Information about Mount Carmel

Mount Carmel (Hebrew:Karem El/Har Ha'Karmel, הר הכרמל, Arabic:Kurmul/Jabal Mar Elyas) is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel and the West Bank, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. Its name literally means plantation of high quality trees^[1], roughly equivalent to the garden^[2], in reference to the richly fertile character of the hillside.^[3] The range was traditionally known as the vineyards of God, and archaeologists have discovered ancient wine and oil presses at various locations within the range.<ref name="Biblica" />

Geography and geology

The phrase Mount Carmel has been used in three distinct ways:<ref name="Biblica" />

• To refer to the 39-km-long (24-mile long) mountain range, stretching as far in the southeast as Jenin.
• To refer to the northwestern 19 km (12 miles) of the mountain range.
• To refer to the headland at the northwestern end of the range.

The range is about 6.5 to 8 km (4 to 5 miles) wide, sloping gradually towards the southwest, but forming a steep ridge on the northeastern face, 525.4 m (1,742 feet) high;<ref name="J Enc" /> the Jezreel Valley lies to the immediate northeast. The range forms a natural barrier in the landscape, just as the Jezreel Valley forms a natural passageway, and consequently the mountain range and the valley had much impact on migration and invasions through the Levant.<ref name="Biblica" /> The mountain formation is an admixture of limestone and flint,<ref name="J Enc" /> containing many caves, and covered in several volcanic rocks.<ref name="Biblica" />

The sloped side of the mountain is covered with luxuriant vegetation, including oaks, pines, olives, and laurels.<ref name="J Enc" /> Several towns are located on the range, including Yokneam on the eastern ridge, Zikhron Ya'aqov on the southern slope, the Druze town of Carmel City (formed in 2003 from the towns of Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya) on the more central part of the ridge, and the towns of Nesher, Tirat Hakarmel, and the city of Haifa, on the far northwestern promontory and its base.

Paleolithic history

From 1930 to 1932, Dorothy Garrod excavated four caves, and a number of rock shelters, in the Carmel mountain range at el-Wad, el-Tabun, and Es Skhul^[4]. Garrod discovered Neanderthal and early modern human remains, including the skeleton of a Neanderthal female, named Tabun I, which is regarded as one of the most important human fossils ever found^[5]. The excavation at el-Tabun produced the longest stratigraphic record in the region, spanning 600,000 or more years of human activity^[6], from the Lower Paleolithic to the present day, representing roughly a million years of human evolution^[7]. There are also several well-preserved burials of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens Sapiens) and passage from nomadic hunter-gatherer groups to complex, sedentary agricultural societies is extensively documented at the site. Taken together, these emphasize the paramount significance of the Mount Carmel caves for the study of human cultural and biological evolution within the framework of palaeo-ecological changes."[1]

As a strategic location

Due to the lush vegetation on the sloped hillside, and many caves on the steeper side, Carmel became the haunt of criminals<ref name="Biblica" />; Carmel was seen as a place offering an escape from Yahweh, as implied by the Book of Amos.^[8]<ref name="Biblica" /> According to the Book of Kings, Elisha travelled to Carmel straight after he had arranged for 42 children to be killed, merely because they had mocked his baldness^[9]; (The noun na'ar always refers to males but can include different ages). This does not necessarily imply that Elisha had sought asylum there from any potential backlash,<ref name="Biblica" /> although the description in the Book of Amos, of the location being a refuge, is dated by textual scholars to be earlier than the accounts of Elisha in the Book of Kings^[10][11], and according to Strabo it had continued to be a place of refuge until at least the first century^[12].

According to Epiphanius^[13], and Josephus^[14], Mount Carmel had been the stronghold of the Essenes that came from a place in Galilee named Nazareth; though this Essene group are sometimes consequently referred to as Nazareans, they are not to be confused with the "Nazarene" sect, which followed the teachings of Jesus, but associated with the Pharisees. Members of the modern American groups claiming to be Essenes, but viewed by scholars as having no ties to the historical group^[15], treat Mount Carmel as having great religious significance on account of the protection it afforded to the historic Essene group.

During World War I, Mount Carmel played a significant strategic role. The (20th century) Battle of Megiddo took place at the head of a pass through the Carmel Ridge, which overlooks the Valley of Jezreel from the south. General Allenby led the British in the battle, which was the turning point in the war against the Ottoman Empire. The Jezreel Valley had played host to many battles before, including the very historically significant Battle of Megiddo between the Egyptians and Canaanites, but it was only in the 20th century battle that the Carmel Ridge itself having a significance in the battle, due to the developments in munitions.

As a sacred location

In ancient Canaanite culture, high places were frequently considered to be sacred, and Mount Carmel appears to have been no exception; Thutmose III lists a holy headland among his Palestinian territories, and if this equates to Carmel, as Egyptologists such as Maspero believe, then it would indicate that the mountain headland was considered sacred from at least the 15th century BC.<ref name="Biblica" /> According to the Books of Kings, there was an altar to Yahweh on the mountain, which had fallen into ruin by the time of Ahab, but was rebuilt by Elijah^[16]. Iamblichus describes Pythagoras visiting the mountain on account of its reputation for sacredness, stating that it was the most holy of all mountains, and access was forbidden to many, while Tacitus states that there was an oracle situated there, which Vespasian visited for a consultation;<ref name="J Enc" /> Tacitus states that there was an altar there,<ref name="Biblica" /> but without any image upon it,<ref name="Biblica" /><ref name="J Enc" /> and without a temple around it.<ref name="J Enc" />

Elijah

In mainstream Jewish, Christian, and Islamic<ref name="Biblica" /> thought, it is Elijah that is indelibly associated with the mountain, and he is regarded as having sometimes resided in a grotto on the mountain. In the Books of Kings, Elijah is described as challenging 450 prophets of a particular Baal to a contest at the altar on Mount Carmel to determine whose deity was genuinely in control of the Kingdom of Israel; since the narrative is set during the rule of Ahab and his association with the Phoenicians, biblical scholars suspect that the Baal in question was probably Melqart^[17].

According to the biblical account, the challenge was to persuade a deity, light a sacrifice by fire, and after the others had failed to achieve this, Elijah poured water on his sacrifice, prostrated himself in prayer, and the fire fell from the sky, and consumed the sacrifice^[18]; shortly afterwards, in the account, clouds gather, the sky turns black, and it rains heavily^[19]. Scholars think that the account represents a more legendary description<ref name="Biblica" /> of a storm, during which the altar on Mount Carmel was struck by lightning^[20]; rather than a prayer for fire, scholars think that the account of Elijah's actions at the altar actually describes a rain-making ritual^[21].

Though there is no biblical reason to assume that the account of Elijah's victory refers to any particular part of Mount Carmel,<ref name="Biblica" /> Islamic tradition places it at a point known as El-Maharrakah, meaning the burning.<ref name="J Enc" /> In 1958, archaeologists discovered something on the mountain range that resembled an altar, which they assumed must have been Elijah's altar.

Carmelites

A Catholic religious order was founded on Mount Carmel in the 12th century, named the Carmelites, in reference to the mountain range; the founder was a certain Berthold (who died at an unknown point after 1185), who was either a pilgrim or crusader. The order was founded at the site that it claimed had once been the location of Elijah's cave, 1700 feet above sea level at the northwestern end of the mountain range;<ref name="Biblica" /> this, perhaps not co-incidentally, is also the highest natural point of the entire mountain range. Though there is no documentary evidence to support it, Carmelite tradition suggests that a community of Jewish hermits had lived at the site from the time of Elijah until the Carmelites were founded there; prefixed to the Carmelite Constitution of 1281 was the claim that from the time when Elijah and Elisha had dwelt devoutly on Mount Carmel, priests and prophets, Jewish and Christian, had lived praiseworthy lives in holy penitence adjacent to the site of the fountain of Elisha, in an uninterrupted succession.

A Carmelite monastery was founded at the site shortly after the order itself was created, and was dedicated to Mary, in her incarnation as sea star (stella maris in Latin) - a common medieval presentation of Mary;<ref name="Biblica" /> although Louis IX (of France) is commonly referred to as the founder, he was not, and had merely visited it in 1252.<ref name="ibid" /> The Carmelite order grew to be one of the major Catholic religious orders worldwide, although the monastery at Carmel had a less successful history. During the Crusades the monastery frequently changed hands, frequently finding itself to have become a mosque<ref name="ibid" />; under Islamic control, the location came to be known as El-Maharrakah, meaning place of burning, in reference to the account of Elijah's challenge to the priests of Hadad.<ref name="ibid" /> In 1799 the building was finally converted into a hospital, by Napoleon, but in 1821 the surviving structure was destroyed by the pasha of Damascus.<ref name="ibid" /> A new monastery was later constructed directly over a nearby cave, after funds were collected by the Carmelite order for restoration of the monastery<ref name="ibid" />; the cave, which now forms the crypt of the monastic church, is termed Elijah's grotto by the monks.<ref name="ibid" />

One of the oldest scapulars is associated with Mount Carmel, and the Carmelites. According to Carmelite legend, the Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was first given to Simon Stock, an English Carmelite, by Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Carmelites sometimes refer to Mary as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in honour of the legend, and celebrate a feast day dedicated to her in this guise, on the 16 July.

Bahá'í Faith

Mount Carmel is considered a sacred place for Bahá'ís around the world, and is the location of the Bahá'í World Centre and the Shrine of the Báb. The location of the Bahá'í holy places has its roots to the imprisonment of the religion's founder, Bahá'u'lláh, near Haifa by the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Palestine.

The Shrine of the Báb is a structure where the remains of the Báb, the founder of Bábism and forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í Faith, have been laid to rest. The shrine's precise location on Mount Carmel was designated by Bahá'u'lláh himself and the the Báb's remains were laid to rest on March 21, 1909 in a six-room mausoleum made of local stone. The construction of the shrine with a golden dome was completed over the mausoleum in 1953,^[22] and a series of decorative terraces around the shrine were completed in 2001.

Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, writing in the Tablet of Carmel, designated the area around the shrine as the location for the administrative headquarters of the religion; the Bahá'í administrative buildings were constructed adjacent to the decorative terraces, and are referred to as the Arc, on account of their physical arrangement.

Citations and notes

External links

• Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
• Mount Carmel - BiblePlaces.com, pictures and text illuminating the biblical site of Mount Carmel
• From Mount Carmel to Mount Ecclesia, a Christian view from the Rosicrucians

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