Eventually, after much driving around in circles, a few extra hours on the road, and a bit of scrambling, my friends and I actually made it to Masada. It was well worth the effort. Masada is easily one of Israel's most fascinating sites. Today it stands as a point of national pride. Soldiers make the trek up to Masada each year and schoolchildren and teenagers are brought here to learn about Israeli history and heritage.
Almost all historical information about Masada comes from the 1st-century Jewish Roman historian Josephus. The site was first fortified by Alexander Jannaeus in the first century BCE.[2] Herod the Great captured it in the power-struggle that followed the death of father Antipater.[2] It survived the siege of the Parthian king Antigonus.[2] In 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels, the Sicarii, overcame the Roman garrison of Masada with the aid of a ruse.[2] After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, additional members of the Sicarii fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop.[2]
According to Josephus, the Sicarii were an extremist Jewish splinter
group antagonistic to a larger grouping of Jews referred to as the
Zealots, who carried the main burden of the rebellion. According to
Josephus, the Sicarii based at Masada raided nearby Jewish villages
including Ein Gedi, where they massacred 700 women and children.[2]
In 73 CE, the Roman governor of Iudaea Lucius Flavius Silva headed the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to Masada.[2] The Roman legion surrounded Masada, and built a circumvallation wall and then a siege embankment against the western face of the plateau.[2]
According to Dan Gill,[3] geological investigations in the early 1990s confirmed earlier observations that the 375-foot (114 m) high assault ramp consisted mostly of a natural spur of bedrock. The ramp was complete in the spring of 73, after probably two to three months of siege, allowing the Romans to finally breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram on April 16.[4] Romans took the X Legion and a number of auxiliary units and Jewish prisoner of war, totaling some 15.000 troops in order to crush Jewish resistance at Masada. A giant siege tower with a battering ram was constructed and moved laboriously up the completed ramp. The walls of the fortress were breached in 73 CE,[5] According to Josephus, when Roman troops entered the fortress, they discovered that its 960 inhabitants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide/killed each other. Josephus wrote of two stirring speeches that the Sicari leader had made to convince his fellows to kill themselves.[2] Only two women and five children were found alive.[2]
The year of the siege of Masada may have been 73 or 74 CE.[6]
Masada was last occupied during the Byzantine period, when a small church was established at the site.[7]
History (From Wikipedia)
In 73 CE, the Roman governor of Iudaea Lucius Flavius Silva headed the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to Masada.[2] The Roman legion surrounded Masada, and built a circumvallation wall and then a siege embankment against the western face of the plateau.[2]
According to Dan Gill,[3] geological investigations in the early 1990s confirmed earlier observations that the 375-foot (114 m) high assault ramp consisted mostly of a natural spur of bedrock. The ramp was complete in the spring of 73, after probably two to three months of siege, allowing the Romans to finally breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram on April 16.[4] Romans took the X Legion and a number of auxiliary units and Jewish prisoner of war, totaling some 15.000 troops in order to crush Jewish resistance at Masada. A giant siege tower with a battering ram was constructed and moved laboriously up the completed ramp. The walls of the fortress were breached in 73 CE,[5] According to Josephus, when Roman troops entered the fortress, they discovered that its 960 inhabitants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide/killed each other. Josephus wrote of two stirring speeches that the Sicari leader had made to convince his fellows to kill themselves.[2] Only two women and five children were found alive.[2]
The year of the siege of Masada may have been 73 or 74 CE.[6]
Masada was last occupied during the Byzantine period, when a small church was established at the site.[7]
View of the Dead Sea at sunrise from Masada Youth Hostel.
Once upon a time, the Dead Sea was much bigger. Imagine the water stretching nearly to the base of the mountain in the foreground.
Below: dry valleys and terrain is what remains of the dead sea in the area
surrounding the body of saline water now.
surrounding the body of saline water now.
Israeli school children, families, soldiers and tourists alike make the crazy-steep
climb to the ruins of the ancient hilltop city.
climb to the ruins of the ancient hilltop city.
If you're not into hiking you can take the tram. It takes under five minutes. (And trust me, unless you're really into hiking or REALLY want to hike this mountain, don't do it! I love to hike and this was crazy. Even the hike down is grueling.)
A model of Herod's palace (bottom) and a portion of the city walls (top) built on Masada.
The path leading around the backside of the mountain to Herod's Palace. I don't think Herod suffered from Vertigo or it would have been impossible for him to hang out in his palace at Masada.
The square is the outline of one of the Roman encampments from the siege of Masada.
The ruins of Herod's palace. Stunning view.
The Breakdown
Get there: Ideally, rent a car or go with a tour. If you have time and patience, take a public bus from Jerusalem. It is not recommended that you try the bus route in the summer as you'll likely spend long hours in the sun/heat waiting for the bus, which will not run "on time."
Allow: Half day if taking the tram both ways. Full day if hiking either way. And you ought to stay in the Youth Hostel at Masada as it is the only accommodations within 30-45 minutes.
Stay: Israel Youth Hostel. Good prices, nice rooms, GREAT buffet breakfast with western and eastern options, as well as the option to pack a sandwich lunch to take with you for your trip to Masada. (NB: Foam mattresses are a bit thin, but the building and facilities are nearly brand new.)
Book online, or try your luck at last-minute reservations like my group did (We were very lucky, it was the off-season, during a war and there was availability. However, we were overcharged by the gentleman at the front desk, who charged us each the single rate for a triple-share room... Unintentionally?)
Cost: If memory servers correctly, you pay only to ride the tram, 35NIS each way (70 return) (around $17US).
Bring: WATER. And plenty of it. There is a fountain and restrooms on top of the mountain, but the terrain is dry, dusty and salty. You'll be doing a lot of walking. Bring water. Bring Lunch. Bring Lunch.
Not very helpful official Website: http://masada.org.il/masada-national-park
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