad i Bat ch , 1 7

Tahhieh ibn Robah, 134Tahu tmes I , 43 , 54Tahu tmes I I , 54Tahutmes I I I , 42 , 43 , 56, 5 7 , 62Tahu tmes IV

, 5 8

Tarfat el Gidaran , 7Tart ir ed Dhami , 3Ta-usert , 62

Tell er Ro tab , 7 0 , 1 18

Tell es S afi, 2 7Terrebin , tribe, 19 0 ,

192

Tewfik Pasha, 186

Thamudit es, 48-5 1

Theoc t ist es o f Ostrac ine, 100Theodo r o f Pharan , 133Theodo ra , empress, 12 1 , 12 9Theodoret , writ er, 9 8Theodo sius, m onk , 1 10Theodo sius o f S inai , 150Theodulo s , monk, 10 7 , 10 8Theonas, monk, 12 1Theveno t , wr it er, 1 7 8Th ietmar, writ er, 1 2 9 , 142 , 150

-2

Tho las , set t lement , 9 8 , 10 8 , 110 , 113Thomas o f Swynburne, 161Tho th, div inity , 10 , 14, 15Thrambe o r B ethrambe o r Gethrabbi, set t lement , 10 1 10 8

Thuku , 7 0 , i .a. Succo th .

Thyi , queen , 60 , 6 1

Tischendo rf , writ er, 89 , 126, 185Tiyaha , t ribe , 1 8 8 ff.To bler, writ er, 12 8To r. S ee Tur .

Towarah, tribe , 184, 188 fi.

Trajan , empero r, 9 0Trumpet , 7 5Tucher, writ er, 167Tur, c it y, 5 , 95 , 12 0 , etc . , 186

Turquo ise, 3 , 2 3 , 32 , 34, 38 , 56, 63Tut-ankh-amen , 66

202 INDEX

Wad i Beda, 3Wadi Dhaba, 1 7 , 52 , 54, 7 4Wadi el Arabah , 5 , 190

Wadi el Arish , 2 , 5 , 49 , 9 1 , 1 7 0 , 1 7 1

Wad i el Jain , 1 7 1

Wadi el Wat iy eh , 1 7 1

Wad i eth Themed , 10 1 n .

Wadi Feiram, 5 , 6 , 46, 13 3 , 189Wadi Gharandel, 5 , 7 0 ,

84, 1 16 , 1 7 2

Wad i Hafera , 7 8

Wad i Hebran , 10 1

Wad i Jarf , 2Wad i Khalig, 3 , 40

Wad i Layan , 9 9 YAHVEH , 68 , 7 7Wad i Maghara , 14, 30 ff . , 185Wad i Malga , 1 1 1

Wad i Nasb , 3 , 6 , 1 7 , 30 , et c .

Wad i S eneb , 3 , 1 12

Wad i S erbal, 4 , 6

Wad i Sheykh , 50Wad i S idreh , 3Wad i S igilliy eh , 10 8

Wad i Suweig , 1 7

PRINTED BY WILL I AM CLOWES AND SON S, L IM ITED , LONDON AND BECCLES .

Wad i Tla’

ah , 9 8

Wadi Umm Agraf , 3 , 5 , 18 , 67 , 1 1

1 1 3Wad i Werdan , 1 7 2

Wad i Wu tah , 9 0Wei], writ er, 66Weill, Capt . , writ er, I , 1 7 , 3 3 ,

160

Wilkinson , writ er, 2 6William o f Tyre , writ er, 147Wilson and Palmer ix , 1 , et c .

Wo rmbser, writ er, 1 7 6

ZACHARIAS, m onk , 9 7

Zacharias o f S inai , 145Zeber, Pharaoh , 9 3Zeno o f Rhino co rura, 10 9Zeser, Pharaoh , 3 2Zigiret él Paraun , 148 , 149Zin

, 8 , 7 2

Zo simus, mo nk, 13 2


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History of Sinai - Forgotten Books · Sinai, and the inscriptions are in course of publicatio n by the Egypt Exploration Fund. Among the wo rkers at Serabit was myself. I had long