Contextualising

Palm Tree farms in the Judean and Samarian deserts

After a couple of weeks of getting acquainted with the city, our daily routines, and the breadth of options available to us, we—most things are definitively group activities—have had the time to reach further afield and explore Israel a bit.

Last weekend we drove in two cars to Eilat (Elat) on the Red Sea for some beach time and amazing snorkeling. When trying to picture Eilat think 'boardwalk on the Jersey Shore' and you'll be close. The beach is a crazy scene, tons of folks on a narrow band of sand and rocks fronting on crystalline waters. And trash. Lots of trash. I realised at this point how spoiled I am in such things.

Liz, Jesse, Sarah on the beach of the Red Sea

Eilat child vom scene at the Red Sea

 

Thai Food massages

 

Eilat hostel interior courtyard

On the way down and back we also stopped at the Dead Sea... that would be the water body which: has a salt content of 25% (and increasing, due to evaporation), you should not put your head under (or you'll need to call for emergency help), and that buoys you up with almost zero paddling assistance from you. Nutty. Huge crusts of crystalline salt line the shore and you must slip across them when entering the water at certain points.

Dead Sea

Dead Sea mud treatment

The cornerstone to this weekend trip, however, was a trip to Masada. We hiked up to the top of the mesa very early in the morning in order to be on top in time to see the sun rise over the Dead Sea.

Masada, aerial view

Tristram's grackles overlooking the Judean desert at Masada

North, hanging palace of Masada

The story of Masada is an amazing one dating back to 37 BC, with both Alexander Jannaeus and then Herod building this palace and city atop the mesa, training mules to go down to the valley unaccompanied where they were laden with food by farmers and then sent back up to the town. The Jewish Sicari rebels then took the town before the Roman breaching of the walls of Masada.










The Romans somehow* built a 375 foot siege road—a giant ramp almost as tall as the mesa—where upon breaching the fort walls they found the populace had all killed themselves in order to avoid the dishonor of being ruled or killed by the Romans. Then it was taken by Jewish Rebels in 66 AD, retaken by Romans, and eventually abandoned.

Mosaic at Masada in the small palace

It is an amazing place to really get a sense of that history. It is also the most visited archeological site in Israel.

Sunrise over Masada and the Dead Sea

* Originally, Jewish rebels on top of Masada threw stones at those building and constructing the ramp. When this plan was realized, the Romans put captured Jewish prisoners from previously conquered towns to work the ramp. The Jewish people on top of Masada stopped killing those who built the ramp, choosing not to kill their fellow Jews, even though they understood this might result in the Romans penetrating the fortress. The walls of the fortress were breached in 73 CE According to Josephus, when Roman troops entered the fortress, they discovered that its 960 inhabitants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide or killed each other. Josephus wrote of two stirring speeches that the Sicari leader had made to convince his fellows to kill themselves. Only two women and five children were found alive. Josephus presumably based his narration upon the field commentaries of the Roman commanders that were accessible to him. There are significant discrepancies between archaeological findings, and Josephus' writings. Josephus mentions only one of the two palaces that have been excavated, refers only to one fire, while many buildings show fire damage, and claims that 960 people were killed, while the remains of only 28 bodies have been found.