The Restoration in Images

Masada was a fortress and winter palace for King Herod along the eastern shores of the Dead Sea.  The mountain top itself was supposed to be impregnable to outside attack.  The palace was located well down on the Northern face of the mountain which exposed the palace to only early morning and late evening sun, keeping the palace area as cool as possible during the day.

A renegade band of zealot Jews took over the fortress in 66 AD, just before the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD.  In 73 AD, the Roman governor Flavius Silva marched against Masada with the Tenth Legion, and overcame the fortress in 74 AD after the construction of a large earthen ramp.

The fortress as seen from the shores of the Dead Sea

Views from the plateau at the summit.  Note the remains of the Roman camps and walls which encircled the fortress

Ruins on the plateau

Views from inside, and above the fortress

Inside the enormous cisterns which captured rain water for use by the fortress city.

Looking down on the assult ramp.  2000 years of settling and erosion have greatly diminished the ramp, which reached the walls of the fortress at the time of the assault.