Masada

Masada

When I initially meet people and they find out what I do for a living, the first question they usually ask me is “What is your favorite place to visit/guide in Israel?”. While there are many places more beautiful, holier, older, or with more archaeology, no place has all of those , and an amazing story like Masada.

I first visited Masada in 1978. There was a dirt parking lot and the cable car held about 10 people maybe less. Now there is a whole complex including an audio visual museum, field school, restaurants and gift shops, and the cable car holds 82 people. This is of course due to UNESCO recognizing Masada as an international heritage site. What many people don't know is that the reason for this recognition has nothing to do with what's on top of the mountain,but rather the ruins of Roman encampments around the bottom. However when guiding the site our focus is the ruins above.

Upon ascending to the top of this 450m tall mountain we find ourselves ironically at just about sea level with a truly amazing view of the Dead Sea, the Judean Desert, and of course the Moabite/Edomite mountains in Jordan. We enter through the Snake Path Gate and can already see the stylized construction, trying to make small stones appear large by covering them in plaster and cutting grooves to give the look of large Herodian style stones. This gives us a hint of the grandeur we will discover in the rest of this mountain fortress.

Herod was known for his great building. This is just one of seven places of refuge built by him. Originally a small Hasmonean outpost, Herod spared no expense constructing two palaces, barracks for troops to defend him, special commanders quarters overlooking the entry gate, and 17 massive storehouses. These last he stocked full with wine, honey, oil, grain and many other items. As far as we know he never lived here, but almost 70 years after his death when Jewish zealots were running from the Romans during the ”Great Revolt” it was still fully stocked. This provided them with what to live on, and the basics for defense, until such time when they “heroically” took their own lives.

To explore everything up here would require at least a full day if not two. Among the key sites to visit are the Northern Palace, carved deep into the north side of the mountain extending over 100m down. There are also the Western Palace with it's beautiful mosaics, the Roman Style Bathhouse with well preserved frescoes and remnants of the heating system. There are also several mikvas (Jewish ritual baths) , massive water cisterns, as well as a synagogue. It's most likely that the synagogue was something else before the Jews arrived during the revolt. Nowadays there is a scribe at work in the synagogue, and sometimes if he isn't too busy he will inscribe tourists names for them using Hebrew letters and a quill, the same method as used in days of old.

On the southern tip of Masada there is an echo point. Generally this is lots of fun with kids in the group. On the west side we can get a view of the attack ramp built by the Romans using Jewish slave labor. This was of course the way the Romans finally broke in,

The most important room in my opinion is behind the bathhouse near the stairs down to the Northern Palace. This is where Yig'al Yadin, famed archaeologist and tour guide license #3 found the potsherds with the names on them, These were lots drawn by the leaders of the families of zealots to decide who would in the end of their mass suicide, take the others' life and then fall on their sword. Finding these proved the writings of Josephus to be correct, thus making it history rather than just another story.

I of course go into much more detail in person. Suffice it to say I love to guide Masada.