The rock of Masada, located at the eastern edge of the Judean desert, is a place of majestic beauty. With a sheer drop of more than 400 m (1,300 ft) overlooking the Dead Sea, Masada is the most spectacular site in Israel and the scene of one of the most dramatic episodes in the country’s history.
Masada (which derives from a Hebrew word for “fortress”) was first fortified by Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BC), one of the kings of the Hasmonean dynasty. The only written source on the history of Masada comes from Flavius Josephus‘ The Jewish War. Herod the Great captured it during the power struggle which followed the murder of his father, Antipater, in 43 BC. Under the influence of Rome, king Herod the Great built a series of palaces and buildings for himself and planned the fortress as a last refuge in the event of a revolt. Masada’s most impressive structure is his Northern Palace, constructed against the northern cliff face. It was built on three rock terraces, each containing grand rooms and supported by gigantic retaining walls to expand their size.
Model of Masada.
From AD 6, the Romans controlled Masada, but in the summer of AD 66, it became a place of refuge for Jewish rebels during the Great Jewish Revolt. The rebels turned the palaces into their command posts and used them as public buildings. In AD 73, the Roman governor of Judea, Lucius Flavius Silva, headed the Legio X Fretensisand laid siege to Masada. The Romans reached the steep fortress after constructing a huge earthen ramp on its western side. The remains of the Roman siege are the most complete examples of such a siege in the world. The siege ended tragically for the zealots, who decided to commit suicide rather than be captured by the Romans.
Declared a World Heritage Site in 2001, the Masada National Park features a Visitors’ Center, a fascinating interactive museum showcasing archaeological finds unearthed at Masada and a thrilling audio-visual production.
Visitors to Masada will find three ways to reach the fortress; on foot by hiking up the steep “snake path” on the east side, via the siege ramp on the west side or by cable car.
The Masada cableway lifts visitors from well below sea level up to the top of the plateau. The original cable car was constructed in 1971 and later replaced in 1998 by an aerial tramway system.
PORtFOLIO
THE WESTERN PALACE
The entrance to the Western Palace. It was the largest structure in Masada, covering 3,700 square metres and the main ceremonial and administrative building.The entrance to the Western Palace with Hellenistic-style wall painting featuring painted stucco panels imitating the facings of a real wall.Overview of the Western Palace.Mosaic panel featuring a single rosette in the centre of a polychrome mosaic in the bathhouse of the Western Palace.
THE NORTHERN PALACE
Looking down on Herod’s spectacularly situated Northern Palace.View of the three terraces of the Northern Palace. Square staircase towers linked the three levels. Herod designed this palace for personal use.The lower terrace of Herod’s Northern Palace. It was used for receptions and banquets, enclosed on all four sides with porticoes, and included a bathhouse.The magnificent frescoes on the southern part of the lower terrace of Herod’s Northern Palace.Close-up of the corners of the inner row of columns. The artists’ efforts to imitate the marble veins are characteristic of the period.The middle terrace of Herod’s Northern Palace. It was founded on concentric circular walls with an outer diameter of 15.3m. Two rows of columns supported a pointed roof.The upper terrace of Herod’s Northern Palace, where a small courtyard separated the semicircular balcony from mosaic-floored rooms.
THE LARGE BATHHOUSE
Herod’s large bathhouse is located on the north side of the plateau. It was composed of several rooms; cold (frigidarium), warm (tepidarium) and hot baths (caldarium), and a dressing room (apodyterium).North-east corner of the apodyterium (dressing room). The lower parts of the original frescoes have been covered by a tiny bathing pool added later by the Jewish Zealots.A section of the hot room (caldarium) in Herod’s large bathhouse with a double floor suspended over small stones and clay pillars.A reconstructed section of the hot room (caldarium) in Herod’s large bathhouse with clay pipes along the walls that were used to allow the hot air to warm up the side of the pool.
THE COMMANDANT’S RESIDENCE
The Commandant’s Residence consists of several rooms arranged around a central courtyard.Fresco decorating one of the rooms inside the Commandant’s Residence.The Commandant’s Residence consists of several rooms arranged around a central courtyard.
THE STOREROOMS COMPLEX
The storeroom complex is located near the northern side of the hill. The complex included 29 long halls built side by side in long rows. Each storeroom was 27m long and 4m meters wide.The storeroom complex. Each storeroom held a different commodity, including food essentials like olive oil, grains, nuts, seeds and wine (imported from Italy). In addition to food, the storerooms would have held weapons.View of the storeroom complex and the large Bathhouse.
THE OFFICERS BARRACKS
The Officer’s Barracks is located in the centre of the hill.
THE CISTERNS
One of the cisterns was built at the top of Masada to preserve water during times of siege and to supply the king’s swimming pools and baths.Herod had a vast network of 12 cisterns dug out of the stone at the mountain’s base on the northwestern slope, each holding roughly 3,450m3 of water. One of the cisterns was built at the top of Masada. Donkeys would transfer the water to other cisterns on the top of Masada.
THE COLUMBARIUM TOWERS
The circular columbarium with niches for doves and pigeons is located on the south side of Masada.One of the columbarium towers with niches for raising doves and pigeons. Bird droppings were used as agricultural fertilizer. These birds were also used for sending messages and supplying meat to the Masada’s inhabitants.
THE DEFENSE WALLS AND GATES
The defence wall surrounding the mountain top and built by Herod. It was 4m wide and 6m high with 37 towers 25m high every 70-80 metres.The South Gate.
THE ROMAN SIEGE RAMP AND CAMPS
View from the hilltop of Masada of the Roman siege ramp and remnants of Camp E, one of several legionary camps.Remnants of Camp A, one of several legionary camps seen from the hilltop.Remnants of Camp B, one of several legionary camps just outside the circumvallation wall around Masada, seen from the hilltop.Remnants of Camp C, one of several legionary camps just outside the circumvallation wall around Masada, seen from the hilltop.Remnants of Camp D, one of several legionary camps just outside the circumvallation wall around Masada, seen from the hilltop.Remnants of Camp E, one of several legionary camps seen from the hilltop.Remnants of Camp F, one of several legionary camps just outside the circumvallation wall around Masada, seen from the hilltop.Remnants of Camp F, one of several legionary camps just outside the circumvallation wall.Roman catapult stones dating from the First Jewish Revolt.
Driving south from Jerusalem, the landscape is dominated by an artificial cone-shaped mountain on which Herod the Great built the fortress-palace he dedicated to himself. Herodium rises 758 metres above sea level with breathtaking views overlooking the Judean Desert as far as the Dead Sea and the mountains of Moab. It is one of the most important and unique building complexes built by Herod and is considered among the most impressive structures of the ancient world.
The construction of Herodium began around 25 BC on the location of his victory over his Hasmonean and Parthian enemies in 40 BC. To commemorate the event, the King built one of the largest monarchical complexes of the Roman Empire, which served as a residential palace, an administrative centre and a mausoleum. Herod built many magnificent palaces throughout the Land. These palaces included guest rooms, bathhouses, swimming pools, and luxurious gardens, all decorated in the style of the lavish palaces of Rome. It was at Herodium that Herod entertained Marcus Agrippa, the son-in-law of the emperor Augustus, in 15 BC.
Herod planned the site as a complex of palaces consisting of three parts:
1. The fortified mountain palace; The combination of fortress and palace is a uniquely Herodian innovation, which he repeated on several other sites, including Masada.
2. Lower Herodium, combining a magnificent recreation area, a bathhouse, an administrative centre, and a system of structures to serve during the King’s funeral (including the procession way).
3. The slope on the northern part of the hill where Herod built a vast three-story high mausoleum that could be seen from afar.
Reconstruction drawing of Greater Herodium from the time of Herod.
The search for Herod’s tomb was one of Israel’s most significant archaeological quests. The historian Josephus wrote that Herod was buried in Herodium, but archaeologists could not locate the tomb until 2007. Finally, after thirty years of searching at the site, the late Prof. Ehud Netzer of the university’s Institute of Archaeology announced that he had found the tomb of Herod. He discovered the remains of a large tomb and opulent coffins on the northern slope of the mountain facing Jerusalem.
Following Herod’s death, his son and heir, Herod Archelaus, continued to reside at Herodium. After Judea became a Roman province, the site served as a centre for Roman prefects. During the Great Jewish Revolt of AD 66, the Zealots captured the fortress but then handed it over without resistance to the Romans following the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Fifty years later, Herodium was captured again by the rebels during the Bar Kokhva Revolt. As part of their defence measures, they dug tunnels around the cisterns and hid there. During the Byzantine period, Lower Herodium was rebuilt on top of the ruins and constituted a large village with three churches. The settlement appears to have continued until the 9th century AD, after which the site was abandoned.
Today, Herodium is a national park under the management of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. An excellent archaeological site complete with a labyrinth of cool underground caves and tunnels, the Park recently opened a small Visitors Center with a lovely film production about King Herod and his funeral procession.
This post is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Ehud Netzer, who died in October 2010 following a fall while preparing an exhibition of the findings for the Israel Museum. The exhibition “The King’s final journey” finally opened in 2013, showing Herod’s impact on the architectural landscape of the Land of Israel. More than 200 objects found at Herodian sites, including Jerusalem, Jericho, Cypros and Herodium, were exhibited for the first time and the King’s reconstructed burial chamber.
PORtFOLIO
The great colonnaded pool (70x46x3m) at Lower Herodium. The pool held almost 10,000 cubic metres of water and was used as a swimming pool and a water reservoir for the irrigation of the adjacent gardens. Lower Herodium covered an area of some 38 acres.Overview of Lower Herodium from the mountain-palace fortress with the great pool in the middle. To the left of the pool stood the bathhouse, with included an apodyterium (changing room), a large caldarium (hot room) and a frigidarium (cold room). To the right of the pool stood the monumental building, whose function is still unclear.Reconstruction of a part of the round hot room (caldarium) from Herod’s bathhouse at Lower Herodium with remains of frescoes and flues from the walls and a mosaic floor decorated with scrolls. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Model of the mountain palace-fortress in Upper Herodium.Reconstruction drawing of the mountain palace-fortress. The unusual structure served simultaneously as a palace and a fortress.Overview of Upper Herodium surrounded by a double wall and by four towers. The structure’s diameter was 63m while the height was 30m.The round eastern towers and the central courtyard are surrounded on three sides by colonnades with Corinthian capitals.Corinthian capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and volutes.The palace courtyard.Reconstruction drawing of the palace courtyard surrounded by a roofed colonnade whose columns bore Corinthian capitals. Two large exedrae were built on both sides of the courtyard.The reception room (triclinium) on the southwestern side of the palace was used for banquets. During the Jewish revolts, the reception hall was turned into a synagogue and benches were built along its walls.Mosaic floor from Herod’s Palace at Herodium with a rosette at its centre and palmettes and pomegranates in the corners. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Migveh (ritual bath) and weapons foundry from the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-135 AD).The underground tunnel network.One of the largest water cisterns from Herod’s time collected rainwater from the hill’s slopes. The large stones came from Herod’s tomb.The underground tunnel network from the Great Jewish Revolt (66–73 AD).The underground tunnel network from Bar Kokhba’s time (132-135 AD).The Monumental Stairways served the King and his court and any distinguished visitors invited to ascend to the upper complex and later used for Herod’s grand funeral procession. (source)The royal theatre (under scaffolding in 2016), measuring about 12m in diameter with seating for about 400, was located west of Herod’s mausoleum. At the top was a private chamber for the King and his guests. (source)One of the ornate window paintings that adorned the royal room above the theatre. The scene depicts a sea landscape along with a bull, trees, a temple, a palm tree and a boat alluding to the conquest of Egypt by Augustus, 20-15 BC. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.A fragment of a wall painting that decorated the royal room above the theatre. The scene depicts a naval battle which may represent the victory of Octavian at Actium, 20-15 BC. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Location and model of Herod’s tomb built on the slope of the hill. It was three stories high (25m) and would have been visible from Jerusalem.The podium of Herod’s mausoleum is preserved in situ. It was built from hard white limestone, suitable for carving, carried near the site.The model of Herod’s mausoleum. The first storey was a plinth which supported the second square one; above this was a circular tholos, which incorporated an internal chamber surrounded by an Ionic colonnade, topped by a dome. (source)The model of Herod’s mausoleum. The roof was a concave cone crowned by a magnificent Corinthian capital with an urn (imitating cinerary urns) above it, while another six urns surrounded the roof’s edge. (source)Architectural elements from Herod’s mausoleum and his sarcophagus were carved from reddish limestone. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Rosette from the shorter side of Herod’s sarcophagus, which was found in 2007 after 35 years of search. Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Panoramic view from the top of the hill towards the Judean desert and the Dead Sea.
following hadrian photography 