Case file · Apparition / miracle
Elijah's contest on Mount Carmel
1 Kings 18 tells that the prophet Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel; fire fell from heaven and consumed his sacrifice. The site is marked at El-Muhraka.
870 BCE · 32.67, 35.09 · status: legend
The account
Muhraka ('the burning') has a Carmelite monastery built in 1883 over the traditional spot. The story is set in the reign of Ahab, in the 9th century BC. Elijah is revered in Judaism, Christianity, Islam (as Ilyas) and by the Druze.
The sceptical view
The narrative was edited centuries after the events it describes; the location rests on later tradition.