Masada

Aerial View of the Masada
an aerial view of masada

Masada (in Hebrew: מצדה – metsada means: fortress) is an archaeological site.

Masada is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel. It is on top of an isolated rock plateau. The rock is on the east of the Judaean Desert, and overlooks the Dead Sea.

Herod the Great fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BC, and built palaces for himself on the mountain.

According to Josephus, the Sicarii, a splinter group of the Hebrew Zealots, held out against a Roman legion here. This was the Siege of Masada at the end of the First Jewish–Roman War.