Day One - Masada

Traveling without jet lag is grrrrrr-eat!

On our first full day in Israel we had a big agenda. We had rented a car (apparently I missed the "KC wants to rent a car and drive in Israel" conversation) and we had the morning to ourselves while our hosts um, worked. They suggested that we head to Masada, then meet them at the Dead Sea in the afternoon.

Sounded good. So what if I'd never heard of Masada?

Turns out Masada is this fortress on a humongous cliff overlooking the Dead Sea. Strategically placed and so on, but Herod came back from Rome and decided he really needed a phenomenally extravagant palace city of his own.

Logical extension? Build your city in the most inaccessible place imaginable. Seems Herod was thinking along the same lines as Machu Picchu's founders. Thank God for the cable car.

A bit later a group of Jews revolted against their Roman overlords. In retrospect, this seems like one of those classic bad ideas. Predictably, the Romans protested, and came after the Jews with, well, everything they had. A group of Jews retreated to the cliff top town of Masada, where they held out against the Roman army until the Romans managed to build an enormous ramp topped by a siege engine. Rather than be captured, the entire community (men, women, and children) suicided. Apparently this impressed even the Romans.

Literary evidence? Adequate. Traditional history? Abundant. Actual physical evidence? Slim.

This is a recurring theme in our travels here.