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<< Our Photo Pages >> Masada - Hillfort in Israel

Submitted by motist on Thursday, 15 July 2010  Page Views: 6146

DigsSite Name: Masada
Country: Israel
NOTE: This site is 0.301 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: 'Arad  Nearest Village: 'Ein Gedi
Latitude: 31.312987N  Longitude: 35.354872E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The Northern Palace – This grand and daring building constructed by Herod is Masada’s architectural gem. It is 30 meters high, built on three rock terraces and supported by impressive retaining walls. Combining both Hellenistic and Roman architectural elements, the palace was built to host high-ranking visitors and to allow the king his solitude. Herod and his family liv... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Masada (Hebrew for fortress), is situated atop an isolated rock cliff at the western end of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. It is a place of gaunt and majestic beauty.
On the east the rock falls in a sheer drop of about 450 meters to the Dead Sea (the lowest point on earth, some 400 m. below sea level) and in the west it stands about 100 meters above the surrounding terrain. The natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult.


The only written source about Masada is Josephus Flavius' "The Jewish War." Born Joseph ben Matityahu of a priestly family, he was a young leader at the outbreak of the Great Jewish Rebellion against Rome (66 CE) when he was appointed governor of Galilee. He managed to survive the suicide pact of the last defenders of Jodfat and surrendered to Vespasian (who shortly thereafter was proclaimed emperor), events he described in detail. Calling himself Josephus Flavius, he became a Roman citizen and a successful historian. Moral judgement aside, his accounts have been proved largely accurate.
According to Josephus Flavius, Herod the Great built the fortress of Masada between 37 and 31 BCE. Herod, an Idumean, had been made King of Judea by his Roman overlords and was hated by his Jewish subjects. Herod, the master builder, furnished this fortress as a refuge for himself. It included a casemate wall around the plateau, storehouses, large cisterns ingeniously filled with rainwater, barracks, palaces and an armory.
Some 75 years after Herods death, at the beginning of the Revolt of the Jews against the Romans in 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple (70 CE) they were joined by zealots and their families who had fled from Jerusalem. With Masada as their base, they raided and harassed the Romans for two years. Then, in 73 CE, the Roman governor Flavius Silva marched against Masada with the Tenth Legion, auxiliary units and thousands of Jewish prisoners-of-war. The Romans established camps at the base of Masada, laid siege to it and built a circumvallation wall. They then constructed a rampart of thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth against the western approaches of the fortress and in the spring of the year 74 CE moved a battering ram up the ramp and breached the wall of the fortress.

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Masada
Masada submitted by SolarMegalith : Byzantine gate in western part of the fortress (photo taken on April 2011). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada Columbarium Towers These two square towers in which pigeons were raised and also served as lookout and guard towers, were built at Herod’s time before the construction of the perimeter wall. These structures could be accessed only via a ladder. The niches in the walls housed pigeons that were used as food, and whose droppings were used as fertilizer. The southern tower ... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The Northern Palace – This grand and daring building constructed by Herod is Masada’s architectural gem. It is 30 meters high, built on three rock terraces and supported by impressive retaining walls. Combining both Hellenistic and Roman architectural elements, the palace was built to host high-ranking visitors and to allow the king his solitude. Herod and his family live... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada Roman siege camp (Vote or comment on this photo)

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada commandant's residence of Masada. The residence, consisting of a central courtyard surrounded by rooms, some of which were adorned with colorful wall paintings, later served as home to rebel families (Vote or comment on this photo)

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The Western Palace – At 3,700 square meters, the Western Palace, built during Herod’s reign, is the largest structure on Masada. It was built around a core that consisted of an open courtyard containing living quarters, guard rooms, reception rooms and a series of bathing rooms. To the right of the entrance is a model of the reconstructed palace. As you enter the palace, y...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The Large Bathhouse Bathhouses were an integral part of Roman culture. Enter Masada’s Roman-style bathhouse via the courtyard, which was surrounded by columns. A model of the bathhouse located in the courtyard shows its original appearance and use. Enter the dressing room (apoditerium), with its unique paved floor and fresco-adorned walls. During the revolt, b...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada the storerooms complex This concentration of 29 long rooms surrounded by corridors was built by Herod to hold food, liquids, and weapons. As Josephus describes them: "For here had been stored a mass of corn, amply sufficient to last for years, abundance of wine and oil, besides every variety of pulse and piles of dates." (Josephus Flavius, The Wars of the Jews, VII, 296)...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada commandant's residence of Masada. The residence, consisting of a central courtyard surrounded by rooms, some of which were adorned with colorful wall paintings, later served as home to rebel families

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The quarry

Masada
Masada submitted by SolarMegalith : Ruined storerooms above Herod's palace (photo taken on April 2011).

Masada
Masada submitted by SolarMegalith : View from Masada towards the Dead Sea (photo taken on April 2011).

Masada
Masada submitted by SolarMegalith : The Roman ramp constructed during 72-74 AD siege of Masada by troops of Flavius Silva (photo taken on April 2011).

Masada
Masada submitted by SolarMegalith : Remains of the Roman military camp seen from western part of Masada (photo taken on April 2011).

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The Northern Palace – This grand and daring building constructed by Herod is Masada’s architectural gem. It is 30 meters high, built on three rock terraces and supported by impressive retaining walls. Combining both Hellenistic and Roman architectural elements, the palace was built to host high-ranking visitors and to allow the king his solitude. Herod and his family live...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The Byzantine church – The center of the Byzantine monastery was the church, which is well preserved. Pass through the narthex, with its white mosaic, and continue to the nave. The floor here was originally paved with mosaic and its walls were decorated with a design created from pottery sherds inserted in plaster. The room’s semicircular apse is preserved to its original...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The Western Palace – At 3,700 square meters, the Western Palace, built during Herod’s reign, is the largest structure on Masada. It was built around a core that consisted of an open courtyard containing living quarters, guard rooms, reception rooms and a series of bathing rooms. To the right of the entrance is a model of the reconstructed palace. As you enter the palace, y...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The western Byzantine gate : This gate of dressed stones stood at the upper end of the path that led over the ramp to the top of the mountain during the Byzantine era. It serves as an entrance to this day. To visit the water cisterns you can leave via the Byzantine gate, take the ramp path west for about 75 meters, and near its starting point turn right on the signposted trai...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada Columbarium Towers These two square towers in which pigeons were raised and also served as lookout and guard towers, were built at Herod’s time before the construction of the perimeter wall. These structures could be accessed only via a ladder. The niches in the walls housed pigeons that were used as food, and whose droppings were used as fertilizer. The southern tower was...

Masada
Masada submitted by motist

Masada
Masada submitted by motist

Masada
Masada submitted by motist : Masada The synagogue - This building, constructed in Herod’s time, was apparently first used as a stable. It was converted into a synagogue at the time of the Great Revolt, when rows of benches lining the hall and a separate room at the back were added. Two pits dug in the floor of the back room were found to contain biblical scrolls, indicating it may have served as a geniza, a s...

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 9.0km NNW 347° Cave of the Treasure in wadi Mishmar* Cave or Rock Shelter
 16.7km N 11° Tel Goren* Ancient Village or Settlement
 16.9km NNE 12° Ein Gedi ancient Synagogue* Ancient Temple
 17.4km N 10° Ein Gedi Chalcolithic Temple* Ancient Temple
 18.0km S 183° Mesad Zohar* Hillfort
 18.2km ESE 111° Bab edh-Dhra Ancient Village or Settlement
 21.1km ESE 108° Zahrat adh-Dhra’ 2 Ancient Village or Settlement
 22.2km W 261° tel 'Arad* Ancient Village or Settlement
 26.2km WNW 293° Khirbat Susya* Ancient Village or Settlement
 28.0km W 279° Khirbat Anim* Ancient Temple
 33.0km NW 316° Cave of the Patriarchs Rock Cut Tomb
 36.1km ESE 114° Al Karak castle * Hillfort
 36.4km ENE 77° Redjom el A'abed* Ancient Village or Settlement
 36.7km E 97° Qasr Ar-Rabba* Ancient Temple
 38.1km NE 42° Mukawir* Hillfort
 38.2km E 91° Wadi Walla Roman mile stone* Marker Stone
 39.4km ESE 102° Khirbat Iskandar* Ancient Village or Settlement
 40.7km NNW 345° Herodion* Ancient Palace
 40.8km ESE 107° Ader.* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 42.3km SW 221° Mamshit* Ancient Village or Settlement
 43.0km W 269° Shoket Junction* Ancient Village or Settlement
 45.5km ENE 63° Khirbet Ataruz Ancient Village or Settlement
 47.6km NNW 342° Rachel's Tomb Ancient Temple
 47.6km WNW 284° Khirbat Za'aq* Ancient Village or Settlement
 48.1km WNW 301° Amatzia* Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
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"Masada" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Jean-Michel Jarre to play anti-Donald Trump Dead Sea concert by Andy B on Monday, 03 April 2017
(User Info | Send a Message)
Pioneering electronic musician Jean-Michel Jarre has said he wants to use an all-night concert at the Dead Sea to highlight what he sees as the anti-environmental policies of Donald Trump.

The French musician, who shot to fame in the 1970s, will perform in front of the ancient Masada fortress in Israel on Thursday in a bid to draw attention to the “urgency of saving the Dead Sea”, he told AFP.

The lake shared by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories, which is the lowest and saltiest body of water in the world, is receding by roughly a metre per year. Experts have said it is on course to dry out by 2050.

The musician said he wants to “make the world aware” of the danger. Jarre, 68, spoke of the lack of oxygen in the Dead Sea – an allusion to his best-known album, Oxygene.

Jarre is a goodwill ambassador for Unesco, which in 2002 designated Masada a world heritage site. The venue at the foot of the fortress is one of the most striking sites in the region and the location of the biblical story of King Herod, in which the king built Masada fortress in the first century BC on a rocky outcrop 430 metres above the Dead Sea.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/03/jean-michel-jarre-anti-donald-trump-dead-sea-concert
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Re: Masada by motist on Thursday, 15 July 2010
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more: http://www.parks.org.il/BuildaGate5/portals/parks/imagesFILES/Advanced1118904599.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20-%20Archaeology/Masada%20-%20Desert%20Fortress%20Overlooking%20the%20Dead%20Sea

http://www.israelinphotos.com/gallery15-Masada.htm
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