The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet is a ridge east of and adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old Town. It is named after the olive groves that once covered its slopes. The southern part of the mountain was the Silwan Necropolis, which was attributed to the ancient Jewish kingdom. The mountain has been used as a Jewish cemetery for over 3,000 years and houses about 150,000 graves, making it central to the tradition of Jewish cemeteries. Various key events in the life of Jesus, as told in the Gospels, took place on the Mount of Olives, and in Acts, it is described as the place from which Jesus ascended to heaven. Because of its connection with Jesus and Mary, the mountain has been a place of Christian worship since antiquity and today is an important place of pilgrimage for Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants.
The Mount of Olives is one of three peaks of a ridge east of the Old Town over the Kidron Valley, in this area called the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The summit to the north is Mount Scopus, while the summit to the south is the Mount of Corruption.