Jebel al-Madhbah

Jebel al-Madhbah (Arabic: جبل المذبح, Jabal al-Madhbaḥ, lit.

"mountain of the altar") is a mountain at Petra, Jordan, at whose peak there is a large Nabataean ritual site centered around an altar.

The French Middle East historian Maurice Sartre (b.

1944) noted that beneath the peak there are "two gigantic obelisks, carved out of the rocky mass, [which] appear as sacred stones", and the ritual complex at the very top "consists of a vast rectangular esplanade hollowed out in such a way that the sides formed benches; in the middle of one long side, a natural podium (motab) was set aside for placing the gods' sacred stones.

"[1] A number of scholars have proposed Jebel al-Madhbah as the Biblical Mount Sinai,[3] beginning with Ditlef Nielsen in 1927.