Olives, Mount of

Olives, Mount of, also Mount Olivet, limestone ridge, central Israel, east of Jerusalem, in an area which has been occupied by Israel since 1967. The ridge, reaching about 823 m (2,700 ft) at its highest point, is separated from Jerusalem only by the narrow Valley of Kidron. Its name is derived from a grove of olive trees that stood on its western flank. The ridge has three summits. The northernmost, often called Mount Scopus, is the site of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1918). On the central summit is a village, once called Olivet, named at-Tur (Arabic, “the mount”). Around this central summit, generally regarded as the Mount of Olives proper, many events of Christian history took place. At the top stands a Muslim chapel, on the supposed site of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, as described in Acts 1:2-12. On the slope is the site at which, according to tradition, Jesus wept over Jerusalem (see Luke 19:41-44) during his triumphal entry into the city. High on the slope are a Carmelite church and convent near the site of a church built by St Helena.