Masada

Masada (Hebrew, “fortress”), ancient ruins on a mountaintop in the desert about 48.3 km (30 mi) south-east of Jerusalem, the scene of the last stand made by the Jewish Zealots in their revolt against Roman rule (ad 66-73). Two fortified palaces were built there in the 1st century bc by the Judaean king Herod the Great. After Herod's death, Masada was occupied by a Roman garrison until the Zealots captured it in ad 66. When Jerusalem was taken by the Romans in 70, the last remaining rebels—about 1,000 men, women, and children—withdrew to the remote mountaintop. Under their leader, Eleazar ben Jair, they withstood a two-year siege by the Roman Tenth Legion, killing themselves rather than surrendering when the besiegers finally captured the fortress in 73. Excavated by the Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin from 1963 to 1965, Masada is both a popular tourist attraction and an Israeli national shrine. The site was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001.