Magnificent Masada
Today I visited Masada which was a palace-come-fortress-come-holiday residence for King Herod the Great. I was impressed by the engineering, building and complex cistern development and water storage systems. Masada, however, was abandoned about the time of Christ. Just prior to the destruction of the temple by Romans in 70 AD, a group of Zealots moved into Masada as refugees.They lived there safely for 4 years, after which time the Romans conquered it.
On the east side, the rock falls in a sheer drop of about 450 meters to the Dead Sea and on the western edge it stands about 100 meters above the surrounding terrain.
The local story is that when the Romans entered the city the Zealots had already killed themselves except for a couple of women and children who were hiding in the water cisterns.
A sad story that makes me think about the good and evil in our world.
I walked down the mountain and there were glorious views of the Dead Sea and of the sandy desert.
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