Masada · Not One of Them Surrendered

Masada is a fortress on a cliff top above the Dead Sea, which Herod built into a palace complex with cisterns, storehouses and baths all complete.

In 73 AD, with the Roman legions about to break the siege, nearly a thousand Jewish defenders in the fortress chose to kill one another by lot, the last man taking his own life.

Visitors now climb by the Snake Path or by cable car; on the summit the stones still carry the marks of the old lines. The excavators found potsherds in the palace with names written on them — the lots.

Historical Mysteries / Dead Sea · Israel / 73