The
Mount of Olives or
Mount Olivet (,
Har HaZeitim; ,
Jabal az-Zaytūn,
Aț-Țūr) is a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to
Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the
olive groves that once covered its slopes. The southern part of the Mount was the
Silwan necropolis, attributed to the ancient
Judean kingdom. The Mount has been used as a
Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and holds approximately 150,000 graves, making it central in the tradition of
Jewish cemeteries. Several key events in the life of
Jesus, as related in the
Gospels, took place on the Mount of Olives, and in the
Acts of the Apostles it is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven. Because of its association with both Jesus and
Mary, the Mount has been a site of
Christian worship since ancient times and is today a major site of pilgrimage for
Catholics,
the Eastern Orthodox, and
Protestants.