Machaerus
City housing the fortress of Herod Antipas. Today Mukawir - El-Mekawar.
The fortress of Herod Antipas
The fortress of Machaerus is located 10 km east of the Dead Sea, near hot Water springs. It was built around 90 BC by Alexander Jannaeus, king of Judea and high priest of Israel. He was the grandson of Simon Maccabeus, the founder of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty.
Fortress, rebuilt by Herod the Great near hot springs.
This dynasty was established following the Maccabean Revolt Against Antiochus Epiphanes, descendant of the Greek Seleucid dynasty. This revolt is reported in the Book of the Maccabees or Book of the martyrs of Israel.
In 57 BC, the fortress of Machaerus was destroyed by Aulus Gabinius, a general of Pompey who intervened in the succession War between two sons of Alexander Jannaeus: Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus, a War won by the former over the latter.
In 30 BC, the fortress was rebuilt. It passed by inheritance to Herod Antipas who seems to have appreciated it for the shores of the Dead Sea in the hot season.
The imprisonment and death of the Baptist
John the Baptist was imprisoned there for the first time[1]. He escaped after the guards were bribed, against a large ransom in which Aglae participated by the donation of jewelry.
He was captured a second time following the betrayal of one of his Disciples. He died beheaded during the birthday of Herod Antipas. The vindictiveness of Herodias and the sensuality of the princess Salome quickly overcame the lust and cowardice of Herod Antipas who nevertheless liked to listen to the Baptist[2].
His imprisonment and death are reported by Flavius Josephus[3], but the circumstances of his death, as reported by the Gospel[4], are confirmed by Maria Valtorta:
Manaen, Herod Antipas's foster brother and disciple of the Baptist, introduced three other Disciples of the Baptist as servants in the fortress: they could watch over their master. These Disciples are John, Matthias and Simeon. The Gospel makes reference to their presence.[5] The details specific to the dialogue between Herodias and her daughter Salome come from Saltma, Herodias's maid who, frightened, recounts the sequence of the scene.
Note that Maria Valtorta does not report the scene itself, but what the witnesses report, because she only records what she sees.
Where is it discussed in the work?
EMV 47
EMV 198
EMV 266 EMV 269 EMV 270
EMV 498 EMV 499
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Salton Daniel-Rops:Machaerus is today a field of ruins in this moorland-like plain of Moab which, to the east, extends infinitely towards the Arabian desert, but towards the west, falls steeply into the ravine where the cursed sea sleeps. Of the city that once stood there, thanks to a caravan trade, nothing remains but a roadway of scattered stones, remnants of houses. But on the nearby, conical, inaccessible hill, many remains of the fortress where the Forerunner was destined to end his days can still be seen. The citadel, at the highest point, was one hundred meters in diameter and overlooked the rest of the buildings by at least one hundred fifty meters.[6].
Edmond Stapfer describes the imposing basalt rocks and reconstructs what must have been the height of its walls.[7]
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Notes and references
- ↑ EMV 47.
- ↑ EMV 270.
- ↑ Jewish Antiquities, 18.5.2.
- ↑ Mark 16:16-29.
- ↑ Mark 16:29.
- ↑ Daniel-Rops, Jesus in His Time, p. 208.
- ↑ Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ.