Jerusalem, like its old enemy Rome, is a city built on seven hills, and the most impressive of these, commanding the impressive view of the Old City which gave it its name, is Mount Scopus. The mountain, called Har Ha'Tzofim (Mountain of the Watchers) in Hebrew, derives its Latin name from its use as a vantage point for the Roman Army during its suppression of the Jewish Great Revolt, from which Titus' legions planned their final attack on the city in 70 CE.

 

Martial conflict has swirled around the area ever since; its environs witnessed some of the fiercest fighting of both the 1948 and 1967 wars, and between the wars the Hebrew University atop it was a fortified garrison of the Israeli Army, surrounded by Jordanian territory.

 

The University dominates the mountain today, opened in 1925 as part of a Zionist mission to foster a flowering of learning, culture and Hebrew revival in Palestine. Mt. Scopus also is home to the original Hadassah Medical Center, the Jerusalem branch of the Mormon Brigham Young University, the Augusta Victoria pilgrims' hospice and a cemetery for British soldiers killed in the Middle Eastern campaigns of the First World War.