Near the Dead Sea is the ancient fortress of Masada, which was built by Herod the Great. In the 1st century 900 Jewish Zealots held out against 10,000 Roman soldiers for over 7 months.
Although the original inhabitants had to walk up the mountain plateau, today we took a cable car ride to the top.
From the cable car we could see the winding trial up the side of the mountain.
This is a view down the mountain. In the lower left you can see a square camp area, where the Roman army had a camp.
Since the mountain is all rock, all the building materials tended to be made of rock.
Below is some original plaster from the time of construction. Much of the remaining plaster has been lost over the last 2000 years due to the wind and weather.
From the top of the fortress it is possible to look over the Dead Sea. The country of Jordan can be seen in the distance. 
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