Water Gypsy: Masada

Sunrise yoga on Masada overlooking the Dead Sea

My classmate Dan & I woke up around 4am to beat the heat & catch the sunrise atop the Masada plateau. The plateau rises 400 m above the Dead Sea and is prominent both geographically and historically. With the stars still out I climbed the winding stairs in a dreamy state. We were the first ones atop the plateau and wandered in silence through the ancient ruins as the colors of the sunrise began to shed light on the location.

A little history (According to Roman Historians)* When Herod the Great was named King of Judea by the Romans he was hated by his Jewish subjects and built up the natural fortress as a refuge between 37 and 31 BCE. Herod was a master builder and transformed the fortress to include bath houses, palaces, store houses and cisterns. At the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War in 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels called the Sicarii overcame the Roman military post on Masada (70 years after Herod's death). From a Roman refuge to a Jewish refuge, more Jewish families joined the group at Masada as they fled Jerusalem during the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans. This refuge was brief and in 72 CE the Romans laid siege to Masada. The Roman legion set up camps around the plateau and built a giant siege ramp up to the top of the steep plateau. The Romans finally breached the wall of the fortress - only to discover silence..... The Jewish rebels (around 900) had decided to burn the fortress and end their own lives before they were taken alive and made slaves by the Roman legion.

Because of this story, for many people Masada today represents the determination of the Jewish people against oppression. A visit to the site has become something of a rite of passage for Jewish people and some Israeli Military even conduct their swearing-in ceremonies atop the fortress with an oath of 'Masada shall not fall again'.

Due to the site's remoteness and desert climate it remained untouched for more than thirteen centuries until it was rediscovered in 1828! It wasn't until the 1960's that the site had a thorough excavation and the fortress was preserved.

Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1040

The top of the plateau was absolutely breathtaking as we watched the sunrise over the Dead Sea. It was amazing to walk through the old entranceways and gaze down into the deep cisterns where they stored water for hundreds of people in the middle of a desert. It was also interesting to reflect on the site as being so culturally significant to the Jewish people - and in many ways the Masada attitude of 'they'll never take us alive' seems to play into the hearts of many today, I suppose for better or for worse.