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Har El‘azar

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    • TravelerIsrael, Egypt and Jordan
      121
      Day 10

      Masada

      August 28, 2023 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      A visit to Masada this morning. A fortress built originally in about 34bc for King Herod on top of a high steep mountain. About 450 metres high, looking onto the Dead Sea. Get up there by cable car. Famous for an incident in about 72ad involving about 960 Jews escaping the seiging Romans, staked themselves up there for 1000 days. They had plenty of food and water to last them. Eventually Romans built a massive ramp and stormed the fortress. The Jews seeing this coming committed mass suicide rather than face becoming slaves. .... truly spectacularRead more

    • TravelerIsrael 2020
      Day 7

      Madsada Berg

      January 22, 2020 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      Die Felsenfestung Masada liegt im Norden der Wüste Negev, nach anderer Auffassung bereits in den Bergen der Judäischen Wüste. Jährlich besuchen über 800.000 Menschen diesen Tafelberg, der bereits den Hasmonäern als Fluchtburg gedient hatte. Ausgebaut wurde sie zwischen 40 v. Chr. bis 30 v. Chr. von Herodes dem Großen zu einem prächtigen Palast. Nach dessen Tod war Masada einige Jahre römische Garnison. Beim jüdischen Aufstand gegen die römische Besatzung gelang einer Gruppe von Zeloten in einem Überraschungscoup die Einnahme und diente dann bis zu ihrem gemeinsamen Freitod im Jahr 73 n. Chr. als letzter Rückzugsort. Danach war die Festung längere Zeit verlassen. Vom 5. bis 7. Jahrhundert diente das Felsplateau von Masada byzantinischen Mönchen als kleine Klosteranlage. Irgendwann geriet der Ort in Vergessenheit, bis er schließlich 1838 von einem Engländer wiederentdeckt wurde.
      Die Bedeutung von Masada für Israel wird verständlich aus der von dem jüdischen Historiker Flavius Josephus überlieferten Freiheitskampf der Zeloten gegen die Römer. Eine kleine Zahl von 973 jüdischen Zeloten konnte sich hier drei Jahre lang erfolgreich gegen eine zahlenmäßig gewaltige Übermacht behaupten. Als es den Römern endlich gelungen war, eine Bresche in die Mauer Masadas zu schlagen, beschlossen die Rebellen, lieber gemeinsam zu sterben als in die Knechtschaft der Römer zu gelangen. Nach der Gründung des Staates Israel war es einige Jahre lang üblich, Rekruten nach ihrer Grundausbildung hier zu vereidigen.
      Heute noch dient vielen gläubigen Juden die Synagoge auf Masada als Stätte für die Zeremonien der Religionsmündigkeit Bar Mitzwa. Seit dem Jahr 2001 zählt die Festung Masada zum Weltkulturerbe der UNESCO      Read more

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    • TravelerWalking where Jesus walked
      Day 8

      Masada

      May 1, 2023 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

      What an astonishing visit to the ruins of Masada.

      Using a cable car, we reached Herod's magnificent fortress, the site of the Zealots' stand against Rome. And visited well-preserved storehouses, cisterns, and palaces.Read more

    • TravelerHoly Land Pilgrimage
      Day 11

      Masada

      December 16, 2018 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

      Here we got the chance to view a Herodian Fort built on top of a massive mountain called Masada. This was possibly Herod’s Winter palace although he didn’t visit it much. The ruins are still very intact. At one stage in its history it was the fortress for The Jewish people who were fleeing Jerusalem. It became a base of operations for the Jewish resistance force and the Roman’s tried to take it by force. They had to built a massive ramp to sack the fortress. In this palace we saw Herod’s palace, the storage rooms and the bath room. You can even see the ground where the Roman 10th Legion would have set up base when they were laying the fortress to siege. What an awesome place. The pictures really don’t cut it when you have seen it in person.Read more

    • TravelerPilgrimage to Israel
      Day 6

      Traveling up to Masada

      May 12, 2019 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

      King Herod the Great built a lavish palace on Masada’s summit between 37-31 BC with towers and a fortified high wall. He cultivated the desert fortress into an oasis, with Roman bathhouses, cisterns, and storehouses. It was a natural fortress built on top of a barren mountainous desert plateau 1500 feet high. The vertical face of the rock plateau drops 820 feet on the east and 600 feet on the west. We traveled by cable car up to the mountain top fortress of Masada (some hiked up the snake path, instead of using the cable car.)Read more

    • skip's retirement travelIsrael and Palestine
      Day 13

      Masada

      February 14, 2022 in Israel ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Masada is the ancient fortress built by Herod the Great, more than 2,000 years ago. This was his place of safety, located on top of a high geological feature with only difficult access. The site is probably best known for the siege by the Romans at the end of the 1st Jewish-Roman war in 73/4 CE where the last rebels held out.
      My 1st impression was that the fortress is a lot larger than I expected. This is another example of mistaken ideas about what I expected.
      The 1st picture is of the mountain looking up to where Herod built his fortress. This was taken from the cable car that provides easy access to the top.
      The 2nd picture looks back down from the top. Notice the squares. These are Roman army encampments. There were 8 at that time, all connected by a wall that cut off any chance for relief to the rebels.
      The 3rd picture is of the model of the north end of the fortress. The 3 levels constitute Herod's palace.
      The 4th picture looks across the remains of the fortress, giving a sense of scale of the place. This is only half of it, looking south. There isn't any place to see the whole site at once unless you have a drone. The 5th picture looks north from about the same spot to show some of the ruins. Note that the palace in the 3rd picture is beyond what's visible here. If you look closely, you will see in some places a black line painted on the walls. This makes the extent of the ruins before restoration. Everything below the line is original in situ. Everything above the line is reconstructed.
      The last picture is the synagogue of the fortress. It is a well preserved part of the structure.      Read more

    • Rita YeeInto Ancient History
      Day 29

      The Trek to Masada

      February 6, 2019 in Israel ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Back into Israel today, but first 2 quick stops in Jericho: the tree that Zaccharias climbed to see Jesus when he was preaching and a view of the Mount of Temptation where Jesus spent 40 days and nights fasting while the devil tried to tempt him. The tree certainly looks old, and is situated in an area currently in the Russian part of the city.

      Our main site of this morning is the Fortress of Masada which was the last Jewish strong hold in the Judean Desert against the Romans in the 1st century CE. The story has it that after the Romans finally broke through, the Jews decided to commit mass suicide rather than be enslaved, but there is currently no proof to support that theory.

      There are 2 ways up to the fortress, one by cable car and the other to hike (I think there are 2 paths by the way). We were told it was an easy stroll, but I assure you, The Snake Path is not that at all, but rather a steady climb to the top, partly with steps and partly slopes. In the summer, when it is really hot, people are actually not allowed to climb it. But climb it we did, and the temperature was pleasant, and then had about 90 minutes still to explore the main half of the fortress.

      You can easily guide yourself with the brochure they provide, as there really is only one path. From commander quarters to storerooms to the palace carved into the rock face, it really is something to explore. In the distance, you can also see Jordan as well as the Dead Sea.

      Shoppers note: in the visitor's centre, there's an Ahava store. We were given a discount and free gift with purchase voucher. Keep in mind, if you don't spend at least 400 NIS and claim the VAT refund at the airport, you're probably better off to hold off til you go to a regular store in town. One of the best deals our group experienced was in Jaffa where you get 1 product free for every 2 you buy. At the airport when I left, it was buy 3 get 1 free. Some places limit the deal to kits.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Har El‘azar, Har El`azar

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