Masada

We went to Masada this morning. King Herod was responsible for building the palace but it was abandoned and later inhabited by the Essenes- a zealot group of Jews. They were being chased by the Roman army when they discovered the abandoned palace n 66 AD. The Essenes held fast n the fortress for 2 yrs at which time the Roman army built a ramp up the eastern side of the palace and penetrated the palace. The Essenes refused to become slaves for the Romans so instead of being captured they all committed suicide- men women and children.

We also went to eat some fantastic traditional middle eastern food afterwards. They dressed some of us up and placed us n a tent!