on the Snake Path

Enroute to Masada, an ancient ruin overlooking the Dead Sea.
Herod had his Winter palace here, and it has became a popular legendary site among modern Israelis because a group of Sicari (Jewish) rebels committed suicide rather than surrender to the Romans at this site two thousand years ago. Significant archeaologic excavations and discoveries in the 1960's have confirmed the historical record of this incident. Some historians have seen the "Masada myth" as being promoted for political purposes and I think revisionism is always a risk when interpreting history. Such criticism did not minimize the impressiveness of this site for me.