Masada 15 Oct 2019 – 15 Oct 2019

In 66 AD the Sicarii, an extremist Jewish splinter group, overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, additional members of the Sicarii fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop. In 73 AD, the Roman governor of Iudaea (Latin form of Judea) , Lucius Flavius Silva, headed the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to Masada. The Roman legion surrounded Masada, built a circumvallation wall and then a siege ramp against the western face of the plateau.According to Josephus, when Roman troops entered the fortress, they discovered that its defendants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide or killed each other, 960 men, women, and children in total
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Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the…
The cliff of Masada is, geologically speaking, a horst. As the plateau abruptly ends in cliffs steeply falling about 400 m (1,300 ft) to the east and about 90 m…
Masada was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. In 2007, the Masada Museum in Memory of Yigael Yadin opened at the site, in which archeological…
Masada Museum from the cable car . The cable passes above one of the eight Roman camps that surrounded Massada during the siege. A dyke wall stretches to both…
Further up - notice the path - known as the "Snake Trail" You can again see camp ("A", 55M x 54M) is located inside the dyke. A larger rectangular camp ("B")…
The Snake Trail leaves from the eastern side at the Masada Museum and gains around 300 m (980 ft) in elevation. Hikers frequently start an hour before sunrise,…
Cable car platform and entrance to the site
Dark spots - a little rain
Mount of Olives
Dead Sea Road