Category:Machaerus (subject)

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Machaerus (see Places)

History

Machaerus was a fortress on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, originally built by Alexander Jannaeus and later rebuilt by Herod the Great.

The site was chosen by Alexander Jannaeus to protect the Eastern border of the Hasmonean kingdom.

The fortress was demolished by the Roman general Gabinius in 57 BCE.

Herod the Great rebuilt the fortress, which was then inherited by his son Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. It was in Machaerus that John the Baptist was imprisoned and put to death.

Agrippa I took then control of the site. At his death in 44 CE, the fortress came under the direct administration of the Roman governor of Judea.

The Roman garrison abandoned the fortress at the outbreak of the Jewish War in 66 CE. One of the last strongholds of the rebels with Herodium and Masada, Machaerus was reconquered only in 72 CE by the Roman Legio X Fretensis under the command of Lucilius Bassus.

Archaeology

The site was first visited in 1807 by the explorer Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, who noticed the similarity between the Arabic name of the site, Muqawir, and the Greek Machaerus.

In 1936 Giuseppe Ricciotti identified in the jumbled rock heap piled up at the north west base of the fortress, the beginning of the siege ramp (agger).

The first excavation attempt of the fortress was started by Jerry Vardaman in 1968.

In 1973 August Strobel careful surveyed and mapped the Roman siege works with the vallum, the camps and the towers.

The work was resumed in 1978-81 by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum directed by Virgilio Corbo, Stanislao Lofreda and Michele Piccirillo, and continued in 1992-93 by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Machaerus, sources

Josephus, Jewish War

Bel VII 6, 1-4 -- [1] ...after [taking Herodium] [Lucilius Bassus] got together all the soldiery that was there, (which was a large body, but dispersed into several parties,) with the tenth legion, and resolved to make war upon Macherus; for it was highly necessary that this citadel should be demolished, lest it might be a means of drawing away many into a rebellion, by reason of its strength; for the nature of the place was very capable of affording the surest hopes of safety to those that possessed it, as well as delay and fear to those that should attack it; for what was walled in was itself a very rocky hill, elevated to a very great height; which circumstance alone made it very hard to he subdued. It was also so contrived by nature, that it could not be easily ascended; for it is, as it were, ditched about with such valleys on all sides, and to such a depth, that the eye cannot reach their bottoms, and such as are not easily to be passed over, and even such as it is impossible to fill up with earth. For that valley which cuts it on the west extends to threescore furlongs, and did not end till it came to the lake Asphaltitis; on the same side it was also that Macherus had the tallest top of its hill elevated above the rest. But then for the valleys that lay on the north and south sides, although they be not so large as that already described, yet it is in like manner an impracticable thing to think of getting over them; and for the valley that lies on the east side, its depth is found to be no less than a hundred cubits. It extends as far as a mountain that lies over against Macherus, with which it is bounded.

[2] Now when Alexander [Janneus], the king of the Jews, observed the nature of this place, he was the first who built a citadel here, which afterwards was demolished by Gabinius, when he made war against Aristobulus. But when Herod came to be king, he thought the place to be worthy of the utmost regard, and of being built upon in the firmest manner, and this especially because it lay so near to Arabia; for it is seated in a convenient place on that account, and hath a prospect toward that country; he therefore surrounded a large space of ground with walls and towers, and built a city there, out of which city there was a way that led up to the very citadel itself on the top of the mountain; nay, more than this, he built a wall round that top of the hill, and erected towers at the corners, of a hundred and sixty cubits high; in the middle of which place he built a palace, after a magnificent manner, wherein were large and beautiful edifices. He also made a great many reservoirs for the reception of water, that there might be plenty of it ready for all uses, and those in the properest places that were afforded him there. Thus did he, as it were, contend with the nature of the place, that he might exceed its natural strength and security (which yet itself rendered it hard to be taken) by those fortifications which were made by the hands of men. Moreover, he put a large quantity of darts and other machines of war into it, and contrived to get every thing thither that might any way contribute to its inhabitants' security, under the longest siege possible.

[3] Now within this place there grew a sort of rue [10] that deserves our wonder on account of its largeness, for it was no way inferior to any fig tree whatsoever, either in height or in thickness; and the report is, that it had lasted ever since the times of Herod, and would probably have lasted much longer, had it not been cut down by those Jews who took possession of the place afterward. But still in that valley which encompasses the city on the north side there is a certain place called Baaras, which produces a root of the same name with itself [11] its color is like to that of flame, and towards the evenings it sends out a certain ray like lightning. It is not easily taken by such as would do it, but recedes from their hands, nor will yield itself to be taken quietly, until either the urine of a woman, or her menstrual blood, be poured upon it; nay, even then it is certain death to those that touch it, unless any one take and hang the root itself down from his hand, and so carry it away. It may also be taken another way, without danger, which is this: they dig a trench quite round about it, till the hidden part of the root be very small, they then tie a dog to it, and when the dog tries hard to follow him that tied him, this root is easily plucked up, but the dog dies immediately, as if it were instead of the man that would take the plant away; nor after this need any one be afraid of taking it into their hands. Yet, after all this pains in getting, it is only valuable on account of one virtue it hath, that if it be only brought to sick persons, it quickly drives away those called demons, which are no other than the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men that are alive and kill them, unless they can obtain some help against them. Here are also fountains of hot water, that flow out of this place, which have a very different taste one from the other; for some of them are bitter, and others of them are plainly sweet. Here are also many eruptions of cold waters, and this not only in the places that lie lower, and have their fountains near one another, but, what is still more wonderful, here is to be seen a certain cave hard by, whose cavity is not deep, but it is covered over by a rock that is prominent; above this rock there stand up two [hills or] breasts, as it were, but a little distant one from another, the one of which sends out a fountain that is very cold, and the other sends out one that is very hot; which waters, when they are mingled together, compose a most pleasant bath; they are medicinal indeed for other maladies, but especially good for strengthening the nerves. This place has in it also mines of sulfur and alum.

[4] Now when Bassus had taken a full view of this place, he resolved to besiege it, by filling up the valley that lay on the east side; so he fell hard to work, and took great pains to raise his banks as soon as possible, and by that means to render the siege easy...

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities

Ant XVIII 5, 2 -- ...(John the Baptist) was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death...

References

Select Bibliography (articles)

  • Das römische Belagerungswerk um Macharus. Topographische Untersuchungen / A. Strobel / In: ZDPV 90 (1974) 128-184
  • La fortezza di Macheronte. Rapporto preliminare della prima campagna di scavo: 8 settembre - 28 ottobre 1978 / Virgilio Corbo / In: Liber Annuus 28 (1978) 217-238
  • La reggia-fortezza erodiana. Rapporto preliminare alla seconda campagna di scavo: 3 settembre- 20 ottobre 1979 / Virgilio Corbo / Liber Annuus 29 (1979) 315-326.
  • La fortezza di Macheronte (Al-Mishnaqa). Rapporto preliminare alla terza campagna di scavo: 8 settembre - 11 ootobre 1980 / Virgilio Corbo / Liber Annuus 30 (1980) 365-376
  • Le monete della fortezza di Macheronte (El-Mishnaqa) / Michele Piccirillo / Liber Annuus 30 (1980) 403-414.
  • Nuove scoperte alla fortezza di Macheronte. Rapporto preliminare alla quarta campagna di scavo: 7 settembre-10 ottobre 1981 / Virgilio Corbo and Stanislao Loffreda/ Liber Annuus 31 (1981) 257-286

External links

Pictures from the Web

  • Map <www.holylandphotos.org>

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