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Caption: Middle East Adventures ~ Episode 3 ~
Dead Sea & Masada
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Caption: 8 AM the previous day I swam in the Red Sea.
8 AM today....
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Caption: The Dead Sea Safest Sea in the World
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Caption: I've never been a good swimmer. And big bodies of water always freak me out a bit.
But I can get used to this...
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Caption: That voice you hear is Douglas Pereira, our intrepid trip planner/pastor/driver and friend. Forever grateful for his sacrificial leadership.
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Caption: The Dead Sea is 1400 ft BELOW sea level. It has no outlet. .
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Caption: So it traps salts and minerals...
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Caption: ...and makes this boy buoyant.
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Caption: It's a beautiful Sea up close...
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Caption: And from a distance as well.
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Caption: Masada The Jews Last Stand
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Caption: Masada (Hebrew for fortress) is a place of gaunt and majestic beauty that has become one of the Jewish people's greatest symbols as the place where the last Jewish stronghold against Roman invasion stood.
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Historical references from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/masada-desert-fortress
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Caption: Herod the Great built Masada between 37 and 31 BC. It included a casemate wall around the plateau, storehouses, large cisterns ingeniously filled with rainwater, palaces and an armoury.
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Caption: Alison and I chose to hike up the Snake Path. It winds its way up 400 meters from the lowest place on earth, to the peak.
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Caption: We took our time to catch our breath...
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Caption: And enjoy the view
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Caption: After about an hour....
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Caption: We reached the top!
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Caption: Note the black line on the rock. Below is original wall, above is rebuilding efforts
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Caption: How the walls would have been surfaced in their original state.
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Caption: Romans occupied Masada until Jewish rebels captured it in the Revolt of the Jews in 66 AD
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Caption: More Zealots and Jewish rebels joined them after Jerusalem fell in 70 AD
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Caption: The Romans built a ramp, rampart and battering ram up this western hill....
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Caption: And in the spring of 74 AD used it to breach the western wall
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Caption: Rather than surrender their freedom, Elazar ben Yair, the Zealots’ leader, decided all the defenders (1000 men, women & kids) should commit suicide.
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Caption: The Zealots cast lots to choose 10 men to kill everyone else. One man was chosen to kill the remaining 9... and himself.
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Caption: To many, Masada symbolizes the determination of the Jewish people to be free in their own land.
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Caption: The trip down was much easier.
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Caption: Stay tuned, Qumran caves up next!