Israel-©-MEA-20171101-(PF664)-Historical-Landmarks-Massada
Historical Landmarks in Israel – Massada
Masada (or Metzada in Hebrew, which can mean fortress), is the name given to the once highly-fortified structure which was built on top of a high hill 434 metres above the adjacent Dead Sea between Ein Gedi and Sodom in the Judean Desert south of Jerusalem. Some historians hold that the site was settled at the time of the First Temple (c. 900 BCE), but what is certain is that Masada was made famous by Herod the Great, King of Judaea under the Romans, and reigned between 37 and 4 BCE.
It was his royal citadel, complete with two ornate palaces, with the biggest dropping three levels to a luxurious swimming pool jutting out from the rocks. Masada was protected by heavy walls, defensive towers, and aqueducts that brought water to cisterns holding over 750,000 litres.
Masada became a symbol of Jewish courage and sacrifice, stemming from the ancient kingdom of Israel right up to todays modern State of Israel. In the first century A.D., during the Jewish revolt, Jewish fighters captured and held Masada against the Roman forces, but eventually were defeated by the might of Rome’s Legion, which brutal destroyed this last stronghold of Jewish resistance, but not before the Jewish residents, who, not wanting the ignominy of Roman slavery, took their own lives as a statement to the world, that they would rather die than live in slavery.
Two Mikvah ceremonial pools and one Synagogue are part of the many historical sites that remain in Masada till today.
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