The next
stop was the fortress of Masada where after Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD by
the Roman army 900 Jews sought refuge at the top of a hill. King Herod built
the palaces at Masada. Unfortunately the Romans wanted to clean up any last
resistance in Israel. The Romans turned to Masada. Firstly, the Romans tried to
besiege the inhabitants of Masada . The inhabitants of
Masada had at least 4 years of water and great stores of food. Being inpatient
with the Masada inhabitant, the Romans used slaves to Israeli slaves to build a
earth ramp on the West side of Masada to reach the Jews held up in Masada. After
9 months the ramp was completed and Roman soldiers were able to reach the Jews
in Masada. Instead of being tortured and killed by Roman soldiers the Masada Jews
chose to die by their own hand. Only two woman and 5 children escaped. The two
woman reported what happened. The Jews chose to die free rather than die as a
conquered people.
We had
lunch at Masada, another local Kebab. After lunch we headed for swim and mud
pack at the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea water
was very salty and felt oily. The black mud was smooth and fun to apply. I’m
sure my body is at least 10 years younger.
On the
way back to the Hotel we visited the city of Jericho. In Jericho we stopped at
the Jericho Tell. (A tell is where a city is buried.) From the tell we visited a glass shop. All
the glass in the shop was hand blown. I did purchase some Sycamore tree nuts.
The nuts look a bit like pistachios and
taste like sweet biscuits.
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| View of Jerusalem from our Hotel Window |
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| Dead Sea Scrolls Storage Jars |
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| The Essenes Village where the scribes copied the scrolls |
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| Caves where the scrolls were found |
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| The surrounding landscape |
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| Water Cistern |
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| Remains of buildings |
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| Caves where scrolls were found |
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| View of the Dead Sea |
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| Entry to Masada |
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| Too hot to walk, trip to top by cable car |
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| Ruins at Masada |
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| A Scroll at Masada |
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| Ruins of Herod's Palace |
