Hermon, Mount

Hermon, Mount

Mount Hermon, Arabic Jabal al-shaykh, snowcapped ridge on the Lebanon-Syria border west of Damascus. It rises to 9,232 feet (2,814 metres) and is the highest point on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is sometimes considered the southernmost extension of the Anti-Lebanon range. At its foot rise the two major sources of the Jordan River. Hermon has also been known historically as Sirion and Senir. A sacred landmark since the Bronze Age, it represented the northwestern limit of Israelite conquest under Moses and Joshua. On its slopes are temples with Greek inscriptions dating from about 200 ce.

Since the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967, about 40 square miles (100 square km) of Mount Hermon’s southern and western slopes have been part of the Israeli-administered Golan Heights; they have been developed for recreational use, especially skiing.