Masada

Masada (Hebrew for fortress), is situated atop an isolated rock cliff at the western end of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea.

The only written source about Masada is from Josephus Flavius’ The Jewish War. Born Joseph ben Matityahu of a priestly family, he was a young

leader at the outbreak of the Great Jewish Rebellion against Rome (66 AD) when he was appointed governor of Galilee. He managed to survive the

suicide pact of the last defenders of Jodfat and surrendered to Vespasian (who shortly thereafter was proclaimed emperor) – events he described in

detail. Calling himself Josephus Flavius, he became a Roman citizen and a successful historian. Moral judgment aside, his accounts have been

proved largely accurate.

According to Josephus Flavius, Herod the Great built the fortress of Masada between 37 and 31 BC. Herod, an Idumean, had been made King

of Judea by his Roman overlords and was hated by his Jewish subjects. Herod, the master builder, “furnished this fortress as a refuge for himself.”

It included a casemate wall around the plateau, storehouses, large cisterns ingeniously filled with rainwater, barracks, palaces and an armory.

There is no evidence that Herod every visited Masada.

Some 75 years after Herod’s death, at the beginning of the Revolt of the Jews against the Romans in 66 AD, a group of Jewish rebels overcame

the Roman garrison of Masada. After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple (70 AD) they were joined by zealots and their families

who had fled from Jerusalem. With Masada as their base, they raided and harassed the Romans for two years. Then, in 73 AD, the Roman governor

Flavius Silva marched against Masada with the Tenth Legion, auxiliary units and thousands of Jewish prisoners-of-war. The Romans established

camps at the base of Masada, laid siege to it and built a circumvallation wall. They then constructed a rampart of thousands of tons of stones and

beaten earth against the western approaches of the fortress and, in the spring of the year 74 AD, moved a battering ram up the ramp and breached

the wall of the fortress.

Josephus Flavius dramatically recounts the story told him by two surviving women. The defenders – almost one thousand men, women and children –

led by Eleazar ben Ya’ir, decided to burn the fortress and end their own lives, rather than be taken alive. “And so met (the Romans) with the multitude

of the slain, but could take no pleasure in the fact, though it were done to their enemies. Nor could they do other than wonder at the courage of their

resolution, and at the immovable contempt of death which so great a number of them had shown, when they went through with such an action as that

was.” The Zealots cast lots to choose 10 men to kill the remainder. They then chose among themselves the one man who would kill the survivors.

That last Jew then killed himself.

The next nine pictures were taken from a short film before riding cable car up to Masada

Pottery discovered on Masada with family names inscribed

Pictures taken from cable car

Note the black lines on the walls, which is the original remains below. Above the lines the wall has been restored.

Remnants of one of several legionary camps at Masada, viewed from top of Masada.

The Northern Palace
The upper terrace featured lavish living quarters with mosaic floors, frescoed walls, and a semicircular

balcony that offered spectacular views. The round, middle terrace had two concentric rows of columns

that created a beautiful balcony for relaxation. The lower terrace, surrounded by low walls and columns

with a roof in between, provided an open court inside a colonnade. A bathroom on its eastern side had

hot, warm, and cold baths as well as mosaic floors. The great retaining walls that supported this level

remain testimony to the genius of Herod's engineers.

Middle Terrance

Mosaic Floor

Five profile pictures of the Northern Palace

Upper Terrance

Middle Terrance

Lower Terrance

There was a furnace room connected to this room from the outside. Steam would move from the furnace room through the tile in the wall and under the

floor that is seen here behind the plaster. This would give the room heated floor and walls.