The website for the Masada National Park provides the following: “Masada is an ancient fortress in southern Israel’s Judean Desert. It’s on a massive plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. A cable car and a long, winding path climb up to the fortifications, built around 30 B.C. Among the ruins are King Herod’s Palace, which sprawls over 3 rock terraces, and a Roman-style bathhouse with mosaic floors. The Masada Museum has archaeological exhibits and recreations of historical scenes.” While Masada is not explicitly referenced in the Christian Bible, Masada is a fascinating park to see and experience and an excellent example of the building prowess of Herod.Model of Herod’s palace on the mountain at MasadaTop of mountain at MasadaTop of MasadaThe remains of the actual campsites of the Roman legions assaulting Masada form the rectangular site on the right hand site of this photo.
Palace atop Masada and Roman ramp (center of picture) used to assault the Jews.
Wikipedia includes the following: “In 72 CE, the Roman governor of Iudaea, Lucius Flavius Silva, led Roman legionX Fretensis, a number of auxiliary units and Jewish prisoners of war, totaling some 15,000 men and women (of whom an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 were fighting men[15]) to lay siege to the 960 people in Masada. The Roman legion surrounded Masada and built a circumvallation wall, before commencing construction of a siege ramp against the western face of the plateau, moving thousands of tons of stones and beaten earth to do so. Josephus does not record any attempts by the Sicarii to counterattack the besiegers during this process, a significant difference from his accounts of other sieges of the revolt.” Please see Wikipedia “Siege of Masada” for more information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Masada
