Masada

Masada, built by Herod the Great around 35 BCE, is an ancient fortification built on top of a rock plateau at the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. The sides of the plateau range from 300 feet tall, to 1,300 feet tall. It is most famously known as the site where over 950 Jewish men, women, and children died in a mass “suicide”, rather than face capture, and certain slavery, by the Roman army in about 73 CE.

At the end of the 1st Jewish-Roman War (66-73 CE), the last Jewish rebels had barricaded themselves on top of Masada. Because Masada sits on top of the plateau, whose sides are literally almost straight up and down, the Roman army had to build a ramp so that they could reach the walls of Masada. It took them approximately 3 months to build the ramp on the western side of the plateau, where the cliffs are “only” about 300 feet tall. Part of that earthen ramp is still distinguishable today when looking down on it from the top of Masada.

Before building the ramp, the Roman army had completely surrounded the mountain. As the top of the ramp grew closer and closer to the plateau, the Jews knew that they would not be able to escape. Jewish tradition tells the story of what happened next. Since Judaism forbids suicide, Jewish leaders devised a plan where lots were drawn and a small group of warriors killed the inhabitants. Then that group killed each other until there was just one man left. He was then the only one to commit suicide. When the Romans finally broke through, they did find a few survivors – two women and five children. They were the ones who lived to tell the story.

Masada was originally built by Herod, who had been made King of Judea by Rome, as a refuge for him and his family in case of a revolt by the Jews. He also had two separate palaces built on top of Masada - the Northern Palace, built on the north cliff face, and the Western Palace, built on the western edge of the plateau.

Remnants of both palaces remain, as well as service buildings, troop quarters, a swimming pool, a columbarium, a Byzantine church (probably built in the 5^th or 6^th century as part of a Monastic Oder who lived atop Masada), and parts of the fortress walls. When the rebels killed themselves before the Roman army could conquer them, they also set fire to many of the structures on top of Masada. When archeologists began the excavations of Masada in the 1950’s, the foundations of many of these structures remained, with a lot of loose (knocked down) rocks around them. As you can see in some of the photos below, there is a distinct black line running through some of the walls. Below the black line is the original foundations as found by the archeologists. Above the black line are the loose rocks, found on the ground around the foundations, that have been fitted back into place to restore what the original building or wall probably looked like.

Today you can visit Masada by riding to the top in a cable car, or by climbing a trail that is called the “Snake Path”, which takes about an hour and a half, and rises in elevation 300 meters from the visitor’s center. The Israeli army used to hold their swearing-in ceremony for new officers on top of Masada, after they had run up the Snake Path at night, in the dark!