Mount Sinai

Amid the high mountains of Egypt's southern Sinai Peninsula stands Jebel Musa, "Mount Moses, " revered by most Christians and Muslims as Mount Sinai, the place where God made the covenant with His people. In this study, Joseph Hobbs draws on geography and archaeology, biblical and Quranic accounts, and the experiences of people ranging from Christian monks to Bedouin shepherds to casual tourists to explore why this mountain came to be revered as a sacred place and how that very perception now threatens its fragile ecology and its sense of holy solitude. Hobbs concludes his account with the recent international debate over whether to build a cable car on Mount Sinai and with a description of the negative impact of tourism on the delicate desert environment.