zion

Zion is a term with multiple meanings across religion, geography, and culture. Originating in the Hebrew Bible, Zion originally referred to a specific hill in Jerusalem, the site of a fortress and temple precinct associated with the City of David. Over time the name came to denote Jerusalem itself and, more broadly, the biblical land of Israel.

In religious usage, Zion is central in Judaism as a symbol of the ancestral homeland and the idealized future city of God. It appears in rabbinic literature as both a physical place and a spiritual principle representing sanctuary, covenant, and national redemption. In Christian tradition, Zion is used to signify the heavenly Jerusalem or the church, and it features prominently in liturgy and biblical interpretation as a destination of divine promise.

The term also has political and social significance. Zionism is the modern nationalist movement dedicated to the reestablishment and support of a Jewish homeland in Israel. Since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, Zionist ideas have informed debates about national identity, security, and religion in public life, with a wide range of ideological variants.

Geographically, Zion appears in names of places such as Zion National Park in Utah, a protected area known for canyoneering and red rock scenery. Other towns and institutions around the world bear the name Zion. In Rastafari and some Afrocentric movements, Zion refers to a utopian homeland, often identified with Africa or Ethiopia, contrasted with Babylon as oppression.

In contemporary usage, Zion remains a flexible symbol in scripture, politics, geography, and culture.