1. in 325 AD, Queen Helena (Constantines mother) chose Mt. Musa in the Sinai Peninsula from a vision she saw in a dream.
2. Egeria, an unknown woman who took a four year "Holy land tour" including the exodus route in 381-384 AD.
3. Egeria went to the Sinai Peninsula and Mt. Musa where it has been placed on every map since.
4. Egeria seemed to follow the Septuagint in Gen. 46:34 in her diary, by saying Goshen was in Arabia: "I desired therefore that we should go from Clysma to the land of Goshen, that is, to the city called Arabia, which city is in the land of Goshen. The whole territory is called after the city, the land of Arabia, the land of Goshen, although it is part of Egypt. It is much better land than all the rest of Egypt." (The Pilgrimage Of Etheria, McClure and Feltoe, 1919 AD, p 13) For a more detailed discussion on the Septuagint Click here.

1. The Saracens were Arabs who lived in Saudi Arabia and not in the modern Sinai Peninsula. Notice Egeria, who lived 50 years after Eusebius wrote his Onomasticon, defines the Saracens as being at a great distance from Mt. Musa. She sees the land of the Saracens in the distance, but Eusebius said Mt. Sinai was located in the land of the Saracens. see: Eusebius, Onomasticon, 325 AD
2. Also notice her statement, that the land of Goshen was a city of Arabia. This should not surprise us, since the Romans annexed the entire modern Sinai Peninsula in 106 AD. Some suggest that Egeria may have been influenced by the Septuagint's translation of Gen 45:10; 46:34 as, "Goshen of Arabia". This is doesn't mean much, since the words "of Arabia" in the Septuagint do not represent the factual geography in 250 BC. The Massoretic manuscript of the OT doesn't contain these words. Every one admits that the words, "of Arabia" were not written by the Holy Spirit, but the translators added them.

1. "I want you to be quite clear about these mountains, reverend ladies my sisters, which surrounded us as we stood beside the church looking down from the summit of the mountain in the middle. They had been almost too much for us to climb, and I really do not think I have ever seen any that were higher (apart from the central one which is higher still) even though they only looked like little hillocks to us as we stood on the central mountain. From there we were able to see Egypt and Palestine, the Red Sea and the Parthenian Seaf (the part that takes you to Alexandria), as well as the vast lands of the Saracens—all unbelievably far below us. All this was pointed out to us by the holy men." (Egeria, The Pilgrimage Of Etheria, 381 AD, while standing on Mt. Musa in the Sinai Peninsula, McClure and Feltoe, 1919 AD, p 13)
2. "Now although I had been acquainted with the land of Goshen ever since I was in Egypt for the first time, yet [I visited it again] in order that I might see all the places which the children of Israel touched on their journey out from Rameses, until they reached the Red Sea at the place which is now called Clysma from the fort which is there. I desired therefore that we should go from Clysma to the land of Goshen, that is, to the city called Arabia, which city is in the land of Goshen. The whole territory is called after the city, the land of Arabia, the land of Goshen, although it is part of Egypt. It is much better land than all the rest of Egypt. (The Pilgrimage Of Etheria, McClure and Feltoe, 1919 AD, p 13)

1. The Diary of Egeria is not helpful in locating Mt. Sinai, since she was merely going to the place Helena chose in a vision a few years before.
2. The reference to Goshen being in Arabia, is an error based upon the Septuagint.

By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.

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