MOUNT TABOR
(1) Mount Tabor is in Galilee, three miles from the Lake of Kinnereth, and seen from any direction its shape is unusually rounded. It looks north to this lake, and is covered with thick grass and flowers. The top is beautiful, a large level place surrounded by a huge wood, in the middle of which is a great monastery of monks, and many smaller cells. (2) This mountain does not in fact have a summit in the form of a sharp peak, but is flat on top, and extends to a width of twenty-three stades. It is thirty stades high. (3) On the level summit there are large and renowned church buildings, three in number, like the tabernacles of which Peter spoke on this very mountain. He was rejoicing at the heavenly vision, and in intense awe said to the Lord, "It is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah" <Luke 9:33>. (4) All these buildings; the monastery, the three churches, and the little cells of the monks, are enclosed in a stone wall. (5) Holy Arculf spent one night as a guest on top of this holy mountains because Peter of Burgundy, the Christian man who guided his journeys in these lands, never allowed him to spend more time in any one place than would suffice for a rapid inspection.
(transl. Wilkinson)
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