Mount of Transfiguration

Six days after leaving Caesarea Philippi, Jesus took Peter, James and John "up a high mountain" and there he "was transfigured before them." The face of Jesus "shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light" and Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus. Then a "bright cloud" came over them and a voice from within the cloud said,"This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" The three disciples were frightened and "fell facedown to the ground." Jesus went over to them, touched them, told them not to be afraid, and told them to get up. As the disciples got up they found the other visitors were gone. 

A painting of the Transfiguration we saw in St. Peter's Monastery in Jaffa, Israel. 

A mosaic of the Transfiguration we saw in St. George's Church in Madaba, Jordan. 

The traditional location for the Mount of Transfiguration is Mount Tabor, 1,886 feet high, just outside of Nazareth. Origen, in the third century, was the first to identify it as the site. We drove by the base of Mt. Tabor and got great views of it from the Precipice above Nazareth, but unfortunately we were not able to visit the summit. The Church of the Transfiguration, a Franciscan church, was built on the summit in 1924 on the ruins of a 4th to 6th century Byzantine church and a 12th century Crusader Kingdom church. Also on the summit is the Greek Orthodox monastery of St. Elias, named after Elijah, built in 1845 and closed to the public. There are also the ruins of a Church of St. Melchizedek which reflect a tradition that Melchizedek spent seven years as a hermit on Mt. Tabor before meeting and blessing Abraham.  

Mount Tabor, back and center, from the Precipice near Nazareth.

A more focused view of Mt. Tabor. 

Mount Hermon has also been suggested as the location because it is the highest mountain in the area, at 9,232 feet, and it is located near Caesarea Philippi where Jesus had just been. Frederic Farrar, in The Life of Christ, notes that "Mount Tabor has been engrained for centuries in the tradition of the Christian Church; and three churches and a monastery erected before the close of the sixth century attest the unhesitating acceptance of this belief. Yet it is almost certain that Tabor was not the scene of that great epiphany. The rounded summit of that picturesque and wood-crowned hill, which forms so fine a feature in the landscape...had probably from time immemorial been a fortified and inhabited spot, and less than thirty years after this time, Josephus, on this very mountain, strengthened the existing fortress of Itaburion. [Mount Tabor] was not a spot to which Jesus could have taken the three Apostles "apart by themselves." Nor, again, is there the slightest intimation that the six intervening days had been spent in traveling southwards from Caesarea Philippi, the place last mentioned;...It is distinctly intimated by St. Mark...that Jesus did not 'pass through Galilee' (in which Mount Tabor is situated) till after the events here narrated. Nor again does the comparatively insignificant hill Paneum, which is close by Caesarea Philippi, fulfill the requirements of the narrative...It is therefore, much more natural to suppose that [Jesus]...journeyed slowly forward till He reached the lower slopes of that splendid snow-clad mountain, whose glittering mass, visible even as far southward as the Dead Sea...Its very name [Mount Hermon] means 'the mountain'...On these dewy pasturages, cool and fresh with the breath of the snow-clad heights above them, and offering that noble solitude, among the grandest scenes of Nature, which He desired as the refreshment of His soul for the mighty struggle which was now so soon to come, Jesus would find many a spot where He could kneel with His disciples absorbed in silent prayer."

Mt. Hermon is truly a "mountain." This picture was taken from our bus.

We visited the foothills of Mt. Hermon at Caesarea Philippi, now known as Banias, and appreciated the sight of snow on its sides as we baked in the sun. 

Mormon Interpretation

The LDS view of the Transfiguration is that after Jesus promised to Peter the keys of the kingdom in Caesarea Philippi, he took Peter, James and John, the first presidency of his church, up on the mountain where they received the priesthood keys from Jesus, Moses and Elijah that had been promised. On April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had a similar experience. They saw Jesus "standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit," his "eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun." Jesus told them he'd accepted the temple and would appear to them and speak to them. Then Moses appeared and committed to them "the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north." Then Elijah stood before them and told them that the time had come which was spoken by Elijah to "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers" (D&C Section 110)

Lamb Testicles - Stir Fry

The wife of one of my partners was shopping in an oriental supermarket recently and brought me a present of four lamb testicles.

For some reason when she saw them she thought of me. I've had lamb testicles on one previous occasion, at Cattlemen's Steakhouse in Oklahoma City where they were breaded and fried and euphemistically referred to as "lamb fries." However, they were so heavily breaded and fried that any relation to lamb testicles was mostly destroyed. 

Having recently cooked testicles for the first time (bison - both breaded and fried and fried without breading), I was ready to cook them without much preparation. 

I was surprised by how big they were. Comparing the relative size of a bison to a lamb and then the size of their testicles, it is hard to believe that it is not sheep attacking tourists in Yellowstone instead of bison. 

I parboiled the testicles for five minutes and two of them imploded, inside out, kind of like an egg in a microwave. The other two shrunk into round, water-balloon like, balls.

The inside of the parboiled testicles was white, with the look and texture of veal knackwurst. This was unlike the bison testicles which were yellowish inside, like sea urchin sushi. The taste of the sheep testicles was very mild, like knackwurst.  

To go with the testicles, I chopped up and fried Thai chili, garlic and shallots in some olive oil. Then I added a little bit of elk and some sausage.  

I put a frozen Chinese pancake on a griddle, then fried two eggs over-medium and put all of the ingredients on the pancake. 

The testicles did not need the sausage or elk meat to mask the taste. The testicles were good in their own right, nice and mild. 

Caesarea Philippi and the Cave of Pan - Israel

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God

In the "region of Caesarea Philippi" Jesus asked his disciples who other people thought he was? He got answers from them like John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah and "one of the prophets." Then Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" Peter responds, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus then called Peter "blessed" and said that it was his Father in heaven that had revealed it to Peter. Further, "[T]hou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven..." Jesus then informed his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem and eventually be put to death and on the third day raised again. (Matt. 16: 13-28)

This statue of Peter, holding the keys, is found in Capernaum. 

Farrar, in the Life of Christ, called these the most memorable words of Jesus. That this was Jesus's own testimony of himself. Farrar explained that Jesus "had never openly spoken of His Messiahship." He wanted his disciples to learn of his Messiahship  "through the quiet medium of a sinless and self-sacrificing course." To learn it gradually, from the truths he spoke and the life he lived, rather than from the miracles he performed. 

Farrar, a Protestant, went on to say that "It was the laying of the corner-stone of the Church of Christ...the promise that the Church [was] founded on the rock of inspired confession..."  For Catholics, the words are equally important, but they have another meaning. They signify that Peter was head of the earthly church, the first pope. For Mormons, the message is a kind of combination of the Protestant and Catholic interpretation: the rock was revelation and the keys Peter was to receive were the keys of the priesthood.

Caesarea Philippi and Herod Philip

In my post on Capernaum it was mentioned that Herod the Great's kingdom was divided among three of his sons after he died in 4 BCE. Herod Antipas got the tetrarchy of Galilee and established the city of Tiberias as capital and Herod Philip got the tetrarchy of Gaulanitis which included the cult center of Paneas. Philip established Paneas as his capital in 3 BCE, built a city and palace there, and renamed it Caesarea Philippi in 14 CE, after Caesar Augustus (about the time of the death of Augustus) and after himself. This also distinguished it from Caesarea Maritima built by his father on the coast, also to honor Augustus. The Via Maris, a major trade route which passed Capernaum, also passed Caesarea Philippi, which was about 25 miles distant, and may have been the route taken by Jesus and his disciples from Capernaum to Caesarea Philippi. Jesus and his disciples visited the area in about 29 CE. Herod Philip died about four years later in 33 CE.

Pan and Paneas

Caearea Philippi was located at the southwestern base of Mt. Hermon. There Josephus (in "Antiquities of the Jews," 15.10.3) described a "very fine cave in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth, and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of a still water; over it hangs a vast mountain and under the caverns arise the springs of the river Jordan." Josephus (in "Wars of the Jews," 1.21.3) also described "a mountain that is raised to an immense height, and at its side, beneath, or at its bottom, a dark cave opens itself, within which there is a horrible precipice, that descends abruptly to a vast depth. It contains a mighty quantity of water, which is immovable, and when anybody lets down anything to measure the depth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord is sufficient to reach it. Now the fountains of Jordan rise at the roots of this cavity outwardly and, as some think, this is the utmost origin of Jordan..." Josephus was right about this spring being an origin for the Jordan River, as it is one of its three main sources.

The Cave of Pan is visible in the center. The carved cave for the niche of Pan is to its right. Water from the springs flows and eventually forms part of the River Jordan. 

In water-starved Israel, this is an extensive volume of water.

The god Baal may have originally been worshiped by the Canaanites at this site as it may have originally been known as Mt. Baal Hermon (Judges 3:3). Among other things, Baal was a fertility god and a rain god with power over waters of the earth. It is easy to see why Baal would be connected to a large spring. One of the legends of Baal is that he visited the underworld at the behest of Mot, god of the underworld. While there, Mot served Baal mud which is the food of death and Baal became trapped there. This caused a severe drought and famine on earth. Baal was saved and brought back to life by his sister and wife, Anat, who went to the underworld to rescue him. It was believed that water courses emanating from the earth were gateways to the underworld and perhaps this cave was also connected to Baal for that reason.

The name of the area changed after a major battle over the spoils of Alexander the Great's kingdom. Ptolemy 1 of Egypt and Antiochus III of Seleucid Syria fought the Battle of Panium over control of Phoenicia, Galilee, Samaria and Judea in 198 BCE in this area. The victorious Antiochus III built a shrine to the Greek god Pan. A cult center, known as Paneas, was established there soon afterwards.

Pan was the god of the wild, shepherds, flocks, fields, groves, wooded glens, desolate places, rustic music and connected to fertility and the season of spring (when things grow). Pan looked like a faun, a human form with a goat hindquarters, legs and horns. Pan was a very old Greek deity with lots of conflicting genealogies. He was often considered a son of Hermes, but was variously treated as a son of Zeus, Apollo and Dionysus as well. Pan was not usually worshiped in temples or other buildings, but in natural settings, usually caves or grottoes, known as Caves of Pan. Pan taught the secret of prophecy to Apollo. Pan is often associated with the nymph Echo, a singer and dancer that would not allow any man to love her. Pan, known for his sexual appetites, fell in love with Echo and was angered when Echo did not submit to his will. So Pan ordered his followers to tear her to pieces and spread her remains over the entire earth (one of several different versions of her death). Hera, the wife of Zeus, was jealous of the attention paid by Zeus to Echo. So Hera cursed her so that she could not speak on her own, she could only repeat the last few words spoken by someone else. Therefore, it should not be surprising that near the Caves of Pan one should find an Echo. With interesting implications for the later visit by Jesus, Pan and Asclepius were the only Greek gods to die. The death of Pan was announced during the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, possibly some time before the visit of Jesus to Caearea Philippi (Tiberius reigned from 14 to 37 CE). Thamus, a sailor on his way to Italy, heard a divine voice come to him across the waters saying, "Thamus, are you there? When you reach Palodes, take care to proclaim that the great god Pan is dead."

This sculpture of Pan teaching the shepherd of Daphnis to play the flute was found in Pompeii and dates to the second century CE. However, it is a Roman copy of a Greek original from about 100 BCE. Picture from Wikipedia. 

The Cave of Pan was probably kept in its natural state. In about 63 BCE, the Roman general Pompey defeated the Greeks and took control of Palestine. Herod, a client/king of the Romans, was given control over Judea in about 36 BCE.  In about 20 BCE, Paneas was annexed to Herod by the Emperor Augustus and Herod thereafter erected a temple at Paneas in honor of Augustus in about 19 BCE. The temple was placed in front of the Cave of Pan. The front facade had four Ionic columns supporting an unbroken pediment. And it appears that the temple did not have a back wall, but that the adyton, the small area at the far end of the temple which normally housed the image of the deity (the holy of holies) was the cave itself.  This allowed animal sacrifices to Pan to be thrown directly into the chasm of the cave. If the sacrifice disappeared into the water it was a sign that Pan had accepted the sacrifice. If blood appeared in the nearby springs, however, it was a sign that the sacrifice had been rejected. The Cave of Pan and the Temple to Augustus were there when Jesus visited the area with his disciples. None of the other cult structures discussed below were here then. They all came afterwards. Augustus was known as a son of god, as Julius Caesar his adopted father was a god, the descendant of Aeneas. Aeneas was a founder of Rome and a son of the goddess Venus/Aphrodite. Augustus, like other emperors after him, was also treated as a god. By the time Jesus arrived, Augustus was dead (he died in 14 CE) and Tiberius was the Emperor of the Roman Empire.

This painting of the temple complex is a photo from the site. The Cave of Pan, covered by the Temple of Augustus (far left), was what was here when Jesus came with his disciples. The other structures to the right were all developed later. 

Some pieces of the Temple of Augustus have been found and are visible in this picture. Much of the temple is believed to be entombed in the un-excavated cavern. 

Part of the west wall of the Temple of Augustus exists in front of the mouth of the cave. 

An Ionic capital, similar to those that were on the columns of the Temple of Augustus. This was found elsewhere in Caesarea Philippi. 

In 1837 an earthquake caused the cave to collapse and filled its deep chasm with rock and rubble from the Temple of Augustus. The cave itself has not yet been excavated by archaeologists. The earthquake disrupted the spring and substantially reduced its flow. As best I can tell, the water did not flow from the mouth of the cave, but somewhere below it, seeping through the rocks. The disrupted spring now flows off through the bedrock more to the right and in substantially smaller volume. The water flows into the stream Nahal Senir and is one of three springs at the base of Mt. Hermon that feed the Jordan River. One of the other sources is the Dan River, a place we also visited and subject of a later post.

The once deep chasm in the Cave of Pan is now full of rubble from the 1837 earthquake.

Next to the Temple of Augustus and the Cave of Pan was the Court of Pan and the Nymphs, a stepped courtyard with an artificial cave quarried into the face of the cliff. The cave contained a statue of Pan. This was likely created some time shortly after the visit of Jesus and his disciples. In 67 CE the Roman general Vespasian, who later became emperor, rested his troops in this area for 20 days during the First Jewish War. He left there with his troops to capture Tiberias from the Jewish resistance. The Court of Pan was probably in existence then.

The Court of Pan and the Nymphs.

The largest carved niche, bottom, housed the statue of Pan. The niche above housed the statue of Echo.

The entire back-wall of the Court of Pan.

In about 148 CE two additional niches were carved into the rock face, one to house a sculpture of Echo and the other for Pan's father, Hermes. The niche carved right above the artificial cave housing the Pan statue has carved fluted pillars and an arched top and housed the statue of Echo. Underneath is an inscription in Greek which reads: "The priest Victor, son of Lysimachos, dedicated this goddess to the god Pan, lover of Echo."

A close-up of the niche of Echo above the larger niche for Pan.

A close-up of the Greek inscription at the base of the niche.

Further to the right is another niche with an inscription carved to its left which reads, in Greek, "For Pan and the nymphs, Victor son of Lysimachos with his children dedicated a likeness in stone of Hermes, child of Maia, son of Zeus, having vowed it, the year 150."

The niche to the furthest right housed the statue of Hermes. 

The Greek caption is to the upper left of the niche.

To the right of the Court of Pan and the Nymphs was a Temple dedicated to Zeus and to Pan. It was built around 98 CE during the reign of the Emperor Trajan for the 100th anniversary of the city (founded by Herod Philip). The temple had a portico fronted by four Corinthian columns, the remains of a portion of one stands there today, with a cella behind it.

The Temple of Zeus

A portion of a pillar from the Temple of Zeus with a Corinthian capital.

Part of the foundation of the Temple of Zeus, looking back toward the Court of Pan and the Cave of Pan.

To the right of the Temple to Zeus was the Court of Nemesis, built in 178 CE. Nemesis was the goddess of vengeance and Roman imperial justice. A niche behind her long and narrow court housed her statue. A Greek inscription above the niche mentions the goddess and the name of the donor. The stone pavers of the court were in a checkered pattern of white and reddish stones.

The Court of Nemesis.

The niche in the Court of Nemesis is visible in the center/back.

To the right of the Court of Nemesis was a Tomb Temple of the Sacred Goats erected in 220 CE during the reign of the Emperor Elagabalos. The bones of goats used in the rituals were buried in niches inside the building, along with offerings of pottery, glass vessels and coins. The rituals themselves were conducted on the roof in front of the niche carved in rock behind it.

Tomb and Temple of the Sacred Goats

Foundations of the Temple and the niche above, which was above the roof of the Temple. 

A different view of the temple foundations and the niche above the roof. 

Beneath this temple was a Temple of Pan and the Dancing Goats built around the same time, 220 CE. Parts of the north wall survive, as well as part of a semicircular hall and a semicircular niche behind it. On coins from this period Pan is in the niche playing the flute to three dancing goats in the hall. Musicians sat nearby while the sacred goats danced. This rite assured the fertility of the goat herds.

Temple of Pan and the Dancing Goats

A portion of the north wall and the semi-circular hall and niche.

Another view of the complex, looking from east to west. 

Later Christian History

Tradition has it that the woman who was healed of an issue of blood, by touching the hem of Jesus's garment in Capernaum, was from Caesarea Philippi. In honor of that event a statue of Jesus was erected in Caesarea Philippi. When Julian the Apostate became emperor of Rome in 361, he tried to reverse the Christianization of the empire begun by Constantine the Great and return it to a pagan state. Julian had the statue of Jesus torn down and one of himself erected in its place. Christian tradition claims that a fire from heaven fell upon the statue of Julian, breaking it into pieces.

A Byzantine basilica was later built in Caesarea Philippi honoring the woman that was healed. Portions of it can be found today in the area of the city further to the south (which unfortunately we did not get to visit). It is near the remains of the palace of Herod Philip. 

Tradition holds that the first bishop of Caesarea Philippi was a man named Erastus, mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:23 ("the city's director of public works"). A later bishop, Philocalus, was at the First Council of Nicaea held by Constantine in 325. A later, bishop, Martyrius, was burned to death under Julian the Apostate. The Bishop Baratus attended the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the Bishop Olympius attended the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

The Muslims could not pronounce "Paneas," they had a hard time with p, and it came to be known as Banias, what it is known as today.

Cave of Pan and Temple of Augustus - Context for Jesus and his Disciples

The context of the Cave of Pan and the Temple of Augustus give added meaning to the events in Matthew 16. This was the furthest north Jesus brought his disciples and he may have brought them here intentionally to teach one of his most important lessons. Augustus, the most powerful man on earth when he died about 15 years earlier, was believed to be a son of god, and divine in his own right, a man/god. How powerful for Peter to acknowledge Jesus as a son of God in that setting.

Pan taught prophecy to Apollo and here, where Pan was worshiped, Jesus taught Peter the importance of revelation. Further, where this chasm believed to be a gate to the underworld existed, the Cave of Pan, Jesus taught his disciples that the "gates of hell" would not prevail against the church. Pan was a god of shepherds and Jesus often portrayed himself as a shepherd watching over his sheep.

Finally, Jesus taught his disciples here that he would die, but would rise again after three days. Both Pan and Augustus, both gods, had recently died, bringing this message home so forcefully to his disciples that Peter objected and had to be rebuked by Jesus.

It is also interesting to note that six days later Jesus led Peter, James and John to the Mount of Transfiguration. That may have occurred just north of here on Mount Hermon. More about this in a later post. 

Elk Marrow Bones and Roasted Stuffed Pork Belly

Rachael and her two lizard-catchers (my hiking-buddy granddaughters) showed up at the house for a visit and Rachael prepared a deferred Father's Day meal for me that was absolutely incredible. She spent a good part of the day in the kitchen hammering and pounding and cutting for what she promised me would be something I've never had before. 

First, she had a stone dish and stone pestle that she was mashing up all kinds of ingredients in, including garlic, ginger, lemongrass, Thai chili and turmeric. I took a snitch out of the stone dish and nearly cleared my sinuses, very strong stuff. She put this mixture in a hot frying pan and got the ingredients sweating their potions into each other for one of the stronger concoctions I've ever tasted. After getting what she could out of the lemongrass, she tossed it, but the remainder of the ingredients were used to stuff two large slabs of pork belly she obtained from a Korean market. 

Roasted pork belly, stuffed with a Balinese herb concoction.

You would never guess that this stuffing has such potent power.

The inspiration for this came from a Balinese cooking class she and Nate had on a recent trip to Bali in Indonesia. This mixture was used to stuff a suckling pig, and as suckling pig was not readily available, pork belly was substituted. She bound the stuffing inside the rolled up pork belly using twine and roasted it in the oven for several hours. 

A slice complete with rind and stuffing.

I do not have words to describe how utterly greasy, crispy, succulent, spicy, moist, savory and flavorful this was. The outer rind was so crisp it was hard to chew, but I managed and enjoyed every bite. Then a slice into the tender, tender, fatty, buttery pork belly infused with this rocket-launch fuel mixture of spicy ingredients made for a an explosive bite of a mixture of tastes. I found that just a little bit of the stuffing with each bite of pork belly gave the perfect spice to the perfect fatty, juicy piece of pork belly. 

I like this picture because it conveys how utterly greasy and moist it was. 

Rachael tweeted a picture of this out to her world of foodie friends and got a response from some famous Iron Chef person. It was Iron Chef good.

Next Rachael pulled off the real surprise of the meal. Out came some beautiful elk bones, some sawed in half lengthwise, and some with the entire bone intact. Rachael's neighbor shot an elk in the Utah elk hunt and she got the elk bones from him. She'd previously shared some elk head cheese with me he'd made which was great, but here in all their grandeur and beauty were the savory roasted halved bones and the sous vide whole bones, full of moist and fatty elk marrow goodness. If you've ever experienced the joy of eating a slice of lamb or beef with a nice cross-section of bone full of marrow and plunked that warm fatty marrow into your mouth, with a little bit of added salt, you know what a nirvana experience it is. Then to see that quantity of bone marrow increased exponentially is about all that a person can handle without breaking down and sobbing for joy. 

Rachael and the whole elk marrow bones.

Both the whole marrow bones and the sliced marrow bones. Almost enough to make a grown man cry.

You will notice thus far that the fat quotient has been set quite high. So, of course, Rachael had to add something healthy to the mix. But even though healthy, it was very good as well. She prepared sambal matah, a Balinese raw shallot and lemongrass relish which I put on the jasmine rice she prepared. The sambal matah was another spicy piece of dynamite. I had three small servings of rice with healthy additions of sambal matah. I normally don't eat rice, a testament to how good the sambal matah was. Finally, she made Balinese mixed vegetables, a dish she called sayur urab. It was great, but let's be serious, when you have elk marrow bones and roasted stuffed pork belly next to it, the vegetables are like kissing your sister. 

The combo plate of roasted pork belly, elk marrow bones, sambal mutah on rice and Balinese roasted vegetables. 

So many, many thanks to my beautiful daughter who knows how to cook like a dervish knows how to whirl. It was truly a memorable and wonderful Father's Day meal. 

The Sermon on the Mount - Galilee, Israel

The Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7. It is the largest grouping of teachings of Jesus in the New Testament and gives the basic tenets of Christian behavior. Some of the more famous inclusions are the Beatitudes which are eight characteristics of good people and a result of having those characteristics in proverb-like proclamations. The eight characteristics are (i) poor in spirit, (ii) those who mourn, (iii) the meek, (iv) those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, (v) the merciful, (vi) the pure in heart, (vii) the peacemakers and (viii) those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake (Matt. 5:3-10). Another inclusion is what is kown as the Antitheses (Matt. 5:17-48) which reinterpret commandments in the Hebrew Bible and give them loftier, more difficult interpretations. For example, instead of an eye for an eye, one must turn the other cheek. Instead of not committing adultery, one must not look at a woman lustfully. The Lord's Prayer (Matt. 6:5-13) is another well-known inclusion.

The Sermon on the Plain, found in Luke 6:17-49, is similar to the Sermon on the Mount, but much shorter. Parts of the Sermon on the Mount not found in the Sermon on the Plain are found dispersed through other parts of Luke. An analysis of the differences between the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain is here. Some scholars believe they are the same sermon. Others believe the sermons happened at different times. That like people today who travel from city to city and preach the same sermon, Jesus was teaching variations of the same material to different people.

The location for the giving of the Sermon on the Mount is not certain. Matthew 5:1 says Jesus "went up on a mountainside and sat down" and began to teach. Matthew 4:23-25, right before that, has Jesus in Galilee. Luke 6 has Jesus in Capernaum, then Jesus goes "out to a mountainside to pray..." In the morning he calls his disciples and chooses 12 apostles, then he goes "down with them" and stands "on a level place" where a crowd of people has come to hear him. Then he gives the Sermon on the Plain. Right afterwards, he goes back to Capernaum. For those who believe the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain are the same sermon, they reconcile the location by finding a level place on a mountain or hill, just below the summit, near Capernaum, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. For example, see here.

I have found three suggested locations for the Sermon on the Mount and we visited two of them on our trip to Israel earlier this year. One location is known as Mt. Eremos, a hill located between Capernaum and Tabgha. In about 381, the Spanish pilgrim Egeria, speaking of the area where the the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes now is, said, "Near there on a mountain is a cave to which the Savior climbed and spoke the Beatitudes." A rock-cut cistern has been found on Mt. Eremos with the ruins of a small late 4th century church over it. Near it today is the Roman Catholic Church of the Beatitudes built between 1936 and 1938. It has an octagonal floor plan, each one of the eight sides representing one of the Beatitudes.

Church of the Beatitudes.

The altar inside the Church of the Beatitudes.

Mosaic tiles in the church.

Mosaic illustrations.

Mosaic tiles outside the Church of the Beatitudes.

Mt. Eremos is not much of a mountain, it is really a small hill. Some scholars say that Matthew was comparing Jesus to Moses and so he has Jesus going up a mountain to give the new law because he is comparing him to Moses who received the initial law on a mountain. Below the top of the hill is a large flat area where a large crowd could have gathered.

The large grassy field below is believed by some to be where the Sermon on the Mount was given. 

Another suggested location is Arbel Mountain, a real mountain. It is further west, above Migdal, and has substantially greater height. At least one source says that Napoleon's men believed this spot was the location of the Sermon on the Mount. From the summit nearly the entire Sea of Galilee is visible.

A view from Arbel Mountain looking down on Midgdal, Capernaum in the distance and the Sea of Galilee. 

This painting of the Sermon on the Mount by James Tissot in 1890 appears to conceptualize the area of Arbel Mountain. From Wikipedia. 

This is a view of Arbel Mountain (right of center) from Mt. Eremos. 

Finally, quite a few sources believe the location was the Horns of Hattin, an extinct volcano located west of the city of Tiberias, southwest of Arbel Mountain. This is where the Battle of Hattin occurred in 1187, a loss by the Crusader Kingdom of Israel to Saladin and his Muslim army. We did not visit the Horns of Hattin, but could see it in the distance from Arbel Mountain. For example, William Farrer, in the Life of Christ, speculated that the Sermon on the Mount was on the "Horns of Hattin, a hill with a summit that resembles an Oriental saddle with two high peaks because it is the only conspicuous hill on the western side of the mountain." 

Other believers question whether the Sermon on the Mount took place at all. One of those is Professor Luke Timothy Johnson of Emory University, formerly a Benedictine monk. In the course "Jesus and the Gospels" for The Teaching Company, Part 2 of 3, pages 12 to 14, Professor Johnson says the Sermon on the Mount is "the invention and creation of Matthew,...not Jesus. Matthew has drawn from the Q material [a hypothetical written collection of Jesus's sayings], those saying materials and possibly the oral tradition, and has woven them together into the form of these discourses...[T]he same Q materials are distributed by Luke quite differently."