Massada

Massada is already an incredible natural site. A vast rock suspended between heaven and earth, from its heights you can dominate the entire region in a single glance. Rising almost 400 metres above ground level on its eastern flank and more than 100 metres to the west, the plateau, carved out by time like a vast table with a rhomboidal outline, stretches 600 metres from north to south and 300 metres from east to west. 

This plateau, swept by winds from the Judean desert towards the Dead Sea and the land of Moab, has survived in a particularly hostile environment, as there is no water. It took all the ingenuity and folly of men to bring water to this isolated site, in order to build a fortress and a palace.

The only ancient author to have left us long descriptions of the site through the centuries is Flavius Josephus, who will be our guide. We'll be supported by archaeology and the resounding work of Yigael Yadin, who pioneered exploration of the site from 1963 to 1965.