Masada

The rocky plateau near the Dead Sea known as Masada was initially fortified by King Herod in 37 to 31 BC. He built two palaces there, parts of which can still be seen. In 70 AD, after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, several members of a Jewish sect called the Sicarii joined a settlement that had begun roughly four years earlier at the top of the plateau.

In roughly 73 AD, Lucius Flavia Silva, the Roman Governor of Judea, launched a siege against the Sicarii at Masada. Jewish prisoners of war were used by the Romans to build a siege ramp to allow the Romans access to the fortress. Because the Sicarii did not want to kill their Jewish brothers who were building the ramp, they did not stop them. Once the ramp was completed, a siege tower was pulled up the ramp and a battering ram and fire were used to breach the wall.

This was when the decision was made not to be captured and enslaved by the Romans. Suicide is very much against Jewish religious beliefs. All of the men were to kill their own families, while ten men were selected to kill all of the other men. Those ten men drew lots as to who would be the last man standing. He would then need to kill himself. Archeologists have discovered what they believe are the lots within the synagogue. Roughly 960 people ended up being killed. The story is known because two women and their children hid in one of the cisterns and survived.

Upon arriving at the visitor center for the site, we watched a short film before taking the cable car to the top. It is possible to take the Snake Path up instead, which was the path that the Sicarii used. Or one can go around to the other side of the mountain and walk up the siege ramp. I chose the cable car. I wanted to spend as much time as possible actually on the plateau as opposed to getting there. Otherwise, I might have tried the Snake Path.

At the end of the film, the narrator said, “We invite you to climb the mountain.” That got to me. I had watched a TV movie about Masada as a child and have long been fascinated by the story. On the way up, I stood at the front of the cable car with my video camera in hand filming. At the top, the presence of Masada’s prior residents was palpable. I was in awe.

Some parts have been restored and some have been left as they were found. I walked around, took photos and videos, and looked at everything. I stood and stared at the Upper and Lower Palace, the Synagogue, the cisterns, the Roman Army camps, the Bath House, and the ramp, as well as the remains of all of the other buildings.

It was possible to explore much of the remains of the Upper and Lower Palace. They had steps between the levels so getting up and down wasn’t too difficult. The Synagogue still had some of its walls as well as seating. The cisterns were in pretty good shape in addition to a couple of pools. The Bath House had enough of it remaining that I could get a good idea of what it was like when it was in use. Some of the paint was still on the walls. But the parts I found absolutely chilling were the remains of the Roman Army camps down below (roughly 10,000 troops compared to less than a thousand Sicarii) and the ramp. Looking over the wall and down the ramp was memorable and the pile of rocks that were not used against the builders of the ramp was poignant.

Sitting on the rock pile was a bird called a Tristran’s Raven, which is found only in the Dead Sea area and is quite prevalent at Masada. Another unique animal in the Dead Sea area is an Ibex (sort of like an antelope). We encountered several of them in Ein Gedi, where we had lunch. Ein Gedi was where David went to hide from King Saul in order to escape his wrath.

On the way to Masada, we had passed by Qumran, where many of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. But not all of the scrolls were discovered at Qumran. They were found all over the Dead Sea area, including in a small room in the synagogue at Masada.

After lunch, we went to a private beach and waded into the Dead Sea. The water felt very slimy to me. Although I could get it washed off of me pretty well, I thought my suit would never recover.

A few years back, I saw an episode of the television series “Ghost Hunters” in which they were investigating Masada. They captured a very haunting image of what appeared to be a lone, robe-clothed man next to one of the small buildings that had been there at the time and is still intact. Could he have been the “last man standing”?