A visit to King Herod’s palace

This Wiki image gives you some idea of how spectacular it is.

Masada is a place of legend – and a place I had always wanted to visit – and on my recent trip to Israel, I did.

It was spectacular in so many ways – it’s really hard to know where to start. There’s history and geology and tragedy and Peter O’Toole…

I guess it starts with this amazing free standing rock plateau on the edge of the Judean Desert – overlooking the Dead Sea.

It looks high – but in some ways it’s not… the top is just 33 meters above sea level … of course the base is more than 200 meters BELOW sea level… (the Dead Sea is just a stone’s throw away).

It was the obvious place to build a fortress – but it has been captured more than once – so was probably not as good a fortress as it might initially seem.

The cable car is certainly easier than taking the walking track - but neither are for the faint hearted — The cable car is certainly easier than taking the walking track – but neither are for the faint hearted

King Herod the Great built palaces there, to host great feasts and, if the tour guides are to be believed, occasionally push an enemy off the top.

The ruins give just a hint of how magnificent it must have been in Herod's day. — The ruins give just a hint of how magnificent it must have been in Herod’s day.

Some of Herod's décor has survived - thanks to the dry air here — Some of Herod’s décor has survived – thanks to the dry air here

Some years after Herod, Jewish rebels fleeing their Roman overlords set up on the mountaintop. The battle to remove them is the stuff of legends. The Roman governor Lucius Flavius Silva took the tenth legion to Masada to remove the Jews. It wasn’t that easy and took months, rather than the few days they predicted.

From the walls of the fortress, you can clearly see the remains of the Roman camps below. I wonder how the besieged fighters felt looking down day after day at their enemies.

To get to the mountaintop, the Romans had to build a massive stone and dirt ramp against the western wall – then make a huge siege tower which was pushed/hauled up that ramp to breach the walls.

The remains of the ramp are still there - and that mound at the bottom is the burial place of some skeletons found in the ruins - believed to be the defenders. — The remains of the ramp are still there – and that mound at the bottom is the burial place of some skeletons found in the ruins – believed to be the defenders.

According to history (or legend), when the Romans entered Masada – all the defenders and their families had committed suicide rather than become slaves to the Romans.

The legend was made into a film with Peter O'Toole - which strangely enough is used at the visitor centre to illustrate the 'real' history — The legend was made into a film with Peter O’Toole – which strangely enough is used at the visitor centre to illustrate the ‘real’ history

Archaeologists do dispute some of the ‘facts’ of the siege of Masada… but it adds a great atmosphere to the ruins. At one point our guide insisted we were standing at the very place where the last Jewish defender killed himself…

Maybe… maybe not. But the ruins of Masada have a special poignancy – although coming back down of the mountain does bring one back to earth with a thud.