On our Masada Museum Tour, we will explore one of the favorite museums in Israel. And I think that if you’re touring Masada National Park you must step in and visit the little museum because it is really a short experience. But it’s worth it for sure! In May 2007, the Masada Museum was inaugurated. In fact, it stores about 400 archeological finds from the Masada excavations from 1965-1963 that were uncovered by the Yigal Yadin delegation. I invite you to join me on my Masada Sunrise Tour that I offer! It’s one of the most beautiful tours you can do in Israel.
Masada Museum Tour: The Exhibitions
The archeological finds were excavated at the site by the Hebrew University, headed by Professor Yigal Yadin in the years 1963-1965. When we will visit the museum together it will like we are traveling in time! While the story is narrated to us via an audio guide; according to the sources of the historian Josephus Flavius. We will first meet Josephus our narrator, in the garden of his home in Rome. From this point, the visit to the museum begins. The visit will then continue in various episodes from the reign of King Herod; who built Masada as his winter palace; and the rest of the year as a fortress that dominated the entire Judaean Desert. I speak more in length about King Herod on my Dead Sea & Masada Christian Tour.
The museum will also teach us about the period of the Great Revolt and the archeological finds found in Masada from that period. And the museum ends with the Roman siege of Masada and its fall to the Roman Legion. At the end of the museum, there is an entire room dedicated to the archaeologist Professor Yigal Yadin who dug at Masada. Moreover, among the exhibits you can see huge urns; amphorae, which were used to transport goods from all over the Mediterranean; and with them important economic documents. Some of the 1,500 urns of various sizes; from different periods found on Mount Masada, that were used to store food found in the warehouses in the northern part of Mount Masada.
Masada Museum Tour: A Roman Payslip Was Found At Masada!
Also on our Masada Museum Tour, we will see original columns and capital heads, one of them is decorated with gold! Walls covered by original frescoes; that one of them was taken from the Western Palace after being renovated in Italy. In addition, there are items found from the daily life of the rebels. For example A woman’s make-up tools; a woman’s hair lock; sandals from the Roman uprising; biblical scrolls; and even a unique Roman payslip of a Roman soldier!
In our tour, we will see also a group of 11 ostraca that were exposed by Yadin. According to the form of the writing, the ostracon appears to have been written by one person. Each ostracon has one name written on it. Upon their revelation, Yadin attributed the ostracon to the lasts that were left alive at Masada, as part of the mass suicide that took place in Masada. At least according to Josephus Flavius. I’ve compiled a short itinerary that includes all the cool sites in the area in one day! For my ultimate Dead Sea & Masada itinerary, click here!
