OLIVI, MONTE degli. — Hill to the east of Jerusalem, called in the Bible har haz-Zethim (Zach. 14, 4), τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν, mons Olivarum (Mt. 21, 1), τὸ ὄρος τὸ καλούμενον ἐλαιῶν, mons qui vocatur Oliveti (Lc. 19, 29; 21, 37; Act. 1, 12), today Çebel et-Tûr or Çebel ez-Zejtûn. It is separated from the city by the Cedron Valley (II Sam. 15, 23; Is. 18, 1; cf. Mt. 26, 20; Flavio Giuseppe, Antiq. Iud., XX, 8, 6). It has three summits: the northern one (818 m.), called by the Arab inhabitants Karm eş-Şajjad (“vineyard of the hunter”) and by Christians Viri Galilâei (Act. 1, 12); the central one (812 m.) is properly the Çebel et-Tûr, the traditional site of Jesus’ Ascension; and the southern one (734 m.), the Çebel Baţh el-Hawâ, is called by Christians the “mount of scandal,” because it is considered to be the height where Solomon erected places of worship to the deities of his foreign women (II Reg. 23, 13; Volg. Mons offensionis). 'Elôhim was worshipped on its summit (II Sam. 15, 32), and the prophets Ezekiel (11, 23) and Zechariah (14, 14) had visions there of the glory of God. According to the Talmud, on the mountain opposite the Temple gate the red heifer was burned, its ashes being used for ritual purification, and fires were lit there to announce the new moon.
It is sacred to Christians because of the memories of Jesus, who, coming from Jericho, crossed it several times in order to descend into the city (Mt. 21, 3; Mc. 11, 1; Lc. 19, 29), rested at Bethania in the hospitable house of Lazarus, and reached Bethphage (v.) on the eastern slope of the mountain
On the western descent he was acclaimed by the crowd (Lc. 19, 37), wept over the city (ibid. 19, 41), and at the foot of the mountain, Gethsemani (v.), prayed, agonized, and was betrayed by Judas.
These places, lovingly venerated since the earliest centuries of Christianity, were marked in the 4th century by sacred monuments. Egeria (v.), around 395, recounts that she attended the liturgy « in Eleona, ubi est spelunca illa, in qua docebat Dominus »; in the Imbomon, in eo loco de quo ascendit Dominus in coelis»; in the « Getsemani ubi oravit Dominus » and in Bethania « in Lazario », where the tomb of Lazarus was located. Destroyed at the time of the Arab invasion, rebuilt by the Crusaders, and once again falling into ruin with Saladin’s reoccupation, they have in recent years risen from their ruins and been reopened for Christian worship. The sanctuary of S. Lazzaro, dating from the 4th century, was rediscovered in 1950 by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. It has a beautiful mosaic pavement with geometric designs. Only the sanctuary of the Ascension remains a mosque even today. On the mountain, stripped of vegetation, some areas covered with olive trees and other plants can be seen around the sanctuaries and monasteries that have partly repopulated the holy mountain during the last sixty years. — Vedi tav. V. BIBLICA.: H. Vincent-F. M. Abel, Le mont des Oliviers, in Jérusalem nouvelle, II, Parigi 1914, pp. 328-419; D. Baldi, Enchiridion Locorum Sanctorum, Gerusalemme 1938, nn. 604-66. Donato Baldi