Fortress of Machaerus

It's a strong fortress ruled by Harold Antipas who had beheaded John the Baptist. Prior to 1968, the hilltop of Machaerus, overlooking the Dead Sea near Mount Nebo was an untouched “virgin” site, according to Hungarian archaeologist Gyozo Voros. Speaking at the “Book Launch and Public Lecture Machaerus III” event at American Centre of Oriental Research on Wednesday, Voros said that 50 years of excavation had finally uncovered a mountain of evidence on one of the most important sites in the region. Machaerus is a strategic citadel-fortress protecting Jerusalem on the eastern side of the River Jordan, said Voros. The archaeologist, who is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, has been directing excavations in the Middle East for 25 years now. With this discovery, Voros said that Machaerus, once lost for more than 1,735 years, has become a historical reality. The great magnificent biblical site sits over an area of approximately 5,000 square metres, he added. Accumulated wall-debris above the Herodian floor level is estimated at two metres in height, continued Voros, saying that excavations revealed 10,000 cubic metres of debris. Evidence pointing to the existence of the citadel-fortress existed long before our discovery, the professor said. Hence, the team of researchers have been studying previously unknown Machaerus archaeological materials in several storerooms, including Amman, Madaba, Mount Nebo, Jerusalem and Starkville, Mississippi, in the US, he underlined. Then, the experts began excavating to establish the chronology of the monument’s different phases and the stratigraphy of its archaeological layers, according to Voros. Works were aimed at reconstructing the Machaerus citadel in light of Hasmonean and Herodian architecture in the West Bank, and the archaeological evidence from first century written sources. The Hasmoneans and Herodians were dynasties that ruled the Judean and Edomite kingdoms in the west and east banks of the Jordan River, respectively, around the first and second centuries BCE through the era of Roman conquest in today’s Palestine and Jordan. Combined, the information gathered allows researchers to execute possible anastyloses [a reconstruction technique] of the original building, Voros explained. Afterwards, the team continued with the conservation, consolidation and preservation process of the monument, with a sustainable site management programme, engaging the local community, the professor outlined. “However, the definitive goal of our scientific project is to leave Machaerus for the next generations as an authentic and reliable historical and archaeological place, but most importantly, as a Christian pilgrim site”, Voros highlighted. The idea of the scholars was “to situate the archaeological site in its New Testament context, and reconstruct it as clearly as possible in the light of 21st century historical, architectural and archaeological research”. Josephus (a Philo-Roman Jewish historian 37 AD-100 AD) described Machaerus in detail, while the citadel was first identified by German explorer Ulrich Jasper Seetzen in 1807 and the lower city by the French-Dominican Father Felix-Marie Abel in 1909, Voros said. “We should not forget though that Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land had only been initiated by the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, and by that time, Machaerus was already a deserted [two-and-a-half-century-old] place,” he noted. “It became a destination for the pilgrims only after its 19th century rediscovery, and the archaeological excavations started in 1968,’’ the Hungarian archaeologist underlined.