Israel Day 5 - Masada - Part 6 - The Zealots' Last Stand

Accordingly, he [Roman General Flavius Silva] got upon that part of the rock, and ordered the army to bring earth; and when they fell to that work with alacrity, and abundance of them together, the bank was raised, and became solid for two hundred cubits in height. Yet was not this bank thought sufficiently high for the use of the engines that were to be set upon it; but still another elevated work of great stones compacted together was raised upon that bank; this was fifty cubits, both in breadth and height. The other machines that were now got ready were like to those that had been first devised by Vespasian, and afterwards by Titus, for sieges. There was also a tower made of the height of sixty cubits, and all over plated with iron, out of which the Romans threw darts and stones from the engines, and soon made those that fought from the walls of the place to retire, and would not let them lift up their heads above the works. At the same time Silva ordered that great battering ram which he had made to be brought thither, and to be set against the wall, and to make frequent batteries against it, which with some difficulty broke down a part of the wall, and quite overthrew it.

- Josephus Wars Of The Jews Book 7

The breaching point where the Roman ramp reached the fortress wall, allowing a siege tower and ram to be brought close enough to breach the wall.

The Roman Ramp can be seen below the breach and you can use it to ascend to the summit.

After the Romans began to attack the wall, the Zealots built a second wall of wood behind it and packed earth in between to absorb the blows of the ram. The Romans then set that wooden wall on fire. By then it was near nightfall. The Romans left to resume their assault in the morning.

According to Josephus, the defenders, realizing they could not win in the face of such an assault decided to commit suicide, to prevent being massacred and enslaved. With ten of the Zealots being chosen by the drawing lots or ostracons with their names on pottery shards to first kill the rest and then decided again by lots who was to kill themselves in turn with the last one killing himself.

They then chose ten men by lot out of them to slay all the rest; every one of whom laid himself down by his wife and children on the ground, and threw his arms about them, and they offered their necks to the stroke of those who by lot executed that melancholy office; and when these ten had, without fear, slain them all, they made the same rule for casting lots for themselves, that he whose lot it was should first kill the other nine, and after all should kill himself.

In one of the rooms of the northern palace, archaeologist found pottery shards with the names on them, including that of Eleazar Ben Yair, the leader of the Zealots, providing archeological verification of Josephus' story.

Masada's story was retold in 1981 as a TV mini series, the DVDs of which can be purchased on Amazon or you can rent the DVDs from Netflix. Peter O'Toole and Peter Strauss gave truly masterful and epic performances.

The story of Masada continues through the ages of sacrifice, resistance and defiance. It was incredible to walk and explore the fortress.

Israel Day 5 - Masada - Part 5 - Columbarium, Mosiacs and Synagogue

On Masada, there was even a Columbarium for raising doves for both meet and fertilizer on top of the mountain.

Walking past the Columbarium, we saw some Trebuchet stones that likely had been fired by the Romans at Masada.

Herod's northern palace was an amazing three-tiered architectural masterpiece.

Not much of the grandeur remains, but the remains do give a sense of scale. Yet another of the Roman camps can be seen below. Imagine living on the mountain and constantly looking down to see yourself surrounded on all sides by the Roman army.

Looking down into the middle section of the northern palace, Many rooms of the palace at Masada still have mosaics that still survive to this day.

After the Northern palace, we went to the Synagogue.

The Synagogue, oriented towards Jerusalem, is setup in the classic Sephardi style seen in many locations in Israel. The seating area goes around the outside of the room. The center likely held the ark, though the area at the rear of this picture was a storeroom at the time.

One of the oldest synagogues in the world.

The next and last stop at Masada: Where the Zealot's struggle ended.

Israel Day 5 - Masada - Part 4 - Water - The Bathhouse, The Mikvah, and The Cisterns

The Roman Bathhouse is one of the larger buildings on Masada:

The walkway outside the baths still shows its original pattern.

The changing room walls still have some of the original painting in places and some tiles remain on the floor.

Then one enters an arched corridor.

The archway leads to the hot room, complete with a heated floor:

The walls of the hot room themselves have clay pipes behind the plaster for steam to be funnelled throughout the room:

It's an impressive example of Roman engineering and bathhouse design.

In addition to the Roman bathhouse, there's also a Jewish ritual bath, a small Mikveh was located near the water cisterns as the Mikveh requires running water.

Water was brought to Masada by a clever system of hidden aqueducts and cisterns that held 40,000 cubic meters of water.

Israel Day 5 - Masada - Part 3 - The Gatehouse, Commander's Residence, and Storerooms

Masada is a large fortress atop the mountain, featuring the remains of not one, but two palaces built by Herod, as well as storehouses, a Roman bathhouse, a complex water cistern system, and a synagogue.

Arriving at the summit, from the cable car you get out at the northeastern part of the eastern wall.

You see the Snakepath gatehouse first.

Plaster over 2,00 years old remains in quantities to make you imagine how the entire room once appeared.

The black line shows the area of the wall restored after the archeological excavations, below the black line is the structure as found. Masada is in an active earthquake zone and an ancient earthquakes damaged the walls and structures in many areas of the fortress.

There were several watchtowers along the walls.

Next we saw the commandant's residence, complete with walls still painted in their original colors as discovered in the excavation in 1963-1965 by Yigael Yadin and as recounted in his excellent book on the subject.

The residence had multiple large rooms:

An opening in the wall of the commander's residence,that could have been an ancient window, showing one of the Roman Siege Camps below.

The residence also had a small room or alcove with columns supporting the roof:

Not a bad sized residence in return for commanding a fortress in a rather desolate dessert region.

Next we visited the large storerooms

These rooms held food and supplies for the garrison and later the Zealots- Weapons, armor, grains, dates and other foodstuffs filled these rooms.

A date seed excavated from the storerooms on Masada was recently sprouted and created a date tree, of a type long thought to be extinct.

Next stop: The Roman Baths of Masada

Israel Day 5 - Masada - Part 2

As the cable car began its ascent to the fortress, we had an excellent aerial view of the remains of three of the Roman army camps that were constructed around the fortress during the siege, and the remains of the wall they built surrounding the fortress.

These are the best preserved Roman siege and army camp layouts in the world.

As we ascended we could see earlier morning visitors descending via the snake path.

As you get off the cable car the view from the top is stunning.

So, we had reached the top of Masada by cable car and then began to explore this historic fortress.

Israel Day 5: Masada - Part 1

Masada: Herod's desert fortress.

The fortress, originally created by the Hasmonean kings, was completely and impressively comprehensively redone and built by Herod in 37-31 BCE, so much so that original Hasmonean remains of the fort design have not been discovered by archeologists. Located on top of a mountain dominating the terrain in the south it was only accessible via a winding snake path and was indeed a formidable fortress. It was not just a fortress but also a palace, designed as a refuge for Herod should he be subject to a coup or being replaced by the Romans, and having to flee Jerusalem for a place of safety.

Masada's fame lies during the Jewish revolt against Rome when a band of Sicarii, took over the fortress from its Roman garrison and used it as a base for guerilla warfare in the south. Then, numbering about 900, they held off the Romans in their thousands, including notably the Tenth Legion for years, finally succumbing to a prolonged siege and Roman engineering skill. The Romans built an assault ramp up the western side of the mountain so they could bring a siege tower to bear on the walls. The Romans also created a siege wall circumnavigating the mountain.

The Romans breached the walls with the siege tower late one day, and planned to storm the fortress the next morning. The Jews, knowing the end was nigh, decided to commit suicide rather than be captured and enslaved by the Romans. The Jews drew lots as to who would do the killing and the last man killed himself. Only two women and five children were found alive after the siege ended in 74 CE, long after the rest of Judea had been conquered.

At the base of the mountain is a visitors center with a good historical overview and some of the artifacts found on Masada.

Cooking pots:

Stone ware:

Oil lamps:

Bronze coins from the Herodian period:

Slingshot and Ballista balls from the siege:

It was already very hot day, so even as it was 7am, they had closed the snake path to climbers and it was only open to those who descended after going up earlier in the morning.

So, tickets in hand:

We headed up on a cable car to the summit: