Part I of this series focused on the reason the Mount of Olives is significant in the life of Jesus. I decided that this Part II will help to know a little more about the geographic area and the topography of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.
There is a lot of confusion about the events and places surrounding the Mount of Olives. It is very difficult to know exactly where everything was 2,000 years ago, during Jesus’ ministry. Many accounts I have read during my research for this topic contradict one another. The Roman siege of AD 70 destroyed forests and gardens all around the city. Pools were filled in. Valleys and roads were changed to allow the legions access to the walls. They denuded the olive trees from the Mount of Olives.
Other wars and assaults over the centuries have made the situation worse, and many people such as Queen Helena have interfered by blindly selecting sites to build churches and monuments at places where they thought or were told were the right spot, but which were not the real places of Jesus’ ministry.
The Moslem conquest and takeover of the Temple Mount where they have placed the Dome of the Rock (which may not be the real place of the original temple mount) have restricted access to the archeological digs, and have actually interfered by removing dump truck loads of dirt in areas that were being discovered and dumping them in the Kidron Valley.
So, some points need to be pulled from historical records from Josephus, and the Bible to be able to “see” the Mount of Olives in Jesus’ day.
From Bibleatlas.org –
“The lofty ridge of Olivet is visible from far, a fact now emphasized by the high Russian tower which can be seen for many scores of miles on the East of the Jordan. The range presents, from such a point of view particularly, a succession of summits. Taking as the northern limit the dip which is crossed by the ancient Anathoth (`anata) road, the most northerly summit is that now crowned by the house and garden of Sir John Gray Hill, 2,690 ft. above sea-level. This is sometimes incorrectly pointed out as Scopus, which lay farther to the Northwest. A second sharp dip in the ridge separates this northern summit from the next, a broad plateau now occupied by the great Kaiserin Augusta Victoria Stiftung and grounds. The road makes a sharp descent into a valley which is traversed from West to East by an important and ancient road from Jerusalem, which runs eastward along the Wady er Rawabeh. South of this dip lies the main mass of the mountain, that known characteristically as the Olivet of ecclesiastical tradition. This mass consists of two principal summits and two subsidiary spurs….” Source: https://bibleatlas.org/olivet.htm (Bold emphasis mine.)
What many people today are calling Mt. Scopus is really the Viri Galilaei.
“The northern of the two main summits is that known as Karem es Sayyad, “the vineyard of the hunter,” and also as “Galilee,” or, more correctly, as Viri Galilaei (see below, 7). It reaches a height of 2,723 ft. above the Mediterranean and is separated from the southern summit by a narrow neck traversed today by the carriage road. The southern summit, of practically the same elevation, is the traditional “Mount of the Ascension,” and for several years has been distinguished by a lofty, though somewhat inartistic, tower erected by the Russians.” Source: https://bibleatlas.org/olivet.htm
Tradition maintains that Titus camped all of his legions on the Mount of Olives, but this is not correct. The historical accounts have relied upon mistaken and repeated misinterpretations from previous “historians”. (1) (2) Titus would not have camped all of his legions on the east side of the city. (3)
Excerpt from Josephus, Wars Book 5. (Bold emphasis is mine.)
“But now, as soon as that legion that had been at Emmaus was joined to Caesar at night, he removed thence, when it was day, and came to a place called Seopus; from whence the city began already to be seen, and a plain view might be taken of the great temple. Accordingly, this place, on the north quarter of the city, and joining thereto, was a plain, and very properly named Scopus, [the prospect,] and was no more than seven furlongs distant from it. And here it was that Titus ordered a camp to be fortified for two legions that were to be together; but ordered another camp to be fortified, at three furlongs farther distance behind them, for the fifth legion; for he thought that, by marching in the night, they might be tired, and might deserve to be covered from the enemy, and with less fear might fortify themselves; and as these were now beginning to build, the tenth legion, who came through Jericho, was already come to the place, where a certain party of armed men had formerly lain, to guard that pass into the city, and had been taken before by Vespasian. These legions had orders to encamp at the distance of six furlongs from Jerusalem, at the mount called the Mount of Olives 1 which lies over against the city on the east side, and is parted from it by a deep valley, interposed between them, which is named Cedron.” Source: here
Josephus said that Scopus was a plain on the north quarter of the city coming from Emmaus which was west of Jerusalem. The 12th, 15th, and 5th legions were coming in from the north and west of Jerusalem. They were allowed to rest after marching through the night. The 10th Fretensis came from Jericho east of Jerusalem, widening the dirt road / path to Jericho as they came with their horses and siege engines. More from Josephus:
“But Titus, intending to pitch his camp nearer to the city than Scopus, placed as many of his choice horsemen and footmen as he thought sufficient opposite to the Jews, to prevent their sallying out upon them, while he gave orders for the whole army to level the distance, as far as the wall of the city. So they threw down all the hedges and walls which the inhabitants had made about their gardens and groves of trees, and cut down all the fruit trees that lay between them and the wall of the city, and filled up all the hollow places and the chasms, and demolished the rocky precipices with iron instruments; and thereby made all the place level from Scopus to Herod’s monuments, which adjoined to the pool called the Serpent’s Pool. Source: here
So, Titus gave orders for the legions to cut down the trees and groves around Herod’s palace which was on the west side of the temple mount, not the east side. Herod’s monuments were not just the rebuilt temple rooms. The Serpent’s Pool was the Pool of Mamillah on the west of the city.(4)
Another error is the supposed location of the Mount of Ascension that most people believe today is at a high plateau on the Mount of Olives. According to Luke, the place of ascension was on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives near Bethany.
“50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:50-51, KJV)
David’s flight from Jerusalem when his son Absalom conspired to overthrow the throne was north and east to the top of the Mount of Olives where the “high place” for the worship of God would have been set. Places of worship were not on the lower slopes of mountains, but on the top. There was more than one “way of the wilderness” which every commentator I have read attributes that part of the scriptures to the road to Jericho.
“32 And it came to pass, that when David was come to the top of the mount, where he worshipped God,…” (2 Sam. 15:32, KJV, bold emphasis mine)
“It is highly probable that David’s route to the wilderness was neither by the much-trodden Anathoth road nor over the summit of the mountain, but by the path running Northeast from the city, which runs between the Viri Galilaei hill and that supporting the German Sanatorium and descends into the wilderness by Wady er Rawabi.” Source: https://bibleatlas.org/olivet.htm
During the first century AD, before Jesus’ crucifixion (30-31 AD), there was a northern path / way up Mt. Olivet to a high point where David had set a high place to worship God. That little valley between the Viri Galilaei and the 2nd summit of the mountain would have been the best way to reach the top. If David had chosen the path to Jericho, he would have turned south around the lower slopes of Mt. Olivet.
The main point to consider is that the terrain all around Jerusalem is very rough terrain, with high hills, and deep ravines. Travelers were challenged by this terrain, with the constant up and down of all of the paths through these mountains and hills. The road to Jericho wound around the south of the mountain passing between Bethphage and Bethany, and dropped some 3400 ft in elevation from Jerusalem for about 15 miles.(5)
Mount Moriah, the temple mount is about 2431 ft in elevation, or about 284 ft lower than the Mount of Olives.(6) The Kidron valley just east of Jerusalem between the temple mount and the Mount of Olives winds south to the top of the dead sea, and drops 4,000 ft in elevation over some 20 miles.(7)
All of this area is filled with hills and ravines on all sides. Jerusalem was well protected by seven mountains, which made it very difficult for foreign armies to conquer. There is much more that could be discussed about the hilly terrain around Jerusalem. Please keep this in mind as we look next at the prophesies for Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.
Notes:
1. “After the Parthian war, XV Apollinaris was stationed at Alexandria. But not for long. In 66, a new war broke out: this time, the Jews were the enemy. During the war that followed…., XV Apollinaris, commanded by Vespasian’s son Titus, played an important role. Among the towns it took, was Jotapata, where they captured the Jewish general Joseph, who was to become famous as the historian Flavius Josephus (67). The legion also took Gamala. Together with V Macedonica, it fought on the western front, whereas X Fretensis took care of the valley of the Jordan.” Source: Livius
2. “On 14 April 70, during Passover, Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. To the northeast of the old city, on Mount Scopus, the legions XII Fulminata (a new addition from Syria) and XV Apollinaris shared a large camp; V Macedonica was camped at a short distance. When X Fretensis arrived from Syria, it occupied the Mount of Olives, in front of the Temple. The soldiers of this legion had a special incentive to fight: they had been defeated by the Zealots in 66, and wanted revenge.” Source: Livius
3. Titus’ approach from the north and the west through the Valley of Thorns – Perseus
4. Serpent’s Pool – here
5. The Road to Jericho – here
6. Topographic map of Mount Moriah – here
7. Ancient Roads in Israel – here
Shredding The Veil 