HERMON. - A mountain range in Lebanon. The biblical name Hermon indicates something sacred that must be kept from the gaze of the profane, as, for example, the haram for the Arabs.
The Phoenicians called it Širjōn (a name recalled in the texts of ancient Ugarit discovered at Rās Samrah), which corresponds to the Šariana of the Amorites. The other name Širj, given by the latter, seems rather to be attributed to Anti-Lebanon. The Arabs call it Gebel el-Šoj. In the Bible the H. is designated as the north-eastern boundary of the Palestinian conquest under Moses and Joshua (Deut. 3, 8; Jos. 11, 3, 7; 12, 5; 13, 11; I Par. 5, 23). In Hebrew poetry the H. is associated with Thabor (Ps. 88, 13), with Sion (Ps. 132, 3), with Amana and Sanir (Cant. 4, 8).
The range, 28-30 km. long in a south-west to north-east direction, is separated from Anti-Lebanon by a notable depression. The H. has 3 principal summits: one to the north which dominates the plain of Beqā' or Coele-Syria, one to the south which dominates Damascus, and the other to the west, the least elevated, which dominates the plain of the Jordan. The culminating point is 2758 m. above the Mediterranean. The peaks are almost always covered with snow even in summer, which makes a certain impression especially when one looks at the H. from the plain of the Jordan, where the heat is felt very strongly. On the slopes of the H. up to 1440 m. vines and olive trees are cultivated. On the mountain there are wild animals. Among the ruins are those of a temple at Qasr el-Antar, from which comes a Greek inscription, now in London, which seems to be of pagan liturgical origin. Some scholars hold that some point of the H. is the site of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, but tradition is constant in favor of Thabor (v.).