Masada

Travel Stories - Israël

introduction

I left Jerusalem early this morning from my hostel. I walk to the bus station and take the early bus to Masada near the Dead Sea. This is because I actually want to avoid the many (tour) buses with school children and tourists, if that is possible and in addition the heat.

I can already see the site from afar - on a high plateau that towers above the bare and barren landscape. It seems that Masada means literally “fortress” and that’s what is it, unmistakably. Once there, I see a large tourist complex including possibilities for eating and drinking. I actually decide to go directly to the ruins on the plateau with the cable car.

Within three minutes I stand on top of the plateau and have a breathtaking panorama over the yellow-brown hills on the one hand and the Dead Sea on the other.

The last stronghold

I grab the information leaflets on a bench to read something about this site first. While I take the info of this citadel to me, hordes of Israeli children arrive, for which a visit to this site is the same as a visit for us to the national museum. The site is a symbol of unyielding battle against invaders and has become a myth of the Jewish struggle.

From here I can see the high walls with an inner and outer wall to keep the enemy out. My plan is to walk clockwise on this plateau which is about 600 to 250 meters big and try to avoid the school-kids as much as possible.

History of Masada:

Masada was already fortified in the year 100 BC, but the construction of a real citadel or fortress would start when Herod gave the Great his approval. He saw the potential and provided at some point that the Jews would need a refuge just in case of an uprising or other problems with the current Roman rulers. He not only built bunkers and warehouses but also residences for senior citizens - he probably also saw a future for himself here. It would not come that far.

In the year 66 BC. (Herod had already died at the time), riots broke out between the Romans and Jewish inhabitants - the first revolt was there. A group of Jewish rebels (the zealots) conquered the light-guarded Masada site. After four years, the entire uprising in the country was suppressed and it was time for the Romans to evict Masada from its now grown population of nearly 1000 people including women and children.

They dug in very well and had enough supplies to keep themselves alive for months. Legend has it that the Romans put down no less than eight camps around the rock of Masada. They started with Jewish slave labor and they made a gigantic slope against the mountain to storm the fortress from there. When the Romans brought down the east wall and entered the fortress, the Zealots had set fire to all their houses. They had also committed suicide massively.

In the 4th and 5th century the site was inhabited by Byzantine monks. Then it was abandoned for centuries and only in the 19th century it was rediscovered.

After I have seen some ruins of the houses of officers and parts of warehouses I come to one of Herod the Great palaces that has built here at the top. The building was built on different terraces and even contained a swimming pool. I continue my walk while the sun is now really burning along some foundations where the offices for the administration to the northern viewpoint once stood.

If you look over the edge you will see the dimensions where once one of the Roman camps would have stood. A little further on I see one of the bunkers or casemates that had to ensure that no Roman could come up the hill. There are also remains of various (waiting) towers. Behind it is an old Byzantine church. On the west side you can see, with a little imagination, the Roman slope that was built to take down the Masada walls.

Here also part of the wall is missing, so that the Romans could come in. I now pass the Western Palace and the residences of the Royal Family. It is still quite a bit of walking on a narrow gravel path to the south side of the rock. This turned out to be the weakest link in the whole fort. On my way back to where I want to walk down the path, I pass the water storage and where the ritual bath was.

I have decided to walk down through what they call the "snake path" because it winds down like that. Despite the heat, it takes about half an hour before you are down, walking. The view is really fantastic. I pass the museum and wait for the bus that brings me back to Jerusalem.

tips & advice (2004)

Near the tourist complex at the bottom of the mountain Masada you can take the bus to Jerusalem (north) or Eilat in the south of the country. Bus 444 and 486 drive to Jerusalem. Costs are 42 NIS and the journey takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

There are about 5 buses a day.

Masada

Travel Stories - Israël

introduction

The last stronghold

tips & advice (2004)

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