1 00:00:00,458 --> 00:00:17,543 This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture. 2 00:00:17,543 --> 00:00:22,064 The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations but not necessarily 3 00:00:22,064 --> 00:00:30,867 the only ones to the mysteries we will examine. 4 00:00:30,867 --> 00:00:36,529 Sunrise at Mount Sinai. The mountain long thought to be the place where Moses 5 00:00:36,529 --> 00:00:43,791 received the Ten Commandments. Thousands of tourists come here each year making 6 00:00:43,791 --> 00:00:49,273 the pilgrimage to the site of that great biblical event. Have they all been 7 00:00:49,273 --> 00:00:52,714 coming to the wrong place? 8 00:01:04,837 --> 00:01:10,439 The wilderness of Sinai is a land sacred to Jews and Christians all over the 9 00:01:10,439 --> 00:01:18,921 world. According to the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments somewhere in 10 00:01:18,921 --> 00:01:28,124 Sinai more than 3,000 years ago. A barren peninsula, ironically it has long 11 00:01:28,124 --> 00:01:34,206 been one of the most strategic spots on earth. The Sinai is the land bridge 12 00:01:34,206 --> 00:01:39,448 between Asia and Africa. Alexander the Great crossed it with his army in seven 13 00:01:39,448 --> 00:01:46,050 days. Roman Emperor Titus took only five. Modern armor rolls over it in a few 14 00:01:46,050 --> 00:01:52,772 hours. It has been fought over more than any other place in history. 15 00:01:56,253 --> 00:02:02,815 The Sinai is the same today as it was in the time of the Bible. Bedouin tribesmen 16 00:02:02,815 --> 00:02:07,536 lead a nomadic existence almost identical to that of the Israelites who 17 00:02:07,536 --> 00:02:13,978 went on the Exodus. How did the Israelites survive that famous passage 18 00:02:14,018 --> 00:02:20,660 through the Sinai? Modern Bedouin have learned that no single area can support 19 00:02:20,660 --> 00:02:26,882 them for long. It seems strange therefore that the Bible says more than two million 20 00:02:26,882 --> 00:02:35,704 Israelites were camped at Mount Sinai for ten months. But where is the mountain? 21 00:02:36,385 --> 00:02:40,786 The search must begin with the Old Testament which is where the story of 22 00:02:40,826 --> 00:02:46,067 the Exodus was first told. Moses was born in Egypt to a family of Hebrew slaves. 23 00:02:46,067 --> 00:02:51,749 When he was a teenager he killed an Egyptian slave driver and fled into the 24 00:02:51,749 --> 00:02:57,231 wilderness. For 60 years he lived in the desert and as best we can tell that 25 00:02:57,231 --> 00:03:06,514 desert was the Sinai. Moses spent those years as a shepherd. 60 years of solitude, 26 00:03:06,874 --> 00:03:11,835 60 years during which he was exposed to the elemental forces of the desert. 27 00:03:16,837 --> 00:03:22,118 The Bible itself describes the time when Moses first arrived at Mount Sinai and 28 00:03:22,118 --> 00:03:27,920 Moses led the flock unto the farthest end of the wilderness and came to the 29 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:35,162 mountain of God. Moses was about to come upon the burning bush. A biblical 30 00:03:35,202 --> 00:03:39,523 legend says that he was looking for a stray from his flock on the holy mountain. 31 00:03:39,523 --> 00:03:45,365 His compassion for the young animal apparently convinced the Lord to speak. 32 00:03:45,365 --> 00:03:52,807 Draw not hither, put off thy shoes from thy feet, where the place whereon thou 33 00:03:52,807 --> 00:04:04,491 standest is holy ground. Moses had come face to face with his destiny. He was to 34 00:04:04,531 --> 00:04:11,053 return to Egypt, the place where he was born. As a humble shepherd he would walk 35 00:04:11,053 --> 00:04:15,694 into the court of the most powerful monarch of his time and tell him on 36 00:04:15,694 --> 00:04:24,377 behalf of an invisible God to let my people go. The Pharaoh refused and Egypt 37 00:04:24,377 --> 00:04:31,259 was assailed by ten plagues. The last plague was said to be the slaying of the 38 00:04:31,299 --> 00:04:39,021 firstborn. Pharaoh was a firstborn son. Desperately he went to Moses and told him 39 00:04:39,021 --> 00:04:40,942 to take his people and leave. 40 00:04:40,942 --> 00:05:02,748 The Bible tells us that three months later the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai. 41 00:05:03,749 --> 00:05:09,230 Moses was called to the mountain to receive the ten commandments. 42 00:05:09,230 --> 00:05:22,634 Where was Mount Sinai? No organized effort was made. No one tried to find it until 43 00:05:22,634 --> 00:05:30,637 1500 years had passed. By then the earliest Chinese dynasties had been founded. 44 00:05:30,637 --> 00:05:38,999 Rome had risen to power and Christ had lived and died. Soon after his death the 45 00:05:38,999 --> 00:05:44,761 era of Christian pilgrimage began. Even though more than a millennium had passed 46 00:05:44,761 --> 00:05:50,002 since the time of the Exodus, some of those early pilgrims tried to identify 47 00:05:50,002 --> 00:05:56,845 Mount Sinai. One particular mountain in the southern Sinai attracted a great 48 00:05:56,885 --> 00:06:04,607 deal of attention. It was Jebel Musa which is Arabic for the mountain of Moses. 49 00:06:04,607 --> 00:06:13,890 300 years after Christ was born the monastery of Santa Catarina was founded 50 00:06:13,890 --> 00:06:22,052 on the slopes of Jebel Musa. Early Christian pilgrims believed this was the site of 51 00:06:22,092 --> 00:06:27,774 the burning bush. Local legend says it's still growing in the monastery courtyard. 52 00:06:27,774 --> 00:06:35,016 The first structure in Santa Catarina was the Church of Transfiguration. It was 53 00:06:35,016 --> 00:06:39,457 built in the fourth century by Helena, a woman who had devoted her life to 54 00:06:39,457 --> 00:06:45,419 identifying locations in the Bible. Helena agreed with Jebel Musa's designation as 55 00:06:45,659 --> 00:06:54,662 Mount Sinai. We don't know why. Thus in the earliest centuries of Christian history a 56 00:06:55,062 --> 00:07:06,225 speculative theory was accepted as an established fact. The Emperor Justinian also 57 00:07:06,225 --> 00:07:12,547 believed that Jebel Musa was Mount Sinai. In the sixth century he added the monastery 58 00:07:12,667 --> 00:07:18,829 walls to protect the monks from invading Turks and Muslims. Until just a few years ago these 59 00:07:18,829 --> 00:07:24,791 lifts were the only way in or out. They were raised and lowered from inside the monastery. 60 00:07:32,793 --> 00:07:39,515 Santa Catarina's Greek Orthodox monks have survived here for 16 centuries. Each monk prepares 61 00:07:39,555 --> 00:07:44,397 his own meals and is bound only by the daily schedule of eight hours of prayer. 62 00:07:58,601 --> 00:08:03,562 The spiritual lives that are led in Santa Catarina end in the House of Bones. 63 00:08:10,324 --> 00:08:16,086 Every monk who ever died at Santa Catarina is here, presided over by St. Stephen. 64 00:08:17,607 --> 00:08:24,329 Stephen was found in this position 1500 years ago at the top of the steps of repentance near 65 00:08:24,329 --> 00:08:31,851 Jebel Musa's summit. He spent his life listening to visitors' confessions before they climbed to 66 00:08:31,851 --> 00:08:39,053 the top of the mountain. Jebel Musa looks down on a valley called Erecha. 67 00:08:39,853 --> 00:08:48,016 Which means the resting place. If Jebel Musa is Mount Sinai then the Israelites waited here while 68 00:08:48,016 --> 00:08:55,378 Moses climbed the mountain. The Bible says that Moses spent 40 days atop Mount Sinai. 69 00:08:56,338 --> 00:09:02,500 When he didn't return quickly enough the Israelites below began to worship the golden calf. 70 00:09:02,740 --> 00:09:10,022 Building a false god so soon after the miracles of the Exodus was a terrible breach of faith. 71 00:09:11,863 --> 00:09:17,144 The monks of Santa Catarina believe the spot is marked with this natural form in the granite. 72 00:09:22,426 --> 00:09:27,067 The fact that the monks believe Jebel Musa is Mount Sinai doesn't make it so. 73 00:09:27,948 --> 00:09:35,070 Legend no matter how old is not proof. What exactly happened 1600 years ago 74 00:09:35,070 --> 00:09:41,312 that caused Jebel Musa to be called Mount Sinai? The first time we are hearing about 75 00:09:41,952 --> 00:09:47,073 Jebel Musa as Mount Sinai is in the Byzantine period. It means in the fourth century, the 76 00:09:47,073 --> 00:09:53,635 beginning of this period, while quite a lot of monks, hermits, came to the area of St. Catherine, 77 00:09:53,635 --> 00:10:02,278 but is now St. Catherine and they begin to live there. For almost 10 years Avnegorin was in charge 78 00:10:02,278 --> 00:10:08,840 of all archaeological sites in the Sinai. From the archaeological point of view the difficulty 79 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:17,402 in located Mount Sinai is the fact that the children of Israel who left Egypt over 3000 years ago 80 00:10:18,363 --> 00:10:27,165 were nomads and like the Bedouin in Sinai in recent times and the nomads left almost no remains 81 00:10:27,165 --> 00:10:35,408 behind them. Gorin is pointing out a basic problem. So far no physical evidence of the Exodus has been 82 00:10:35,408 --> 00:10:44,050 found. What the Hebrew nomads left behind has probably vanished. It means that even if a Mount 83 00:10:44,130 --> 00:10:52,853 Moses or any other mountain was Mount Sinai, we will not discover any remains around it and as 84 00:10:52,853 --> 00:11:02,376 archaeologists we will never be able to say where was this mountain. It is possible that Jebel Musa 85 00:11:02,376 --> 00:11:09,898 is Mount Sinai. It is also possible that Mount Sinai is any one of a thousand other peaks in the 86 00:11:09,898 --> 00:11:19,661 peninsula. There is simply no proof to support Jebel Musa's claim as the Holy Mountain. Remains of 87 00:11:19,661 --> 00:11:26,143 the earliest Hebrews have been found 60 miles northwest of Santa Catarina in a place that was 88 00:11:26,143 --> 00:11:34,706 already called the Land of God at the time of the Exodus. Could this be the place where Moses received 89 00:11:34,706 --> 00:11:47,029 the Ten Commandments? Jericho was the first city the Israelites reached after they entered the 90 00:11:47,029 --> 00:11:55,752 Promised Land. Its archaeological remains are as old as the Exodus. The Israelites left no such 91 00:11:55,752 --> 00:12:01,834 remains when they crossed the Sinai. That makes retracing their steps extremely difficult. 92 00:12:02,154 --> 00:12:09,116 A common misconception holds that the Israelites spent 40 years wandering through the wilderness. 93 00:12:09,996 --> 00:12:16,958 But the Bible tells us they wandered in the Sinai for only two years. The other 38 years were spent 94 00:12:16,958 --> 00:12:23,680 at an oasis not far from the Promised Land. If we knew the route the Israelites followed, 95 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:27,361 we would be much closer to locating Mount Sinai itself. 96 00:12:28,322 --> 00:12:35,444 There are different theories for the route of the Exodus, but they all share the same starting 97 00:12:35,444 --> 00:12:42,486 point. The northeastern section of the Nile Delta, what the Bible called the Land of Goshen. 98 00:12:46,567 --> 00:12:53,209 The Hebrews had migrated to Egypt during a time of famine in their homeland. They prospered until 99 00:12:53,209 --> 00:12:59,531 they came to power, a Pharaoh who enslaved them to help rebuild Egypt after a devastating foreign 100 00:12:59,531 --> 00:13:08,013 occupation. One of the cities the Hebrews slaves built was the starting point of the Exodus. 101 00:13:09,774 --> 00:13:17,536 The city of Ramseys was a bustling metropolis more than 3,000 years ago. If the generally 102 00:13:17,536 --> 00:13:23,378 accepted theory about the date of the Exodus is correct, the Pharaoh confronted by Moses would have been 103 00:13:24,338 --> 00:13:25,539 Ramseys II. 104 00:13:37,222 --> 00:13:41,383 Ramseys built more cities and monuments than any other Egyptian monarch. 105 00:13:41,864 --> 00:13:47,785 As the third ruler of the 19th dynasty, he was the beneficiary of the Pharaohs before him, 106 00:13:47,785 --> 00:13:52,427 who had brought Egyptian culture to a peak of vibrancy and power. 107 00:13:55,308 --> 00:14:02,030 The Hebrew revolt must have come as a severe blow. 108 00:14:02,430 --> 00:14:12,673 By the time the Hebrew slaves left Egypt, they had undoubtedly absorbed a certain amount of Egyptian religion. 109 00:14:16,434 --> 00:14:22,676 The mountain in Sinai, where they went to receive the Ten Commandments, might have been an Egyptian place of worship, 110 00:14:23,316 --> 00:14:26,277 a mountain in the desert that was already sacred. 111 00:14:26,997 --> 00:14:32,119 There is such a place in the southern Sinai. In 1762, a Danish traveler named Carsten Niebuhr 112 00:14:32,919 --> 00:14:38,040 came to the southwestern Sinai and discovered what the Bedouin had always known. 113 00:14:39,401 --> 00:14:46,523 An Egyptian temple almost 4,000 years old was on a plateau called Serabit El-Kadem. 114 00:14:47,243 --> 00:14:55,486 In the Bible, the nickname, the second name for Mount Sinai is Mount of God. 115 00:14:56,526 --> 00:15:04,208 And in the Egyptian inscriptions in Serabit El-Kadem, the name of the Temple was mentioned. 116 00:15:04,928 --> 00:15:10,930 The second name for Mount Sinai is Mount of God. 117 00:15:12,931 --> 00:15:20,933 And in the Egyptian inscriptions in Serabit and also in other places in Egypt, 118 00:15:20,933 --> 00:15:25,735 the name of the same place is Land of God. 119 00:15:27,015 --> 00:15:30,936 Svi Ilan is a geographical historian at Tel Aviv University. 120 00:15:31,496 --> 00:15:36,778 He has just published a proposal which puts Mount Sinai at Serabit El-Kadem. 121 00:15:37,578 --> 00:15:48,061 This was, as we can imagine, the place of the holy Mount that the Israelites, especially Moses, 122 00:15:48,061 --> 00:15:54,303 knew before, religious center to the shepherds in the Sinai. 123 00:15:55,984 --> 00:16:00,625 Serabit El-Kadem is the only Egyptian temple in the entire Sinai. 124 00:16:01,505 --> 00:16:07,107 If the Hebrew slaves wanted to receive the Ten Commandments at a site already sacred, 125 00:16:07,107 --> 00:16:11,108 then Serabit El-Kadem would have been the ideal location. 126 00:16:14,389 --> 00:16:17,430 The area has been a gathering point throughout the centuries. 127 00:16:24,072 --> 00:16:30,714 The desert floor below Serabit El-Kadem is still used for an annual festival for Bedouin tribes. 128 00:16:30,954 --> 00:16:37,596 From all parts of the Sinai. That means the Bedouin know this as an area that will support life. 129 00:16:38,396 --> 00:16:44,798 The Israelites may have known it too. The Bible says they were camped at Mount Sinai for 10 months. 130 00:16:46,719 --> 00:16:52,080 According to the figures, there must have been at least two million Israelites on the Exodus. 131 00:16:53,761 --> 00:16:57,682 Like the Bedouin, they would have known that they could survive here. 132 00:17:00,963 --> 00:17:11,846 The Egyptian temple at Serabit El-Kadem was begun approximately 700 years before the Exodus took place. 133 00:17:13,927 --> 00:17:19,929 The first part of the temple was the cave of HaTor, who was an important Egyptian deity. 134 00:17:23,370 --> 00:17:26,491 HaTor may have been the inspiration for the Golden Calf. 135 00:17:26,571 --> 00:17:34,573 Although she often appears as a human, that is not her most common form. 136 00:17:37,934 --> 00:17:45,296 In some places in Egypt, you can see HaTor as a golden cow. 137 00:17:46,177 --> 00:17:53,219 For many generations, people thought that the origin of it is Egypt. 138 00:17:53,779 --> 00:18:04,822 Maybe it is a bull apis. But now, if I am right in suggesting Serabit as Mount Sinai, 139 00:18:05,702 --> 00:18:18,186 maybe I can point something more realistic for the Golden Calf. I mean HaTor itself. 140 00:18:19,146 --> 00:18:27,149 While scholarly discussions centers on HaTor, the fundamental question is, were the Israelites here at all? 141 00:18:36,992 --> 00:18:42,193 Temple carvings show Semitic figures on foot, with Egyptians mounted on donkeys. 142 00:18:42,994 --> 00:18:50,196 The Semites in these carvings could have been the Hebrew slaves, since they are obviously subservient to the Egyptians. 143 00:18:53,557 --> 00:18:59,638 Still, there is far more startling evidence. It can be found about a mile from the temple. 144 00:19:02,519 --> 00:19:11,162 The entrance to the cave is inconspicuous, easy to miss. In fact, it was only discovered in the last part of the 19th century. 145 00:19:13,163 --> 00:19:20,205 Thousands of years ago, someone carved the first letters in history into the walls of this cave. 146 00:19:23,406 --> 00:19:27,007 These carvings are called the Proto-Synitic inscriptions. 147 00:19:28,127 --> 00:19:31,168 Most of the inscriptions ask for blessings from HaTor. 148 00:19:32,288 --> 00:19:40,051 They represent a landmark in human history because they were carved in characters that are the earliest forerunners of our own alphabet. 149 00:19:42,291 --> 00:19:47,893 What startled archeologists was a second inscription in a cave nearby. 150 00:19:48,853 --> 00:19:54,455 It implied that religious Hebrews stood on this spot thousands of years ago. 151 00:19:56,135 --> 00:20:02,457 Inscribed on the wall with the characters for the word El, which is the name of the Hebrew God. 152 00:20:02,697 --> 00:20:08,699 The man who carved the name of the Hebrew God at Serabit El-Kadem lived approximately at the time of Moses. 153 00:20:09,659 --> 00:20:13,100 The inscriptions he left behind raised some intriguing questions. 154 00:20:14,221 --> 00:20:19,662 Were some of the inscriptions at Serabit El-Kadem made by the Israelites of the Exodus? 155 00:20:20,623 --> 00:20:26,624 And if so, what are the inscriptions that the Israelites carved in the walls of the cave? 156 00:20:26,945 --> 00:20:31,506 Are the inscriptions made by Serabit El-Kadem made by the Israelites of the Exodus? 157 00:20:32,546 --> 00:20:37,268 And if so, are the inscriptions on Mount Sinai itself? 158 00:20:40,229 --> 00:20:46,230 One of the last verses in the Old Testament tells us that no man knows where Moses is buried. 159 00:20:47,351 --> 00:20:49,351 The same thing has held true for Mount Sinai. 160 00:20:50,071 --> 00:20:56,794 Now there is hope that we may soon identify the mountain where Moses changed the course of history. 161 00:21:02,555 --> 00:21:08,637 The Sinai has been the battleground for more than 50 invading armies since the beginning of recorded history. 162 00:21:09,357 --> 00:21:14,799 It has absorbed the ruins of ancient and modern chariots and the ghosts of countless soldiers. 163 00:21:15,279 --> 00:21:23,281 It has been an eye-yielding witness to the fleeting struggles of man and a silent guardian of his oldest religious mysteries. 164 00:21:24,082 --> 00:21:32,244 Soon it may surrender one of his greatest secrets, the true location of Mount Sinai. 165 00:21:32,244 --> 00:21:47,529 Coming up next, agents go hunting for a kidnapper on FBI, the Untold Stories. 166 00:21:48,089 --> 00:21:53,370 Then on History's Crimes and Trials, the story of convicted spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg 167 00:21:53,370 --> 00:21:58,972 and their controversial execution. And later tonight, History's Mysteries reveals what turned 168 00:21:58,972 --> 00:22:11,056 the Hatfields and McCoys into America's most notorious feuding families at eight.