Masada (UNESCO World Heritage List, no. 1040)
The official description of Masada as a World Heritage property, inscribed in 2001. It records what stands on the site today, including the Roman camps, siege wall and assault ramp around the rock.
Read the text at whc.unesco.org ↗Internet Archive copy of the same page, for readers whom the site’s access check turns away ↗
Masada was entered on the World Heritage List in 2001. The entry, written for the purposes of the listing, describes the palaces of Herod on the summit and states that the Roman camps, fortifications and attack ramp that encircle the rock survive, calling them the most complete Roman siege works known. It says that the site lay untouched for some thirteen centuries after a Byzantine monastic settlement ended, was rediscovered in 1828, and was uncovered in the 1960s.
The entry is cited in this wiki for the present state of the monument. Its historical summary follows Josephus and gives the year of the fall as AD 73 without discussion; for the date and for what the excavations found, see the Fall of Masada.
Cited in
- AD 73 or 74, estimated date