Masada

Masada is one of the most dramatic and evocative archaeological sites in Israel, the ruins of a great palace-fortress built by King Herod atop a sheer, isolated plateau high above the Dead Sea in the Judean Desert. A UNESCO site, it is famous as the place where, according to the ancient historian Josephus, a group of Jewish rebels made a last stand against the Roman legions, a story of resistance that has made it a powerful national symbol, its ruins reached by cable car or a strenuous dawn climb.

History

Josephus, the source of almost everything known about Masada, says it was first fortified by the Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus, though no Hasmonean buildings have been found, and that Herod the Great built a great fortress here between 37 and 31 BC as a refuge, with two palaces, storerooms and a water system. In 66 a group of rebels, the Sicarii, took the fortress from its Roman garrison by a ruse. In 73 or 74 the Roman governor Lucius Flavius Silva besieged it with the Tenth Legion, ringed it with a wall and camps and built an assault ramp against the western face, largely on a natural spur of rock; when the Romans broke in, Josephus writes, the defenders had set the buildings on fire and taken their own lives or killed each other, 960 men, women and children. Edward Robinson and Eli Smith identified the site in 1838, Yigael Yadin excavated it from 1963 to 1965, and the Roman siege works, the best preserved of their kind, are the reason it became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Masada).

What's there

• The clifftop ruins - Herod's palaces, storehouses and synagogue.
• The Roman siege ramp - the great earthen ramp built by the legions.
• The sunrise - the dawn over the Dead Sea from the summit.
• The views - the panorama over the desert and the Dead Sea.

When to go

October to April for bearable temperatures, as the desert is fiercely hot in summer; the dawn climb up the Snake Path to catch the sunrise over the Dead Sea is a classic, avoiding both the heat and the crowds who take the later cable car.

Practical notes

The desert heat is extreme in summer, so the site restricts or closes access in the hottest hours; go in the cool of early morning. The Snake Path climb is steep and strenuous, best done pre-dawn, while the cable car is the easy alternative. The dramatic siege story, while iconic, is debated by historians. The setting and views are magnificent.

Nearby

The Dead Sea, the Ein Gedi oasis and the Judean Desert are alongside.

Key facts