Masada, Ein Gedi, and My Sweet 21!

No trip to Israel would be complete without an excursion to Masada. Perched atop the cliffs near the south of the Dead Sea, the ruins of Masada--the great Jewish fortress of the Second Temple Period--have become an iconic symbol of Israeli nationalism. Originally fortified by Herod the Great as a kind of retreat/refuge, Masada was overtaken by the Sicarii (Jewish anti-Roman rebels chased out of Jerusalem by the Romans) in the decades leading to the Great Revolt. It was from Masada that the Sicarii continued to resist the Roman occupation of Israel. Josephus writes that when, in 73 CE (after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem) a Roman legion finally succeeded in breaching the fortifications at Masada, the Sicarii committed mass suicide, preferring to die as free Jews rather than to submit to Roman rule.

...or so the hard-line Zionists would have you believe.

The story of Masada became an important part of the Israeli identity after the remains of the fortress were excavated in the 1950s. For years, the Israeli military (IDF) would swear in new soldiers on the ruined fortress; cries of "Masada shall not fall again!" were an important part of the political rhetoric used to justify Israeli military action.

Masada is an important example of how the "objective" fields of history and archaeology are in fact extremely political. The version of events (above) once endorsed by the State of Israel have come under significant attack by scholars of the Second Temple Period. Many scholars view the Sicarii not so much as an anti-Roman rebel force, but as a terrorist group, responsible for the random murders of Jews and Gentiles alike. The Sicarii were ousted from Jerusalem not by the Romans, but by other Jewish groups who opposed these acts of violence. The Sicarii used Masada as more of a hide-out than a base of operations; their suicide was motivated by cowardice, rather than idealism. Some have even suggested that the insurrection of the Sicarii was one of the main factors which caused the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple.

(Above, I described the two extreme positions... the consensus, if there is one, lies somewhere in the middle.)

We arrived at Masada on Thursday evening and woke up before dawn on Friday to catch the sunrise at the top. First, however, we had to complete the grueling Snake Path, a trail comprised entirely of switchbacks and steep staircases, to get to the top of the cliff. (There is a cable-car that can take visitors to the top, but I was outvoted.) Below are several pictures of our climb, and the spectacular sunrise over the Dead Sea.

The archaeological remains at Masada date variously from the time of Herod up to the Byzantine era. Below are the highlights:

1. A huge, underground water cistern (now dry, of course)--part of the complex water system which made life at Masada possible.

2. A number of original Roman mosaic-floors.

3. The so-called "breaching point," where the Roman legion broke through the walls (now a visitor's lookout).

4. An ancient synagogue.

5. The remains of the Roman camp at the foot of the cliff.

6. A huge complex of storerooms, once filled with enough food and supplies to last for centuries (indeed, the Sicarii lived off the food stores which Herod built up at Masada). The storehouses are adjacent to a small Roman-style bathhouse (not pictured.)

7. One of the two palaces constructed at Masada.

On the way down the Snake Path (which was in many ways more treacherous than the ascent), the fully-risen sun illuminated the beautiful salted rock-formations which stretch from the cliffs to the nearby Dead Sea. At one time, the Dead Sea likely stretched all the way to the cliffs (thus the salty rocks), but the Sea has receded, and continues to recede at an incredible rate... something like 1 meter per year.

We spent the remainder of the day relaxing at the Dead Sea. That night, we stayed at a hostel in Ein Gedi, a nearby oasis turned nature-preserve. Famously, Ein Gedi was the location at which David hid from Saul in 1 Samuel 24. We spent most of Saturday hiking through the park, which contained a number of beautiful waterfalls and swimming holes (first picture below). A longer hike took us to Dudin's Cave (second picture below) at the top of the highest accessible waterfall. By far the best part of Ein Gedi, in my opinion, were the ruins of the Copper Age Canaanite temple. Appropriately, my friend Dana and I reenacted the sacrifice of Isaac on what we thought was the temple altar (third picture below).

Lastly, we saw a number of ibex on our hike, including one in the courtyard of our hostel, pictured below.

The next day, Sunday, was my 21st birthday! Though we postponed major celebrations until the weekend (save for our wine and rugelach party on Tuesday), my friends and I went to dinner at Beit Ticho, the house-turned-museum of a famous Israeli ophthalmologist and his wife, an artist.