Mecca is the 3rd largest city of Saudi Arabia
and it is the 280th largest city of the World.

Mecca, also transliterated as Makkah,
is a city in the Hejaz,
and the capital of Makkah Province in Saudi Arabia.


The beginnings of Mecca is attributed to Ishmael's descendants.
The Old Testament chapter Psalm 84:3:6,
and a mention of a pilgrimage at the Valley of Baca,
that Muslims see as referring to the mentioning
of Mecca as Bakkah in Qur'an Surah 3:96.

Also the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus
who lived between 60 BCE and 30 BCE
writes about the isolated region of Arabia
in his work Bibliotheca historica describing a holy shrine
that Muslims see as referring to the Kaaba at Mecca
"and a temple has been set up there,
which is very holy and exceedingly revered by all Arabians".

Mecca is approximately 80 km inland from the Red Sea.

Central Mecca lies in a corridor between mountains,
which is often called the "hollow of mecca".