Nebo

NEBO. - Mountain and city of the Abarim range (v.), situated east of the Dead Sea. The mountain

(Heb. har Nèbbô; Septuagint Naβaô) is bounded to the north by the Wâdi en-Naml and 'Ajûn Mûsâ; to the south by the Wâdi el-Afrit (a reminiscence of Judg. 9?), el-Gedejd and el-Kenejseh, so named after the springs they meet. Among these, notable for the memory it preserves, is the 'Ajûn Mûsâ. The mountain has three main peaks: en-Nebâ in the middle, Sijâgah, which corresponds to the biblical Phasga (v.) to the west, and Mehajjet (the ancient city of N.) to the south. The whole region is full of dolmens, menhirs and cromlechs. Above the 'Ajûn Mûsâ, on the Wâdi en-Naml, a collection of vases with 4 scarabs of the 2nd Bronze Age period was found in a cave. The ruins of dwellings are near the springs, at the foot of en-Nebâ, called el-Hejsh, and above all at Sijâgah and at Mehajjet. An ancient road, lined with great blocks, came from Madaba and, forking at en-Nebâ, reached the 'Ajûn Mûsâ and Mehajjet. Although en-Nebâ is the highest peak (835 m.), the view of Palestine is nonetheless wider from Sijâgah, which indeed preserves the memory of Moses' vision (Deut. 3:27; 32:49; 33:34) and of his death.

The city of N., today commonly identified with Mehajjet, is mentioned in Num. 32:3; 33:47, in the stele of Mesha, in Is. 15:2; Jer. 48:1; 1 Macc. 9:37, in the Onomasticon, and in the Life of Peter the Iberian (5th century). Near its spring, or 'Ajûn Gedejd, a collection of vases of the 1st Bronze Age period was found in a cave; the hill is encircled at the top by a wall and, although pottery of the Iron Age and Hellenistic period has appeared in occasional cuts, the ruins visible today are nonetheless Byzantine. Among these, 4 churches are notable, whose excavations were carried out between 1931 and 1938 by the Custody of the Holy Land: one dedicated to Sts. Lot and Procopius, one to St. George, with fine mosaic floors with scenes of real life. In them are counted 36 human figures and 88 animals.

Bellarmino Bagatti