Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea 20 kilometres east of Arad.
Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE.
The cliff of Masada is, geologically speaking, a horst. As the cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 400 m high, and the cliffs on the west are about 90 m high, the natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult to navigate.
Almost all historical information about Masada comes from the 1st-century Jewish Roman historian Josephus.
Josephus writes that the site was first fortified by Alexander Jannaeus in the first century BCE. Herod the Great captured it in the power struggle that followed the death of his father Antipater. It survived the siege of the last Hasmonean king Antigonus II Mattathias, who ruled with Parthian support.
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