The title Mount of Offence, or of Scandal, was be- stowed on the supposition that it is the " Mount of Cor- ruption," on which Solomon erected the high places for the gods of his foreign wives (2 Kings xxiii, 13; 1 Kings xi, 7). This tradition appears to be of a recent date. It is not mentioned in the Jewish travellers Benjamin, hap-Parchi, or Petachia, and the first ap- pearance of the name or the tradition as attached to that locality among Christian writers appears to be in John of Wirtzburg (Tobler, p. 80, note) and Brocardus {Descriptio Ter. JS. cap. ix), both of the 13th century. At that time the northern summit was believed to have been the site of the altar of Chemosh (Brocardus), the southern one that of Molech only (Thietmar, Peregr. xi, 2). The title "Mount of Corruption" (niniTSn "-.r;) seems to be coiuiected etymologically in some way with the name by which the mount is occasionally rendered in the Targums — Nlldp "l^IIJ (Jonathan, Cant, viii, 9; Pseudo-Jon. Gen. viii, 11). One is probably a play on the other. Stanley {S. and P. p. 188, note) argues that the Mount of Corruption was the northern hill (Viri Galiliei), because the three sanctuaries were south of it, and therefore on the other three summits.
This southern summit is considerably lower than the centre one, and, as already remarked, it is so distinct as almost to constitute a separate hill or eminence in the general range. It is also sterner and more repulsive in its form. On the south it is bounded by the Wady en- Nar, the continuation of the Kidron, curving around eastward on its drearv course to Mar Saba and the Dead
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Sea. From this barren ravine the Mount of Offence rears its rugiied sides by acolivities barer and steeper than any in the northern portion of the mount, and its top presents a bald and (h'solate surface, contrasting greatlv with the cultivation of the other summits, and this not improbably, as in the case of Mount Ebal, suggested the name which it now bears. On the steep ledges of its western face clings the ill-favored village of Silwan, a few dilapidated towers rather than houses, their gray bleared walls hardly to be distinguished from the rock to which they adhere, and inhabited by a tribe as mean and repulsive as their habitations. • Crossing to the back or eastern side of this mountain, on a half-isolated promontory or spur which overlooks the road of our Lord's progress from Bethany, are found tanks and foundations and other remains, which are maintained by Dr. Barclay {City, etc., p. GG) to be those of Bethphage (see also Stewart, Tent and Khan, p. 322). (4.) The only one of the summits remaining to be considered is that on the north of the " Mount of As- cension"— the Kai-em es-Seyad, or Vineyard of the Sportsman ; or, as it is called by the modern Latin and Greek Christians, the Viri Galilcei. This is a hill of exactly the same character as the INIount of the Ascen- sion, and so nearly its equal in height that few travel- lers agree as to which is the more lofty. The summits of the two are about 400 yards apart. It stands direct- ly opposite the north-east corner of Jerusalem, and is approached by the path between it and the Mount of Ascension, which strikes at the top into a cross-path leading to el-Isawiyeh and Anata. The Arabic name well reflects the fruitful character of the hill, on which there are several vineyards, besides much cultivation of other kinds. The Christian name is due to the sin- gular tradition that here the two angels addressed the apostles after our Lord's ascension — "Ye men of Gali- lee!" This idea, which is so incompatible, on account of the distance, even with the traditional spot of the ascension, is of late existence and inexplicable origin. The first name by which we encounter this hill is sim- ply "Galilee," >/ FaXtXaia (Perdiccas, A.D. cir. 1250, in Keland, Palcest. cap. lii). Brocardus (A.D. 1280) de- scribes the mountain as the site of Solomon's altar to Chemosh {Descr. cap. ix), but evidently knows of no name for it, and connects it with no Christian event. This name may, as is conjectured (Quaresmius, ii, 319, and Reland, p. 341), have originated in its being the custom of the apostles, or of the Galila;ans generally, ■when they came up to Jerusalem, to take up their quar- ters there ; or it may be the echo or distortion of an an- cient name of the spot, possibly the Geliloth of Josii. xviii, 17 — one of the landmarks of the south boundary of Benjamin, which has often puzzled the topographer. But, whatever its origin, it came at last to be considered as the actual Galilee of Northern Palestine, the place at ■which our Lord appointed to meet his disciples after his resurrection (IMatt. xxviii, 10), the scene of the miracle of Cana (Keland, p. 338). This transference, at once so extraordinary and so instructive, arose from the same desire, combined with the same astounding want of the critical faculty, which enabled the pilgrims of the Mid- dle Ages to see without perplexity the scene of the transfiguration (Bourdeaux Pilgr.), of the beatitudes (Maundeville, Early Trav. p. 177), and of the ascension all crowded together on the single summit of the cen- tral hill of Olivet. It testified to the same feeling which has brought together the scene of Jacob's vision at Bethel, of the sacrifice of Isaac on Moriah, and of Da- vid's offering in the thrcshing-tloor of Araunah, on one hill; and which to this day has crowded within the ■walls of one church of moderate size all tlie events con- nected with the death and resurrection of Christ.