Editing Mount Scopus (section)

==Name and identification==
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''. . Adding to the multi-layered meaning of the name, it is also said that in times in which the city's Roman or [[Byzantine]] authorities prohibited Jews from entering Jerusalem, they used to come and look at their former capital from this vantage point.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

The Hebrew name, Har HaTzofim, "Lookout Mountain", is not mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]].<ref name=bible>[https://biblia.com/factbook/Mount-Scopus ''Mount Scopus'']. Retrieved 15 Feb 2021.</ref> It first appears in the form of the Greek "ὁ Σκοπός" (skopós) in the works of [[Josephus]] (''[[The Jewish War]]'' 2.528;<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147%3Abook%3D2%3Asection%3D528 Jewish War 2:528]</ref> 5.67,<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147%3Abook%3D5%3Asection%3D67 Jewish War 5:67]</ref> 106,<ref>[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0147%3Abook%3D5%3Asection%3D106 Jewish War 5:106]</ref> first century [[Common Era|CE]]) in connection to [[Alexander the Great]] and the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|70 CE Roman siege]].<ref name=bible/> He also writes that its ancient name was ''Sapha'' (Σάφα),<ref>Kitto, J., Alexander, W. L. (1876:192). ''A Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature''. United Kingdom: Black.</ref> 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 [[Moriah|Mount Moriah]], and the pilgrimage originally took place at Jerusalem.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/76385952 | title=Jerusalem, City of Islam by Paul D d'A Ellis | last1=d &#39 | first1=Paul D. | last2=Ellis | first2=A. }}</ref>

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 [[Second Temple|Temple]] can be seen.<ref name=Zoldan>{{cite web |last= Zoldan |first= Rabbi Yehuda |title= הצופים לירושלים [''HaTzofim LeYerushalayim'', lit. 'Watchmen to Jerusalem'] |publisher= The Torah and the Land Institute; Bulletin No. 36, Tammuz 5769 [June–July 2009] |language= he |url=http://daat.ac.il/daat/kitveyet/emunat/36/03602.htm |access-date=15 February 2021}}</ref>

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.