Masada

The last fortress of the First Jewish Revolt, whose archaeological evidence of the Roman siege and the discovery of scrolls and ostraca has made 'Masada' a symbol of Jewish resistance.

Masada is a flat-topped rock plateau rising about 440 meters above the western shore of the Dead Sea in the Judean desert. The top of the plateau measures roughly 600 meters long and 300 meters wide. On every side, steep cliffs drop away sharply, making it a natural fortress. The name Masada comes from an Aramaic word meaning stronghold or fortress. The site receives almost no rainfall, the summers are brutally hot, and no water source exists on the rock itself, yet people managed to live there for extended periods by cutting enormous cisterns into the cliffs and carrying water up from below.

The first fortress on Masada was built by the Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus or possibly Jonathan in the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE. Herod the Great took control of the site around 37 BCE and transformed it completely over the following years. Herod apparently feared two possible threats: a rebellion by the Jewish population he ruled, and an attack from Cleopatra of Egypt, who wanted Herod's territory. Masada gave him a place where he could retreat if either threat materialized. He invested enormous resources to make it both comfortable and secure.

Herod built two palaces on the plateau. The Northern Palace is the more spectacular of the two. It was built in three tiers down the northern cliff face, one level below the next, each connected by staircases cut into the rock. The lowest tier included a large bathhouse. The walls of the palace rooms were covered in painted plaster imitating marble panels. The floors had black-and-white geometric mosaics. On the western side of the plateau Herod built a larger but less ornate Western Palace, which may have served as the administrative headquarters. He also built a large bathhouse with a caldarium (hot room), tepidarium (warm room), and frigidarium (cold room) in the Roman style, storehouses long enough to hold supplies for years, and a smaller palace building.

The water system Herod's engineers created was remarkable. They cut 12 large cisterns into the northwestern cliff face, each one enormous in capacity, and built a system of channels and dams in the desert below to collect the rare flash flood water that runs off the surrounding hills. Donkeys or slaves carried the water up in jars to fill the cisterns. The total storage capacity was enough to supply a large population for an extended period.

American explorer Edward Robinson first identified the site as ancient Masada in 1838 based on Josephus's descriptions. Various scholars and travelers visited in the following decades. The serious archaeological work came much later. Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin organized a major excavation in 1963 to 1965, one of the largest digs ever conducted in Israel at that time. The project was unusual because Yadin recruited hundreds of volunteers from around the world to help with the work. The volunteers lived on the site in tents and worked in harsh desert conditions.

Yadin's excavations confirmed and went far beyond anything previously known about the site. He uncovered the palaces and documented their painted plaster and mosaic floors. He found the storehouses still partially filled with storage jars. He excavated a synagogue, one of the oldest synagogue structures ever found, with benches along the walls and a small room that may have served as a genizah (a room for storing worn-out sacred texts). Inside this room Yadin found fragments of scrolls including parts of Ezekiel and Deuteronomy.

The most famous and contested finds were the ostraca, small pottery sherds with names written on them in ink. Yadin found eleven ostraca each bearing a single name, including one bearing the name 'ben Ya'ir,' which is similar to the name of Eleazar ben Ya'ir, the leader Josephus names as the commander of the final defenders. Yadin proposed these were the lots used in the final selection of the last ten men to kill the others before the last man killed himself, as Josephus described. This interpretation remains debated among scholars, but the ostraca are real and the names on them are real.

The skeletal remains of 25 individuals were found in a cave on the southern cliff of the site. They included men, women, and children. Their identification as the defenders described by Josephus has also been debated.

Masada today is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Israel's most visited archaeological parks. A cable car runs to the top, and a path called the Snake Path winds up the eastern slope for those who choose to walk. The remains of Herod's palaces, the Roman siege camps, the Roman assault ramp on the western side, and the storehouses are all visible.

• Herod the Great's Northern Palace built in three tiers down the northern cliff face, with painted plaster walls and black-and-white mosaic floors
• Large Roman-style bathhouse with caldarium, tepidarium, and frigidarium preserved to significant height
• Network of 12 enormous water cisterns cut into the cliffs with total storage capacity sufficient for years of occupation
• One of the oldest known synagogue structures with stone benches along the walls and a possible genizah room
• Scroll fragments found in the synagogue including parts of Ezekiel, Deuteronomy, and a copy of Psalms
• Eleven ostraca bearing individual names, one inscribed 'ben Ya'ir,' proposed as the lots used in the final selection before the mass suicide
• Skeletal remains of 25 individuals including men, women, and children found in a southern cliff cave
• Complete Roman siege infrastructure visible on the western slope including the assault ramp and eight Roman siege camps

The direct biblical connection to Masada comes through 1 Samuel 24:22, which mentions that David hid in 'the strongholds of Masada' or 'the strongholds of Engedi' depending on the translation. The Hebrew word used in 1 Samuel 24:22 is 'metsudot,' which means fortresses or strongholds, and some scholars believe the tradition of using this steep rock as a refuge goes back to the time of David. David spent time in the wilderness around the Dead Sea while fleeing from Saul (1 Samuel 23-24), and the geography of the region makes Masada a plausible location among the strongholds he used. Beyond this specific connection, the synagogue at Masada contained fragments of biblical scrolls, including Deuteronomy and parts of Ezekiel. The defenders who held Masada from 70 to 73 CE were Jewish people deeply shaped by biblical tradition. Josephus records that their leader Eleazar ben Ya'ir gave speeches urging his followers to remember what the scriptures taught about the soul's immortality when he tried to convince them to choose death over slavery.