Mount Sinai

About Mount Sinai

Biblical tradition identifies this peak as the site of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments. Saint Catherine's Monastery, founded by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century CE, was built around an existing monastic community and houses manuscripts including the Codex Sinaiticus.

Commissioned by Emperor Justinian

Mount Sinai, Jabal Musa in Arabic, meaning Mountain of Moses, rises to 2285 meters in the southern Sinai Peninsula, where the Egyptian desert meets the Red Sea mountains. The mountain is held sacred by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments. At its base sits Saint Catherine's Monastery, one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monasteries in the world, founded in the sixth century CE by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

The association between this specific mountain and the biblical Sinai is a matter of longstanding religious tradition rather than archaeological certainty, the Sinai Peninsula was a place of pilgrimage before the fourth century CE, when Byzantine Christians began venerating this peak. Saint Catherine's Monastery was built to protect a community of monks who were already living at the site; the monastery's library contains one of the most significant collections of early Christian manuscripts in existence, second only to the Vatican. The Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest complete manuscripts of the Christian Bible, was found here in the nineteenth century, though it now resides in the British Library.

The summit hike follows one of two routes: the Camel Path, a longer and more gradual ascent, or the Steps of Repentance, a direct route of three thousand ancient stone steps cut into the mountain. Those who come climb at night to reach the summit at sunrise, setting out from the monastery at around 2am. The darkness eliminates the visual context of the landscape; the sunrise, when it reveals the mountain range spreading in every direction, arrives suddenly and completely. The descent to Saint Catherine's Monastery allows time for the library courtyard, the burning bush (a living plant maintained on the claimed site), and the sixth-century mosaic in the basilica. Saint Catherine's is roughly eight hours from Cairo by bus, with services from the Turgoman terminal. The town of St. Catherine offers guesthouses for the overnight stay required for a summit sunrise hike.

The Experience

Climb by night on the Steps of Repentance or Camel Path to reach the summit at sunrise, descend to Saint Catherine's Monastery to visit the sixth-century basilica mosaic and the living Burning Bush, and browse the courtyard of one of Christianity's oldest monasteries.

Why It Matters

A site sacred to three Abrahamic religions, with one of the world's oldest and most significant Christian manuscript collections at its base.

Why Visit

The sunrise from the summit, when the Sinai mountain range emerges from darkness in every direction, is one of those moments that earns its reputation. The journey, cold, dark, physically demanding, is part of why it works.