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Red granite ramparts of Jebel Serbal thrust towards the heavens. Near here, at the oasis of Feiran, an important center of Christian monasticism was located during the Byzantine period. A bishop served at this center, overseeing the spiritual well-being of all the Sinai monks and hermits.

In the sixth century, a Sinai traveler named Cosmas Indicopleustes identifed a mountain near Feiran as Mt. Sinai; he was probably writing of Jebel Serbal, which sheltered several monasteries during the Byzantine period.