The New Student's Reference Work/Olives, Mount of

Olives, Mount of, also called Mount Olivet, lies east of Jerusalem, separated from it by the narrow Valley of Jehoshaphat. Its name came from a beautiful grove of olive-trees, which formerly grew on its western slope, but has now almost disappeared. The brook called Kedron flows through the valley, and by the bridge crossing it is the Garden of Gethsemane. The mount is divided into three summits, the highest 361 feet above Jerusalem and 2,725 above the sea, and on the central summit is the village of Olivet. The northern peak is supposed to be the place where the angels appeared to the disciples after the resurrection of Christ, and was the site of the Roman encampment at the destruction of Jerusalem. The central peak is pointed out as the mount from which Christ ascended after his resurrection, the place where he had wept over Jerusalem and had taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer. St. Helena built a church there, the site of which is now occupied by a later one, called the Church of the Ascension, and near it is a Mohammedan mosque.