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Sep 10, 2024 · Masada, ancient mountaintop fortress in southeastern Israel, site of the Jews’ last stand against the Romans after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.
- Siege of Masada
The last and longest of these final encounters was the Siege...
- Siege of Masada
- Where Is Masada?
- King Herod
- History of Masada
- Siege of Masada
- Modern-Day Excavations
- Masada National Park
- Sources
Masada is located in Israelon the edge of the Judean desert, between Ein Gedi and Sodom, on cliffs made up of chalk, dolomite and marl strata about 1,300 feet (400 meters) above the Dead Sea. Because of the desert climate, the surrounding area is virtually uninhabited and undeveloped.
Meaning “strong foundation or support” in Hebrew, Masada is a natural fortress built on top of a barren mountainous desert plateau thousands of feet above the Dead Sea. Herod the Great, King of Judea, (who ruled from 37 to 4 B.C.) originally built Masada as a castle complex in the last century B.C. When the ancient Romansovertook Judea in the first...
Josephus Flavius, the commander of Galilee during the Great Revolt in the first century A.D., chronicled the known history of Masada; future excavation of the site has largely collaborated his accounts. According to Flavius, the first fort at Masada was built by “Jonathan the High Priest,” thought to be Hasmonean King Alexander Janaeus (who ruled f...
Following Menahem’s murder in 66 A.D. in Jerusalem, Eleazer Ben Yair fled from Jerusalem to Masada to command a group of Judean rebels. When Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., the remaining rebels joined Eleazar at Masada to live in Herod’s former palaces. With Jerusalem in ruins, the Romans turned their attention to taking down Masada, the last c...
For nearly 13 centuries, the area remained uninhabited until, in 1828, scholars rediscovered Masada. In the following years, researchers climbed the mountain and mapped it. In 1953, the Israeli archeologist Shmariya Gutman excavated Masada; other researchers continued to excavate the site in the 1950s and 1960s. Further excavations in the 1980s and...
In 1966, the site was declared a national park by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, with a cable car scaling the mountain built in 1977. Masada has long been a favorite pilgrimage site for Jewish youth groups. Today, visitors can reach the fortress from two entrances, on the eastern and western sides. Most tourists visit the eastern entrance, ...
Masada-Desert Fortress Overlooking the Dead Sea. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Masada National Park. Israel Nature and Parks Authority. What Is Masada? Newsweek. Masada. UNESCO.
- Missy Sullivan
- 3 min
The Masada story was the inspiration for the "Masada plan" devised by the British during the Mandate era. The plan was to man defensive positions on Mount Carmel with Palmach fighters, to stop Erwin Rommel 's expected drive through the region in 1942.
Info on Masada Comes From Josephus. The historical information we have about Masada comes from controversial Jewish historian Josephus Flavius. 1 During the Jewish revolt against the Romans, Josephus commanded the Galilean forces.
During the revolt, these families found refuge atop Masada, a remote mountain overlooking the Dead Sea that had been fortified by King Herod the Great seventy years earlier. Now, however, they were besieged by an overwhelming Roman force, and it was clear the fortress would fall.
Dec 22, 2022 · The origins of Masada Fortress. Used as a defensive position since the early 1st century BC, Masada’s unique potential was exploited by Herod the Great, a Judaean king allied to Rome.
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Masada: The Final Fortress. In the waning months of A.D. 72, a Jewish lookout spied an approaching dust cloud from the top of his mountain outpost. He knew it meant only one thing—the Romans were coming. The alarm was sounded. The final fortress of Jewish resistance sprang to life. The war had come to Masada. The Stronghold
