- Type
- Fortress
- Built
- c. 37 BC · 1st century BC
- Heritage
- UNESCO World Heritage List
- Coordinates
- 31.3156°, 35.3539°
History
On an isolated rock plateau above the Dead Sea, Herod the Great built a fortified complex between 37 and 31 BC, with palaces, bathhouses, storerooms and huge water cisterns. During the First Jewish–Roman War it became the refuge of the Sicarii rebels led by Eleazar ben Yair. In AD 73 or 74 a Roman legion under Flavius Silva sealed off the mountain with a wall and built a huge siege ramp. According to the historian Josephus, when further defence became impossible the 960 defenders chose death over slavery. Yigael Yadin's excavations in the 1960s uncovered the ruins, and Masada has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001.
What to see
You reach the top by cable car or, at dawn, on foot up the winding Snake Path, while from the west you can climb the old Roman ramp. The highlight is the three-tiered Northern Palace hanging over the cliff, along with bathhouses with surviving wall paintings, storerooms, a synagogue and cisterns. The edge of the plateau looks out over the Dead Sea and the mountains of Moab, and the outlines of the Roman camps and siege wall are clearly visible below.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q186312
Popularity: articles about this site in 70 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).