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THE DEAD SEA
The Dead Sea is located some 405 m below sea level, making it the lowest place on earth. |
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Because of its high salt content (approx. 25% more than the average sea) no life exists in it. |
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The dropping of its water-level due to the hot climate and the lessening of water flowing in from the Jordan River has caused its length to decrease from 76 km at the beginning of the 20th Century to less than 50 km today. It is 3-15 km wide. The waters and muds of the Dead Sea are helpful in treating skin diseases. Qumran Qumran is one of the world's most ancient monasteries serving the Essence community which came to Qumran in the late second century BC. It is also the place where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls were found, initially in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd. Nearly all the Bibilical manuscripts found over the years are preserved in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.
Masada The rock of Masada rises high above the Dead Sea shore at the edge of the Judean Desert. Its summit can be reached via a "snake path," the climbing of which takes a good hour, or cable car.
Masada is a significant landmark in Jewish history as the place where Herod took refuge in 40 BC to escape from his rival Mathias Antigone,. He returned to fortify it after he was made king by the Romans in 37 BC. The fortification was prompted by fears of attacks from Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. In 6 AD, Masada was made into a Roman garrison, falling to the Sicarii nationalists in 66 AD. Eleazar led the stronghold from 67 to 73 AD. In April of 73 AD, Flavius Silva's 9000 soldiers began their assault on the rock using catapults, rams and other means. Seeing that all was lost, the defenders chose death over slavery to the Romans. In the morning following the assault, the Romans discovered 960 bodies.
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