PHASGA (Heb. Pisgâh). - Western spur of Mount Nebo (v.), today Sijâgâh (Aramaic: "monastery"), consecrated to the memory of Moses' vision. In the possession of the Custody of the Holy Land since 1933, it was the object of 3 excavation campaigns directed and illustrated by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem.

The following were found: a three-apsed building with large drafted stones, which at the time of Egeria's visit (v.) was used as a church; a church with naves seen by Peter the Iberian (5th century); a baptistery, a chapel of the Theotokos from the 6th and 7th centuries with a monastic complex (7th-8th centuries) that succeeded a hermitic settlement. The rooms have mosaic floors, among which the figure of the Temple of Jerusalem seen against a background is notable. The small objects are Christian furnishings, with the exception of a small bronze with Jupiter seated and 8 Samaritan inscriptions. According to the Life of Peter the Iberian, the buildings were erected there following an apparition of Moses to a young shepherd of Nebo.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: S. Saller - H. Schneider, The memorial of Moses on Moses Nebo, 3 parts, Jerusalem 1941-50; B. Bagatti, Edifici cristiani nella regione del Nebo in Rivista d'arch. crist., 13 (1936), pp. 101-42; id., Il monastero del Nebo, in IV Congresso internoz. di arch. crist., II, Rome 1948, pp. 89-110.

Bellarmino Bagatti

@incollection{ec9_phasga_ebr_pisgah, author = {Bagatti, Bellarmino}, title = {Phasga (Ebr. Pisgâh)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {1313--1314}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/phasga-ebr-pisgah} }

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