Where is Mount Gerizim located?

Mount Gerizim site

We often hear the name of Mount Gerizim, as it is one of the most famous Palestinian mountains, which is located specifically in the city of Nablus, specifically in the southern region of it, as it is located on the opposite side of Mount Ebal; Therefore, people often connect the two names, so they do not mention Gerizim without Ebal, and separates these two mountains from a valley that bisects the city of Nablus into two parts, and as for Mount Gerizim, it is a group of sloping limestone rocky mountains, so that it rises about seven hundred meters above sea level, as for the city itself It rises three hundred meters, and the only trees planted in it are olive trees.

reason of calling

There are two accounts related to the reason for naming Mount Gerizim by this name:

• The first narration says that the word Gerizim is a Jewish or Hebrew word and means statutes, that is, it specializes in performing Jewish religious rites and rites on it. It is said that when the children of Israel entered Palestine, Joshua bin Nun, who was accompanying the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, was carrying a will given to our master Moses, as a result of which, divided the tribes into two parts, some of them stood on Mount Gerizim and the other half stood on the top of Mount Ebal and began to curse, and the most famous names that were given to this mountain are the Mountain of Blessings, the Mountain of Angels and the House of God, and the Mountain of Jerusalem in addition to the ancient mountain, so he took it The Jews, and specifically the Samaritans among them, are a sacred place in which they make a pilgrimage to God and offer sacrifices to Him, and perform religious rites and various acts of worship in it, unlike the Jews who believe that it is the place where the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, would offer his son as a sacrifice to God Almighty, specifically in the southeastern region of his summit, which It is considered the holiest and purest spot for them, and its total area is 48 by 36 square feet.
• As for the second narration, it says that the mountain was named so in relation to an Arab tribe that inhabited Palestine, specifically during the period of the Jewish occupation of Palestine and was known as the Jerzyn Island, so that the mountain contains a group of antiquities that date back to different time periods, and an example of it is the Samaritan temple that was built by Alexander the Macedonian during The period of Greece's rule over the country, and it was destroyed by John Hyrcanosi of the Hasmoneans, specifically in the year 125 BC.

اfor its effects

A temple dating back to the Greek period was erected on this mountain, as it was affiliated with the god Zaus, in addition to the discovery of traces of a ruin called Khirbet al-Ras, specifically in the northern region of the Gerizim summit, and it is accessed through a stairway that also leads to a temple dating back to the Greek period, in addition to an octagonal church. It was built specifically during the Byzantine period, and it was fortified with a wall during the period of the Samaritans’ rule of the country, specifically in the sixth century AD, and it was demolished two centuries later. Near this church there is a mosque and shrine for a prophet whose name is Al-Salih Abd al-Salam bin Ghanem, and a Crusader castle built by the Frankish king Baldwin I.