El Tor in the South Sinai Governorate

El Tor, also known as Al-Tur or Tur Sinai, is the capital of the South Sinai Governorate in Egypt. The name comes from the Arabic term for Jabal Al Tor, the mountain where the prophet Moses is believed to have received the Tablets of the Law from God. The city appears to have been founded in the 13th century near the site of the ancient Raythou, also known as Raya, and is known for its springs.

The city is situated near the Raithu desert, which is part of the Archdiocese of Mount Sinai and Raithu of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. This area is home to the Raithu monastery, commissioned in the 6th century by Byzantine emperor Justinian. The monastery was proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage site on November 1, 1994. It is also the site where 43 anchorites, known as the Martyrs of Raithu, were murdered by bedouins during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (284-305CE).

In the early 7th century, Theodore of Raithu was a champion of neo-Chalcedonism. In 1541, a Portuguese Armada commanded by Estevão da Gama arrived in the Red Sea to attack the Ottoman fleet. The troops disembarked and took the city, but two priests appealed to the commander to avoid destruction. The armada stayed for a few days before continuing to Suez. In modern history, El Tor was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and returned to Egypt following the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons