Zi'on (Heb. Tsiyon', "i'^, sunny [Gesen.] or fort [Fiirst] ; Sept. [usually] and New. Test. "Euov, Vulg. Sion; A. Y. " Sion" in New. Test.), a prominent hill ("il) of Jerusalem, being generally regarded as the sontli-westernmost and the highest of those on which the city was built. It included the most ancient part of the city with the citadel, and, as first occupied for a palace, was called the city of David (2 Chron. v, 2). Being the original site of the tabernacle pitched by David for the reception of the ark, it was also called the holy hill, or ]iill of the sanctuary (Psa. ii, 6). By the Hebrew prophets the name is often put for Jeru- salem itself (Isa. viii, 18; x, 24; xxx, 19; xxxiii, 14; Psa. xlviii, 2, 11, 12; comp. Rom. ix, 33; xi, 2G; 1 Pet. ii, 6; Rev. xiv, 1); also for its inhabitants, sometimes called sons or dauijhiers of Zion (Isa. i, 27 ; xii, 6 ; xl, 9; xlix, 14; lii, 1; Psa. ix, 14; xcvii.8; Zech. ii,7, 10; ix, 9, 13; Zeph. iii, 14, 16; Joel ii, 23; Matt, xxi, ft; John xii, 15); and for the spiritual Sion, the church or citv of the living God (Heb. xii, 22, 28; Gal. iv, 26; Rev. iii, 12; xxi, 2, 10).
There never has been any considerable doubt as to the identity of this hill. Josephus, indeed, singularly enough appears to ignore the name Zion; but he evi- dently calls the same hill the site of the Upper City. In modern times Fergusson has attempted to identify it with ]\Iount Moriali (.Jerusalem Revisited; the Temple, etc.), and Capt. Warren, with ecjual futility, has contend- ed for its identity with Akra {The Teinple or the Tomb [Lond. 1880]). The mistake of the latter has origi- nated from not observing that Josephus uses iiKpa, the summit, in two senses: («) the citadel on Jlount Zion (^n?.vii, 3.1, where it is clearly distinguished from "the lower city"), and (b) the hill A /era {ibid. 2, where it is clearlj' distinguished from " the upper city"). See
ACRA.
Of the several hills on which Jerusalem was built, Zion is the largest and, in many respects, the most in- teresting. It extends considerably farther south than the opposite ridge of Moriah and Ophel. The western and southern sides rise abrupth' from the bed of the valley of Ilinnom, and appear to have originally con- sisted of a series of rocky precipices rising one above another like stairs ; but now they are partially, and in some places deeply, covered with loose soil and the de-
bris of buildings. The southern brow of Zion is bold and prominent; and its position, separated from other heights and surrounded by deep valleys, makes it seem loftier than any other point in the city, though it is in reality lower than the ground at the north-west corner of the wall. The elevation of the hill above the val- ley of Hinnom at the point where it bends eastward is 300 feet, and above the Kidron, at en-Rogel, 500 feet. On the south-east, Zion slopes down in a series of culti- vated terraces steeply, though not abruptly, to the site of the "King's Gardens," where Ilinnom, the Tyropoe- on, and the Kidron unite. Here and round to the south the declivities are sprinkled with olive-trees, which grow luxuriantly among narrow strips of corn. The scene cannot but recall the words of Micah, "Zion shall be ploughed like a field" (Jer. xxvi, 18). On the east, the descent to the Tyropceon is at first gradual, but as we proceed northward to the modern wall it becomes steeper; and about 300 yards within the wall, directly facing the south-west angle of the Haram, there is a precipice of rock from twenty t« thirty feet high. The declivity is here encumbered with heaps of filth and rubbish, overgrown in places with prickly-jiear. The Tyropceon was anciently much deeper at this point than it is now; it has been filled up by the ruins of the bridge, the Temple walls, and the palaces of Zion to a depth of more than 130 feet. Tiie best view of the eastern slopes of Zion and the southern section of the Tyropceon is obtained from tlie top of the wall in de- scending from Zion Gate to the Dung Gate.
From the descriptions and incidental notices of Jose- phus the following facts may be gathered: that the " Upper City," built on Zion, was surrounded by ra- vines; that it was separated from the "Lower City" (Alra) by a valley called the Tyropceon; that upon a crest of rock thirty cubits high on the northern brow of Zion stood three great towers — Hippicus, Phasaelus, and Mariamne; that the wall enclosing the Upper Citj' on the north ran by these towers to a ])lace called the Xystus and joined the western wall of the Temple area; that there was a gate in that western wall northward of this point of junction opening into Akra; that the Xystus was near to and commanded by the western wall of the Temple area, though not united to it, and that the royal palace atljoined and overlooked the Xys- tus on the west, while it was also attached to the great towers above mentioned ; and, lastly, that both the Xys- tus and palace were connected at their southern end by a bridge with the Temple area (see Josephus, If'rt?', v, 4; vi,b,2; ii, 16,3; Aut.xv, 11,5).