A desert fortress at Masada, as well as other fortresses, were developed by the Hasmoneans as a safe haven against rebellion and attack. However, it was Herod the Great who, when he became king of the Jews, improved Masada’s fortifications, water supply and food supply so it could resist all attacks, and built magnificent and luxurious palaces on the summit of this mountain. Despite the desert terrain, his palaces displayed the latest luxuries and art forms of Rome. Most of what you will viewing is from this period.

 

The flat mountain top is approximately 650 m long, 300 m wide, and 450 m above the Dead Sea. The main entrance to the stronghold was in the West, since the mountaintop on that side is only 100 meters above the floor of the desert. The path that many people now walk on and did so in the past, the Snake Path, ascends 350 meters, and met with desert trails to Sodom in the south and Ein Gedi in the north, and particularly to a boat ride across the Dead Sea to Jericho.

 

The fortress was enclosed by a casement wall and had 37 towers, although only 27 have been identified. Particularly impressive were the palaces he built. Architecturally, the Northern Palace was the most impressive, as its architects used two terraces in the cliff to create a three-tiered palace. One can descend to the lower terrace, although there is also a wonderful view from its Upper Terrace. If your time is limited, it might be better spent in the Western Palace to view its mosaics and remains of frescoes rather than to descend and fully explore the Northern Palace.

 

Herod also markedly improved the water supply of the fortress, which had previously relied on collecting rainwater falling on the summit of the mountain. He directed the runoff water from two river beds west of Masada and directed the flashfloods into a series of cisterns hewn in two rows on the northwestern cliff face of Masada. Mules or donkeys were used to bring the water from the cisterns to the summit via outside paths.

 

In 66 CE, the Jews revolted against the rule of Rome. The pressures for religious revolt were already present at the time of Herod, but he managed to bottle them up by the severe punishment of those who showed signs of rebellion and the general prosperity that his economic and building policies engendered. The rebellion was initiated by the Zealots. Josephus names Judah of Gamla on the Golan and Zadok the Pharisee from Jerusalem as founders of this messianic movement. They regarded submission to the rule of Rome as akin to paganism and therefore worth dying for. Josephus called the Galilean Zealots Sicarii — “the people of the little daggers,” in that they used to stab their opponents in crowds and public gatherings. The revolt of the Zealots led to the destruction of the Temple and then Jerusalem, and Jews were banned from entering Jerusalem.

 

During the revolt, the Galileans and Jerusalemites fought each other for the direction of the revolt, and a small group of Galileans under the leadership of Eleazar ben Yair, escaped to Masada. After the destruction of Jerusalem, he was joined by other refugees.

 

The Romans were determined to wipe out this last vestige of resistance, and Lucius Flavius Silva, the Governor of Judea, committed 8,000 soldiers to the siege of Masada. In addition, there were auxiliary soldiers and workmen, probably totaling 13,000 to 15,000 people. Inside Masada were 960 people, including women and children. Why were the Romans prepared to commit so many people and such effort into destroying this last remaining outpost of resistance? Answers may be that the Romans were not engaged in any other wars and these soldiers were free and needed to keep in training. They also knew that any successful group of resistors could grow with time into another revolt, and they were determined to stamp it out as early as possible. It may be that Masada was the focus of a larger area of resistance in the Judean Desert.

 

The traditional estimate for the duration of the siege is two to three years, although archeologists suggest it could have been much shorter. The Romans surrounded the entire fortress with their camps and a wall. According to Josephus (The Jewish War, Book VII), the Romans made the siege ramp on the western side of the fortress, moved a siege tower equipped with a battering ram up the ramp, breached Masada's defensive wall. Meanwhile, the Jewish defenders constructed an internal wall of timber and earth. The Romans set this second wall on fire. When the Romans entered Masada the following morning, they discovered that most of its inhabitants were dead. Only two women and a child survived. Josephus describes a collective suicide organized by Eleazar ben Yair to prevent their deaths by the Romans and the enslavement of their women and children.

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Findings either from the time of the Zealots or the Bar Kochba Revolt are a synagogue with benches, that was previously used as a stable. There is also a room near the storehouses that contains 11 small ostraca with the names of 11 people, including that of ben Yair. Yigael Yadin believes that these were the lots of ten people who were drawn by lot to kill the others.