Mount Hermon ( ) is a mountain constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon
On the top, in the United Nations buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli-occupied territories, is the highest permanently manned UN position in the world, known as "Hermon Hotel",[ The World's 18 Strangest Ski Resorts: The Mount Hermon Ski Resort , Shannon Hassett, Popular Mechanics] with a top elevation of .[ The Hermon Ski Resort: About, homepage of the resort, accessed 9 August 2019]
Geography
Wider mountain range
The
Anti-Lebanon range, of which the Hermon range constitutes the southernmost part, extends for approximately in a northeast–southwest direction, running parallel to the
Mount Lebanon range on the west.
Hermon range
The relatively narrow Hermon range, with the Lebanon-Syria boundary along its spine, extends for , from northeast of Mt. Hermon to southwest of it.
The Hermon range covers an area of about of which about are under Israeli control.
Mount Hermon is a cluster of mountains with three distinct summits, each about the same height.
Most of the portion of Mount Hermon within the Israeli-controlled area constitutes the Hermon nature reserve.
[ The Hermon entry area Israeli Liberary of Technology for Education (in Hebrew)][ The Hermon Shoulder Israeli Ministry of Environment website (in Hebrew)]
Water and flora
The mountain forms one of the greatest geographic resources of the area. Because of its height it captures a great deal of precipitation in a very dry area of the world. The
Jurassic limestone is broken by
Geologic fault and solution channels to form a
karst topography. Mount Hermon has seasonal winter and spring
Snow, which cover all three of its peaks for most of the year. Melt water from the snow-covered mountain's western and southern bases seeps into the rock channels and pores, feeding springs at the base of the mountain, which form
and
. These merge to become the
Jordan River.
The Surface runoff facilitates fertile plant life below the snow line, where and pine, oak, and Populus are abundant.[ The vegetation of Mount Hermon Mike Livneh (In Hebrew, Israel Mofet Unit of Research and Development, Dept. Of Education)] Two Piyyut from the 8th and 10th centuries indicate that vineyards were cultivated in the Hermon area during the early medieval period.
Strategic importance
The springs, and the mountain itself, are much contested by the nations of the area for the use of the water. Mount Hermon is also called the "snowy mountain", the "gray-haired mountain", and the "mountain of snow". It is also called "the eyes of the nation" in
Israel because its elevation makes it Israel's primary strategic early warning system.
[ If UN positions on Syria border fall to radicals Israel will have to respond Yacov Lapin, January 13, 2016 (Jerusalem Post)][ The Eyes of the Country have Closed Death of the soldier who coined the term "The eyes of the country" for a battle on the Hermon Mountain (in Hebrew, Ynet, 30 November 2006)]
Religious significance
Various temples can be found in villages on the slopes of Mount Hermon.
Mount Hermon's name has been related to the Semitic root ḥrm, which means "taboo" or "consecrated", as in Hebrew ḥerem (in several contexts: property, priestly gift and censure), and in the Arabic term al-ḥaram, which means "sacred enclosure".[Yohanan Aharoni (1962), "חרמון", in Encyclopaedia Biblica vol. 3, Bialik Institute, p. 296] The name Hermon does not appear in texts prior to the Bible, but other names of the mountain ( Siryon and Senir), which are mentioned in the Bible, appear in Bronze- and Iron-Age texts.[Aharoni, Yohanan (1962), "חרמון", in Encyclopaedia Biblica vol. 3, Instituti Bialik, pp. 294–295]
Execration texts
in the Egyptian
execration texts from the 19th century BC,
šrynw (Siryon) is mentioned.
[Aharoni, Yohanan (1962), "חרמון", in Encyclopaedia Biblica vol. 3, Instituti Bialik, p. 295 (in Hebrew)]
Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh mentions that Mount Hermon split after Gilgamesh killed
Humbaba, the Guardian of the Cedar Forest. One translation of Tablet V states, "The ground split open with the heels of their feet, as they whirled around in circles Mt. Hermon and Lebanon split."
One of the versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh mentions ša-ri-a ù la-ab-na-na – Siryon and Lebanon – as the place of Anunnaki. This indicates Amorite influence.
Hittite contract
In the contract between Muršili II and Duppi-Teššup of
Amurru kingdom, two of the mountains that appear among the gods that witness the alliance are Lebanon and Siryon (
šá-ri-ya-nu).
Ugaritic religion
In the Ugaritic
Baal Cycle, tablet KTU 1.4 IV, Baal goes "to Lebanon and his trees, Siryon – his desired cedars" for construction materials.
[Ugaritic: hlkbnn wʿṣh / šryn mḥmd ảrzh. see ]
The mountain or summit is referred to as Saphon in Ugaritic texts where the palace of Ba'al is located in a myth about Attar.
Assyrian royal inscriptions
In the royal inscriptions of
Shalmaneser III, Shalmaneser wrote that
Hazael fortified the peak of mount
sa-ni-ru (Senir
) "which is before mount Lebanon", and that after the defeat of Hazael, Shalmaneser marched to the
Hauran.
In another part, Shalmaneser wrote that in his way from mount Lebanon to the cities of Hazael, he passed mount Saniru.
The inscriptions of Esarhaddon mention several times cedars and cypresses from the mountains Lebanon and Sirara as construction materials;[ "שִׂרְיֹן" in Brown–Driver–Briggs]
Hebrew Bible and apocrypha
In
Deuteronomy 3:8–9 and Joshua 12:1 and 13:11, Mount Hermon is depicted as the northern boundary of the
Amorite kingdom, which following the conquest by Joshua was awarded to the half-tribe of Manasseh east of the
Jordan River.
The Hebrew Bible uses three names for Mount Hermon, stating in Deut 3:9 that "the Sidonians call Hermon Siryon, while the Amorites call it Senir", but elsewhere (1Chr 5:23) seems to distinguish between Senir and Hermon, probably using the names for two of the three peaks of the Hermon range, while in Psalm 42:6 the Hebrew text uses the plural form, Hermonim, possibly also a reference to the three peaks.[ Bible: Commentaries: Psalm 42:6 at Bible Hub for "Hermonim" with various interpretations. Accessed 20 July 2022.]
The pair Siryon and Lebanon appears in Psalm 29, which is considered by Scholars to have Canaanite origin or roots.
The Book of Chronicles mentions Mount Hermon as a place where Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel were the heads of their families (1 Chronicles 5:23-24).
In Psalm 42, which leads the Psalms of the northern kingdom, the Psalmist remembers God from the land of Jordan and the Hermonites. In , Hermon is an instance of an exotic locale, and Psalm 133, one of the Songs of Ascents, makes specific reference to the abundant dew formation upon Mount Hermon.
In the apocryphal Book of Enoch, Mount Hermon is the place where the Watcher class of descended to Earth. They swear upon the mountain that they would take wives among the daughters of men and take mutual imprecation for their sin ().
According to the controversial research by Professor Israel Knohl of the Hebrew University, in his book Hashem, Mount Hermon is actually the Mount Sinai mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, with the biblical story reminiscent of an ancient battle of the northern tribes with the Egyptians somewhere in the Jordan Valley or Golan Heights.[ Pharaoh’s War with the Israelites: The Untold Story Israel Knohl, Azure Magazine #41, Summer 2010 (Azure Magazine website)]
New Testament
R.T. France, in his book on the Gospel of Matthew, noted that Mount Hermon was a possible location of the Transfiguration of Jesus,
[R.T. France, Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) (IVP Academic, 2008)] just as it has elsewhere been described as the site accepted by most scholars.
[Bromiley, Geoffrey William, ed. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. "Transfiguration, Mount of". William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1988.]
Qasr Antar inscription and Hermon as the "mountain of oath"
There is a sacred building made of hewn blocks of stone on the summit of Mount Hermon. Known as
Qasr Antar, it is the highest temple of the ancient world and was documented by Sir Charles Warren in 1869. An inscription on a
limestone stele recovered by Warren from Qasr Antar was translated by George Nickelsburg to read "According to the command of the greatest a(nd) Holy God, those who take an oath (proceed) from here." Nickelsburg connected the inscription with the oath taken by the
under
Semjaza who took an
oath together, bound by a
curse, in order to take human wives in the Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 6:6). Hermon was said to have become known as "the mountain of oath" by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau. The name of
God was supposed to be a Hellenized version of Baʿal or
Hadad and Nickelsburg connected it with the place name of
Baal-Hermon (Lord of Hermon) and the deity given by Enoch as "The Great Holy One".
[Nickelsburg, 1 Enoch 1. A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch, 1–36; 81–108 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2001.]
Deir El Aachayer Roman temple
Another
Ancient Greece inscription found in a large
Roman temple at Deir El Aachayer on the northern slopes notes the year that a bench was installed "in the year 242, under
Beeliabos, also called
Diototos, son of
Abedanos, high priest of the gods of
Kiboreia". The era of the gods of Kiboreia is not certain, nor is their location, which is not conclusively to be identified with Deir al-Achayer, but was possibly the Roman sanctuary or the name of a settlement in the area.
Religious importance in the Late Roman period
Eusebius recognized the religious importance of Hermon in his work
Onomasticon (probably written in the first quarter of the 4th century), saying "Until today, the mount in front of
Banias and Lebanon is known as Hermon and it is respected by nations as a sanctuary."
Climate
According to the Köppen climate classification, the weather station at Mount Hermon features a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (
Csb). The climate might also more specifically be described as
Orogeny-Mediterranean (
CsbH). Its temperature range is relatively narrow, while its yearly variation in precipitation is very wide; with mild, rainless summers, and chilly, very wet and often snowy winters.
The peak, at , has a Mediterranean-influenced warm-summer humid continental climate (Koppen: Dsb).
Arab-Israeli conflict
1967 Six-Day War
During the
Six-Day War in June 1967, a part of Mount Hermon in Syria was captured by Israel.
1973 Yom Kippur War
This part was regained by
Syria on October 6, 1973, the first day of the Yom Kippur War, following the First Battle of Mount Hermon. After being repelled in the Second Battle of Mount Hermon, the IDF recaptured both the formerly Israeli-occupied sector and the pre-Yom Kippur War Syrian-controlled sector on October 21, 1973, during Operation Dessert,
also known as the Third battle of Mount Hermon.
1974–2024
The pre-Yom Kippur War Syrian-controlled sector was returned to Syria after the war.
The Israeli-occupied sector of the mountain became patrolled by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Police, and the Israeli Security Forces have maintained a strategic observation post for monitoring Syrian and Lebanon military activity near Mitzpe Shlagim ("Snow Lookout"), which is at an elevation of about . Its neighboring peak, at , is the highest elevation in Israeli-controlled territory,
2024
After the fall of the Assad regime in Syria due to the opposition offensives, on December 8, 2024, Israeli forces took over the summit of Mount Hermon (Jabal El-Sheikh outpost) on the same day.
Ski resort
Since 1981, when the Golan Heights Law was passed, the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights has been governed under Israeli law. Mount Hermon hosts the only ski resort in territory controlled by Israel, including a wide range of ski trails at novice, intermediate, and expert levels. It also offers additional winter family activities such as and Nordic skiing. Those who operate the Hermon Ski area live in the nearby Israeli settlement of Neve Ativ and the Druze town of Majdal Shams. The ski resort has a ski school, ski patrol, and several restaurants located at either the bottom or peak of the area.
In 2005, the Syrian government had plans to develop a 15-billion-dollar ski resort on the slopes of the mountain.
See also
-
List of mountains in Lebanon
-
Hermon nature reserve
-
List of elevation extremes by country
-
Iris hermona
Notes
External links
