MASSADA
Towering 430 m. above the Dead Sea, Massada (Hebrew for fortress) is a
boat-shaped, craggy mountain. Upon it one of the greatest epics in the history
of mankind was played out.
When the Jewish rebellion erupted in 66 CE, a group of Zealots headed
for Massada. They knew that Herod had built, about 100 years earlier, an
impregnable fortress on its summit which he intended to use as a sanctuary in
the event of Cleopatra or local dissidents trying to usurp his throne.
The Zealots seized it from the Roman garrison and settled into the
sumptuous palaces, hanging villas and rooms within the casemate wall surrounding
its heights. It seemed they could not be dislodged. Herod had built well. There
were giant cisterns hacked within the rock to receive the flood waters
following the rains. There were barracks, defence towers and arsenals.
With the fall of Jerusalem four years later in 70 CE they were joined by
survivors fleeing the capital and some Essenes from Qumran. Their numbers
swelled to 960 men, women and children.
During the next two years they remained the only pocket of resistance in
Palestine, continuing to harass the Romans by using the royal citadel as their
base.
In 72 CE the Roman Governor, Flavius Silva, arrived at the foot of
Massada, with the Tenth Legion, auxiliaries and 10,000 Jewish slaves. He built
a dyke around the base of the mountain and eight siege camps to prevent escape.
On the western side, he later built a ramp of beaten earth, stones and logs.
While he did this, the Jews hurled down boulders and rounded rocks and fired
arrows from their bows. In time the Romans positioned a siege tower on the ramp
and then a battering ram. The year was 73 CE. The siege was approaching its
denouement.
The Romans set fire to the wall, but wind drove the flames into the face
of the attackers. The defenders took heart, but then the wind changed and the
wall burned.
All this has come down to us through the Jewish historian Josephus
Flavius, who recorded the events after he became a turncoat and joined the
Romans. His account of what happened next makes compelling reading, and the
oration of the leader of the defenders, Eleazar Ben Ya'ir, ranks with Henry V's
electrifying summation before Agincourt, and Churchill's galvanizing war-time
speeches. ``Let our wives die before they are abused,'' he implored, ``and our
children before they have tasted of slavery and after we have slain them, let
us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually, and preserve
ourselves in freedom, as an excellent funeral monument for us.''
He then exhorted them to destroy their money and burn the fortress but
to spare their provisions ``for they will be a testimonial when we are dead
that we were not subdued for want of necessaries, but... preferred death before
slavery.''
Josephus' account of the drama notes that after this speech there were some who
balked at the idea of killing their families. Ben Ya'ir again appealed to them.
He reminded them that Jerusalem had fallen and that the great Temple had been
burned. ``Now, who is there that revolves these things in his mind, and yet is
able to bear the sight of the sun?'' he asked. ``Let us die before we become
slaves under our enemies, and let us go out of the world, together with our
children and our wives, in a state of freedom. Let us therefore make haste and
instead of affording them so much pleasure, as they hope for in getting us under
their power, let us leave them an example which shall at once cause their
astonishment at our death and their admiration of our hardiness therein.''
Josephus writes that before Ben Ya'ir had finished they ``all cut him
off short and made haste to do the work...'' They ``gave the longest parting
kisses'' to their wives and children and then slew them. Then they cast lots to
choose 10 men to despatch the remainder. Again they cast lots to select one to
kill the survivors. With this done, the lone Jew ``ran his sword entirely
through himself.''
Details of the mass suicide and the oration were provided later by two
women and five children who hid in the underground caves and lived to tell the
tale.
Massada was excavated by Professor Yigael Yadin for 12 months from 1963
to 1965. The Israeli army and thousands of volunteers from 28 countries came to
help sift the rubble and restore what was found. While discovering much
evidence of those fateful hours, they also determined that the Romans
maintained a garrison on Massada for several decades after its capture. The
last inhabitants were a handful of reclusive 5th-century monks.
Today Massada has become a symbol for men who cherish freedom. The
defiant cry of recruits to the Israel Defence Forces Armoured Unit swearing the
oath of allegiance in an annual ceremony on its summit: ``Massada shall never
fall again!''
Our guided walk on Massada leads you to the principal sites with notes
on what was found.
Most people walking up the Snake Path, named after the winding ascent on the
eastern face, start an hour before dawn to get to the summit in time for the
sunrise over the Mountains of Moab. Later in the day the blistering sun makes
climbing a wearying sweat.
Entrance fee. There are water points on the cliff.
The cablecar whisks you up in no time at all. The last cablecar leaves
the summit at 4 p.m. during the week but at 2 p.m. on Friday. A fee is charged.
Massada is open all the year round (except Yom Kippur) from 7.30 a.m. -
3.30 p.m.
A sound and light show is presented in April - October. It is narrated
in Hebrew on Tuesday and Thursday and in English on Wednesday. In July, the
show starts at 9 p.m., in August at 8 p.m., in September and October at 7 p.m.
The Massada Museum: at the eastern base near the hotel, hostel and
restaurant, includes a model of the fortress and some of the finds from the
summit. It also contains photographic illustrations of the siege and the manner
in which water was channelled to the cisterns. The Museum is open from 8 a.m. -
4 p.m. Admission free.
From here it is possible to join Route No. 1 to En Gedi and Jerusalem
(in reverse).