Mount Scopus

Mount Scopus is a mountain located in Jerusalem with an elevation of 826 meters (2,710 ft) above sea level. Between the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, it was an internationally protected exclave of Israel within Jordan, as it was geographically part of Jordan's East Jerusalem, but politically part of Israel's West Jerusalem. It is home to the main campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Hadassah Medical Center. Since the collapse of the City Line in 1967, the area now lies within Jerusalem's Israeli municipal boundaries.

The ridge of mountains east of ancient as well as modern Jerusalem offers the best views of the city, which it dominates. Since the main part of the ridge bears the name Mount of Olives, the name "lookout" was reserved for this peak to the northeast of the ancient city. Its name in many languages (Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Latin) means "lookout." Scopus is a Latinisation of the Greek word for "watcher", skopos.

The Hebrew name, Har HaTzofim, "Lookout Mountain", is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in the form of the Greek "ὁ Σκοπός" (skopós) in the works of Josephus (The Jewish War 2.528; 5.67, 106, first century CE) in connection to Alexander the Great and the 70 CE Roman siege. He also writes that its ancient name was Sapha (Σάφα), which has led to a theory that the hills of Safa and Marwa near Mecca, which Muslim pilgrims walk or run between, were originally Scopus/Sapha and Mount Moriah, and the pilgrimage originally took place at Jerusalem.

The Mishnah (third century CE) mentions "Tzofim" in relation to Jerusalem, but it is not at all certain that it means a particular location or rather any point from which the Temple can be seen.

The ancient name Har Hatzofim or Mount Scopus has been affixed to this particular mountain and its peak in the 20th century without the certainty that it corresponds precisely to what Josephus had referred to as Mount Scopus.

Overlooking Jerusalem, Mount Scopus has been strategically important as a base from which to attack the city since antiquity. During the Great Jewish Revolt, the 12th Roman Legion commanded by Cestius, camped there in 66 CE. In 70, at the conclusion of the same war that led to the destruction of the Jewish Temple, Mount Scopus was used as a base to carry out the final siege of the city by the same 12th Legion, plus the 15th and 5th Legions, while the 10th Legion was positioned on the continuation of the same ridge, known as the Mount of Olives. The Crusaders used it as a base in 1099.^{[citation needed]}

The exact location of the mountain known in the ancient sources as Mount Scopus is not known. It is described as being in the north-eastern part of the ridge that prominently includes the Mount of Olives, which dominates Jerusalem from the east. As the Zionist organisations decided to build a new Jewish institution of higher learning in Jerusalem, which eventually became the Hebrew University, they decided that it was unwise to try and ask for donations for a project designed to be built on the Mount of Olives, a location with many Christian connotations.^{[citation needed]}

The site chosen for the university did correspond approximately to the description of the ancient Mount Scopus and so it was decided to name that particular peak "Mount Scopus".^{[citation needed]}