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Fascinating Biblical and Biblical Era Archaeology

Khalid Elhassan May 4, 2025 17 min

Archaeology - Ashurbanipal in a chariot, inspecting booty and prisoners from Babylon — Ashurbanipal in a chariot, inspecting booty and prisoners from Babylon. Wikimedia

8. A Biblical King’s Fortress

Model of how Masada would have looked in the days of Herod the Great. Wikimedia

In his history of the Great Jewish Revolt, the Romanized Jewish historian Josephus describes a last stand by a band of Jewish fanatics who holed up in a hilltop fortress known as the Masada. About to get overrun by Roman besiegers, its defenders refused to surrender and instead slew their families, and then themselves.

Built in the first century BC atop on high ground that rises about 1300 feet above the surrounding terrain, Masada is located in the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea’s western shore, about twelve miles from modern Arad in Israel. King Herod the Great of Judea – the one to whom the New Testament’s Massacre of the Innocents at the time of Jesus’ birth is ascribed – enclosed its summit with walls and towers, and built store rooms, intending it to serve as a refuge in case of trouble.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.