Israel - Masada
Video Transcript, with Time Stamps
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so Masada is basically two stories that
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very much oppose each other but exist at
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the same place
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first of all there's a story of Herod
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the great and the magnificent fortress
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that he builds here in the middle of the
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Judean desert in the middle of nowhere
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just because he's always afraid that
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someone's going to try and assassinate
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him someone's going to try and kill him
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and take a throne from him and he
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realizes this is a good isolated place
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protected by the fact that it's a big
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cliff
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and he decides all through the years of
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his reign to build
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this place up as a fortress so in case
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of times of trouble he can flee to here
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now it's not the only place he's got
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seven fortresses that he builds in the
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desert alone that doesn't include
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Cesarea which is the plush place that he
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built on the Mediterranean coast uh it
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does include other palaces in the desert
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alone he has seven plush amazing nature
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defying fortresses Masada is the most
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famous of them all you'll see why
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now Herod is the number one fan of the
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roman empire he loves Rome he loves
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roman culture he's fiercely loyal to the
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Romans and that is why they make him
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king over here
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now he's the king over the local
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population here which is the Jews mostly
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and the Jews hate the Romans because the
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Romans have taken away their
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independence
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so they really dislike the fact that
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Herod their king
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loves Rome so much
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and they've sort of irritated at him all
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the time
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that in combination with his paranoia
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makes him walk a very fine line
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constantly between his love for Rome and
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his desire not to be assassinated by the
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local population here that is why he
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builds fortresses that is why he murders
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his wife his sons his son-in-laws lots
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of people around him because he thinks
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they're going to try and take a throw in
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front
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okay so he builds this fortress in order
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to protect his position as king as ruler
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and to protect the position of Rome as
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the owner and governor of this whole
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area
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and he builds it beautifully very plush
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70 years over 70 years after his death
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a bunch of anti-roman Jewish zealots who
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have rebelled against Rome in the great
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rebellion that lasted from 66 to 70 a.d
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culminating in the destruction of the
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temple
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those people that survived that flee to
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the desert in and uh barricade
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themselves here at Masada and in the
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year 7380 we have a major major
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combination of the struggle between the
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Jews and the Romans these are the last 1
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000
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survivors of the Jewish rebellion
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Jerusalem has been destroyed the cities
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of the Galilee have been destroyed the
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temple has been burnt down
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this is the last stronghold of Jewish
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rebellion the Romans sent their legions
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down into the desert lay siege on Masada
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and prepare to bring it down
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the people up here
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use Herod's fortress Herod who built
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this fortress and who loved Rome the
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zealots here use this fortress in order
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to fight Rome okay so we've got two very
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opposing stories I always say if Herod
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knew that in the end this fortress would
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be used against his favorite Romans he
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would have destroyed himself just before
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he died
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and what we're going to see as we go
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through is the dichotomy between these
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two attitudes of life between
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uh the plush
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uh good life that Herod loved living and
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the simple life that the zealots liked
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and the attitude of loving Rome and
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hating Rome that we'll see happening
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here and culminating at the end of what
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happened at Masada
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like we said Herod builds this place in
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preparation for the worst case scenario
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which is a rebellion where he has to
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flee and hide up here until Rome can
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come and bail him out
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so he's preparing for long periods of
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siege which means this place needs to be
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self-sufficient and have everything
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necessary for survival
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how does he accomplish that he builds
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storehouses
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row after world of
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adjacent storehouses long narrow and
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dark inside no windows and they are
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absolutely stuffed full of the types of
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food that can last long term like dates
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like dried fruits like olives grains
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flour
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anything that you can use to make more
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food
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even though he's not really planning to
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live here he needs to know that just in
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case he needs to be here under siege he
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can live in the style of living that
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he's accustomed to so he builds a roman
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bathhouse on Masada as well
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now you may ask what in the world does
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he need a bath house which is
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effectively like a hamam or sauna very
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very hot inside why does he need that in
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the middle of the desert because it's
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plush and Herod loves the flash
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lifestyle even if he's not going to use
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it he needs to be able to say
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I've got
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a bath house at Masada at Masada it's
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like saying today you know I've got a 41
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inch lcd tv screen with a full surround
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sound video system it's basically what
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he's doing here typical of Herod he's
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always got a public section to the
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palace where he can receive dignitaries
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where he can receive Jewish delegations
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who come to complain about him or make
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petitions to him and then he's always
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got a private section to his palace
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which is out of view and is always going
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to be a lot more plush
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completely private and usually nature
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defined unfortunately
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[Music]
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south of Jerusalem is a mountaintop
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fortress about 1400 feet above the dead
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sea
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[Music]
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okay guys
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[Music]
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in order to then place all these many
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little stones these are mosaics they are
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made of millions in some cases of little
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stones different colors or images they
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actually had catalogs of what they could
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do for you and the more intricate it was
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the more you paid
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so
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this is part of the reception.
