The search for the biblical Mt Sinai has been an enduring facet of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and its location has been reported as being in locations as remote as the Sinai peninsular and the deserts of Saudi Arabia. But why should this mountain be so important to the three Judaic religions, and how did its location become to be forgotten?

The answer to the first question is relatively easy to answer, Mt Sinai was the location where Moses spoke to god, indeed it was rumoured that the Israelite god actually lived inside this mountain.

The second question, however, is more difficult. Here is the most sacred mountain of the Israelites, the home of their all-powerful god, and someone simply forgot where it was! The scenario is simply not credible. But if such an important location was not forgotten, then it must have been deliberately mislaid or covered up – but such reasoning by definition presupposes that there was something to hide.