Mt. Tabor has a commanding appearance in Lower Galilee. Therefore it should be no surprise that there may have been a Canaanite sanctuary on top Mt. Tabor (Hosea 5:1). Early in the Hasmonean period (from 152 B.C.E.), the Ptolemaic rulers built a fortress on top Mt. Tabor. Later the Jewish king Alexander Jannaeus, who ruled from 103 to 76 B.C.E., conquered Mt. Tabor and its fortress (Josephus, War 2.573). During the Byzantine period (324-640 C.E.), Mt. Tabor was associated with the transfiguration (see Slide 138).