Science #WhoaScience

Dear Mr. President, You Really Should Have Gone To Visit Masada

, historian, digital humanist and baseball fan Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Reports came last week that President Donald Trump would avoid visiting the ancient site of Masada in the Judaean desert during his trip to the Middle East because his helicopter was not allowed to land on the sacred ground there. Here is why the site is important and why President Trump should have walked or taken the cable car to the top--just like everyone else.

A picture taken on May 16, 2017 shows a funicular on its way to the top of the ancient hilltop fortress of Masada in the Judean desert, overlooking the Dead Sea.Masada was the mountain fortress constructed by King Herod that was occupied by Jewish rebels after the Jewish revolt in the first century. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

The site of Masada overlooks the Dead Sea and remains an important site for the Jewish people even today. I spoke with Bob Cargill, an archaeologist and co-host of CNN's Finding Jesus, about the significance of the site and what President Trump missed out on by avoiding it.

High up on a desert hilltop, the site was coveted by rulers and resistance leaders alike. As Cargill noted to me, "The site has a long history. It is a natural plateau at the southwestern end of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on the face of the earth at 430.5 meters (1,412 ft) below sea level. The top of Masada is 30-60 feet above sea level. Thus, it is an imposing natural fortress. There are two ways to ascend the site. The first is the Snake Path, an arduous, serpentine path up the side of the mountain. The second is a spectacular gondola, which ascends 290 meters up the mountain using an amazing 900 meters of cable."

Pelagios Commons

Map of the site of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. Map via Pelagios Commons' Peripleo project.

In the late 40s BCE, Herod the Great had begun to strengthen his power in the area. The Jewish historian Josephus noted in his history of the Jewish War and his history of the Jewish people that the site of Masada was already viewed as a stronghold at that time. The Hasmonean ruler Jonathan Apphus had earlier built up the fortress there in the second century BCE and gave the area its name. While Herod went to Rome in 40 BCE, the ruler kept his family and many supporters there, and would build up and fortify his palace there greatly after it was attacked by the Hasmoneans.

Cargill emphasizes how Herod used the site, "The ever paranoid Herod the Great carved a magnificent 3-tiered fortress into the northern end of the mountain, which included a veranda and pool. He supplied it with dozens of massive granaries, storage facilities that allowed him and his attendants enough food to last for years if the mountain were put ender siege."

Bob Cargill

Roslyn Cargill in Herod's Masada Palace.

During the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-74 CE), the site was occupied by a group of holdouts called the Sicarii. Perhaps 1,000 of these holdouts, as well as refugee women and children from Qumran and Jerusalem, lived atop Masada when Roman soldiers besieged it in 73 CE. Cargill notes the elements of the site that allowed the group to survive for so long against the Romans: "At the center of the plateau, which is sloped from north to south, lies a massive cistern carved down into the mountain. While it rains very little in the Judean desert, it does experience flash floods. The top of Masada is so large that crops were grown in the mountain's center and the water of a single flash flood could be channeled to the cistern, providing enough water for a year. Thus, Masada was the ultimate natural fortress not only because of its impregnable height, but because those inside could survive atop Masada indefinitely as long as it rained once a year." 

The Romans allegedly created a ramp in order to breach the defensive walls. Once this was done, it took only about a day for Roman troops to get over both the first and then second fortification walls. According to Josephus, a decision was made among the holdouts at Masada to sacrifice themselves rather than succumb to the Romans and become their slaves. The leader Eleazar b. Yair told them, "Let us-die before we become slaves under our enemies: and let us go out of the world, together with our children, and our wives, in a state of freedom." Although the account has been questioned, skeletons have been found on site which support Josephus' historical tale. 

As Cargill notes, "Masada is the Jewish symbol for resistance and perseverance against foreign oppression. Israeli soldiers complete their training and are sworn in to the military atop Masada as a reminder of the Jews who came before them who were willing to give their lives for their people." The sacred nature of the site, which is now a UNESCO world heritage center, means that helicopters are not allowed upon it. Trump's decision to avoid the site altogether rather than travel with the thousands of other visitors who undertake the trek up to the fortress means he missed out on an important part of Israeli identity. It also means that he once again avoided the lesson that sometimes it is the arduous journey that helps us to appreciate and then better understand the significance of a site. 

Image and caption via Wikimedia

Aerial view of Masada (Hebrew מצדה), in the Judaean Desert (Hebrew: מִדְבַּר יְהוּדָה‎, Arabic: صحراء يهودا), with the Dead Sea in the distance.


Sarah E. Bond is an Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Iowa. For more on ancient and medieval history, follow her @SarahEBond.