+303+. Mountains have everywhere been regarded as abodes of spirits or
deities, and therefore sacred. Their height and massiveness invested
them with dignity (even as now they appeal mightily to the imagination),
and their lofty summits and rugged sides were full of danger and
mystery. Sacred mountains are found in North America, Bengal, Africa,
and elsewhere. Naturally they are often abodes of gods of rain; they are
feared on account of the spirits inhabiting them, but they are also
resorted to as places where divine revelations may be obtained.[565] The
Semitic, Hindu, and Greek examples are familiar: the Hebrew and
Canaanite Sinai (or Horeb), Nebo, Carmel, Hermon; the Arabian Arafat,
near Mecca; the Babylonian Ekur; in India, Meru, Mandara, Himavat, and
other mountains; in Greece, Olympus and Parnassus.