SINAI, the mountain which has given its name to the "Sinaitic peninsula," the triangle lying between Egypt, South Palestine, Arabia and the Red sea. The mountain is famous in the Old Testament for the law-giving to Moses and the Israelites when they entered into covenant relations with the God who had delivered them from Egypt (Ex. xix. seq.). The events, which are the preludes to the journeys into Palestine, stand at the head of the national history of Israel ; and Sinai and other places to the south of Palestine (Kadesh, Edom, Mt. Seir, Paran, Midian) are firmly established in tradition as, in some sense, the true home of the national god Yahweh (Dent. xxxiii. 2., Judges, v. 5, Hab. iii. 3, Ps. lxviii. 8).
Mt. Sinai, whose name connects it with the old Babylonian moon-god Sin, is also known as Horeb (I Ki. viii. 9, Mal. iv. 4, etc.) : and not only is the site disputed, but it is possible that they were originally two mountains, which later harmonizing tradition has combined. It has long been felt difficult to suppose that the Sinaitic peninsula could have been the scene of the wanderings of the immense body of Israelites, as described, and a careful study of the biblical narratives has raised questions which have not yet been adequately answered. Analysis has made it probable that Kadesh-Barnea (5o m. S. of Beersheba) was the scene of some of the most important incidents now placed at Sinai, and the mount of the law-giving, or, perhaps, more especially Mt. Horeb, should possibly be looked for in Midian, east of the Gulf of Akaba. (See JETHRO.) The northern part of the Sinaitic peninsula has the ancient oft-trod road between Egypt and Palestine, one of the most famous in all history. Farther south is the bare and gradually rising region known as the wilderness of et-Tih ("wandering"). Two very important roads meet at the station of el-Nakhl, one running from Suez eastward to Akaba (the pilgrim road), another from Gaza southwards, opening out into various parts of the mountainous district of Sinai itself. Here, the Jebel Serbal (6,75o ft.) and the Jebel Musa (7,359 ft.) compete for the honour of being the mount of the law-giving.
There is no genuine pre-Christian tradition on the subject. The chief authority for the ancient sanctity of Mt. Sinai is Antoninus Martyr (end of the 6th century A.D.), who tells that the heathen Arabs in his time still celebrated a moon feast there. As Sin was a moon-god, the feast has been connected with the name of Sinai. Of Arab origin, too, are the innumerable "Sinaitic inscriptions," found especially in the Wady Mokatteb (in the north-west), and sometimes accompanied by rude drawings. The language and
character are Aramaic (Natabaean), but the proper names are mainly those of Arabs, who passing by graved their names on the rocks. That they were pilgrims to Sinai cannot be made out with certainty. The inscriptions date from the early centuries of the Christian era. In early Christian times, when the peninsula was once better wooded, many anchorites inhabited Sinai, living for the most part in the caves, which are numerous even in the primi tive rocks. Monasteries were built, the most famous being the great one of St. Catherine in Wady el-Der (the valley of the monastery). On Serbal, too, there were many granite dwellings, and in the neighbouring Pharan (Phoenicion), which was a bishop's see, there were, as the ruins show, churches and con vents. Josephus says that Sinai was the highest mountain of the district—a description which might apply to Serbal as seen from the plain below. Eusebius uses expressions which may also seem to point to Serbal as the place of the law-giving; whereas the tradition which seeks the holy site in the group of Jebel Musa (i.e., the mass of which Mt. Catherine is the highest peak) is not older than the time of Justinian, and, on the whole, in spite of some good authorities, is of less value.
The southern half of the peninsula was famed for its stone, and its mines of copper and turquoise (malachite). At the Wady Maghara and Serabit el-Khadem the Egyptians have left abund ant traces of settlements which testify to the constant exploitation of the turquoise mines from the Ist Dynasty onwards. Sinai, too, may have been the land of Magan, whence the Babylonians ob tained stone as early as the days of Naram-Sin. In any case the peninsula as a whole must have had considerable strategical and economic importance from very ancient times. It is of special interest, therefore, that remains were found at Serabit of a highly developed cult in connection with the mines. The place has been described by Sir W. M. Flinders Petrie (19o5). Although King Snefru, the last of the IIIrd Dynasty, came to be regarded as a sort of tutelary deity, the real guardian was the goddess Hathor, the "lady (or mistress) of turquoise." Her shrine was in a cave, in front of which buildings ran out for a distance of 25o feet. Ad joining the cave was the shrine of Sopdu, the lord of the deserts, and among the more noteworthy indications of an ancient and long-enduring cult was an enormous mass of ashes (estimated at 5o tons) in front of the cave, though the purpose of the cere monial burnings is unknown.