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Masada sunrise, Israel

This is a pic of Zohara and Tal as we look toward the sunrise on 1-1-2000.
Starting on the lower left (just above the girls heads and continuing to the far left)is the mountain top fortress of Masada.

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Masada aerial view, Israel

This is Masada as seen from above. I took the pic while flying in a 4 passenger aircraft. Masada was the site of the last battle between the Jewish Zealots led by Ben-Yair against the legions of Rome (there is a good book called "The Jewish War" written by Josephus Flavius). Rome had taken over virtually all parts of Israel and the religious suppression finally led to a revolt by the Jews. The revolt started in AD60 and continued till AD64 when Masada fell. All parts of Israel were thoroughly suppressed by the year AD62 with only Masada holding out. The fortress itself was originally built by Herod, the "ruler" of Israel, appointed by Rome. Several other sites like Cesearia and Herodium were also built during the time just before the Jewish Revolt. The Zealots took over the mountain from the small garrison force and were surrounded by the Roman 10th and 12th legions. The Zealots numbered less than 1,000 men, women and children, the Romans over 10,000 fighting men. Today there are remains of camps and walls the Romans built to completely surround and isolate the mountain fortress. The Romans for over two years continually attacked the fortress without luck, but finally used Jewish slaves to build an access ramp up the western side of the mountain by which means they could bring siege towers to bear. Finally the Zealots realized they could not hold out any longer and made a hard decision. They chose to end their own lives rather than live in slavery. Names were drawn for those whose task it would be to end the lives of all the men, women and children left alive in the fortress at this time. The next day when the Romans managed to breach the final wall of the fortress they found the bodies of all their opponents slain. Their weapons and stocks of weapons and food left untouched to show the Romans that it was not for lack that they ended their lives. Today Masada stands as a monument to the ability of a small group of people to stand up to much larger entity if you only have hope and ideals.

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Masada water cistern, Israel

This is a pic of one of the water cisterns (the largest) carved out of the bare rock on the mountain top. The whole mountaintop was turned into a water channeling device to collect all the rainfall (a yearly average rainfall of only 80mm or just over 3") into these cisterns. The collection was accomplished by building sloping areas that ran into channels and then by way of these channels into the cistern.
The lower hole you see on the left side is about 10 meters above the floor. Many parts of the cistern are still covered in the plaster used to make it waterproof to retain water better. Others are located at different levels to better take advantage of slopes.
The pic was contributed by my friend Imre.

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Masada restoration work, Israel

This is Jessica and she is working on the restoration of an mosaic floor that was partially destroyed by Chrisitian priests who thought that the designs were against their beliefs. This particular mosaic can be found in the Western Palace.

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Masada bathhouse detail, Israel

This is a detail of the floor and subfloor of the bathhouse. You can see how they piped hot water into the lower part to make a sauna atmoshpere.

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Masada storerooms, Israel

These are some of the storerooms on Masada, partially restored.

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Masada northern palace model, Israel

This is a scale model of the Northern Palace on Masada.

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Masada, end of snake path, Israel

This is the end of the snake path that comes up from the valley floor. It takes about 30-45 minutes to walk up if it is cool outside and if it is hot, you can double that time. If you do walk up, take plenty of water and be ready for sore leg muscles.