Mount Amana

Mount Amana is at the southern end[3][4] of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains,[5][6][7][1] near the source of the river Abana.[3][8][4][9] Paul Haupt identifies this mountain as Jabal az-Zabadany, northwest of Damascus.[8]

Mount Amana is often confused with Mount Amanus, also known as Mount Hor, at the north end of the Syrian plain.[lower-alpha 1]

Mount Amana is mentioned in Song of Songs (4:8) along with Lebanon, Senir, and Mount Hermon.[1] Senir, Mount Hermon, and Amana are all prominent mountains on the northern end of Israel[10] in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.[11] In this era, Lebanon referred to both the Lebanese Mountains and the Anti-Lebanese mountains without referring to any particular peak.[12] A targum on this verse reads "They that dwell on the river Amana shall offer thee a gift."[7]

The "mountains of Sanir and Amana" are also mentioned in the Book of Jubilees as lying within the inheritance of Shem (8:21), or more specifically, Arpachshad (9:4).

Winckler was the first scholar to suggest that the Mount Ammananu referred to in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III should be understood as identical with Amanah,[13][14] a claim which has been confirmed by more recent scholarship.[15][16]

Tacitus records that a triumphal arch was erected on Mount Amana (possibly Mount Amanus) in honor of Germanicus after his death.[17]

In the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible, the name "Amana" is given in the margin to 2 Kings 5:12 as an alternate reading of Abana,[6][3] and contemporary scholars prefer the reading Amana,[15][9] following the targum.[9] This river flows through Damascus and is currently known as the Barada.[6][8][16][11][18][19]

The name Amana means "constant",[2][1] "firm",[1] "faith",[20] "truth",[20] "credulity",[20] or "a nurse".[20] It was translated in the Septuagint as πιστεως,[1] meaning "trust", "fidelity", or "faithfulness"[21]