Machaerus

Machaerus stands on an isolated hill above the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. Josephus describes it as a rocky height ringed by ravines, the one on the west running down to the Dead Sea. The Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus first fortified it, the Roman general Gabinius demolished it, and Herod the Great rebuilt it with walls, corner towers, cisterns and a palace, because it faced the Arabian frontier. The Romans besieged it after the fall of Jerusalem (Josephus, Jewish War 7.164–177).

Under Herod Antipas the fortress lay on the border with the Nabataean kingdom of Aretas (Josephus, Antiquities 18.111–112). Josephus says that John the Baptist was sent there in chains and put to death (Josephus, Antiquities 18.119). The Gospels speak only of “the prison” and do not name the place (Mark 6:17, 27); see the Execution of John the Baptist. The site is the hill beside the village of Mukawir in Jordan, whose name preserves the ancient one and whose setting matches the description in Josephus.