Scopus, Mount

Scopus, Mount

(skō`pəs), peak, 2,736 ft (834 m) high, NNE of Jerusalem. Dominating Jerusalem, it has long held strategic importance in the defense of the city. Roman legions camped there in A.D. 70 as did the Crusaders in 1099. From the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 until Israel recaptured all of Jerusalem in 1967, Mt. Scopus was an Israeli-held enclave in Jordanian territory. It is the site of the Hebrew Univ. and the Hadassa Medical Center.