Sebastian Kheml
DSMB25 Archaeology of the Holy Land: New Studies and Discoveries in Roman Judaea
2020/2021
A Byzantine Monastery at Mount Masada
Introduction
Mount Masada is an important historical site for Roman and Israeli history. It is located on the
edge of the Judean Desert on the Western shore of the Dead Sea. The evidence of a human
presence beginning with the Chalcolithic period1, the main occupation is dated to the late
Second Temple period. The topic of the essay is the exploration of the last settlement at
Masada during the Byzantine period, when a small Christian monastery occupied the site (5 th
– 7th century AD).
The text will be divided into three sections. Firstly, we will look at some reasons why ascetic
monks decided to reoccupy the former fortress in the desert. The second part will be dedicated
to archaeological findings connected to the monks’ settlement. The last part is focused on the
Byzantine literary accounts of Masada and the interpretation of it in the context of the
hagiographical literary tradition.
The life of desert-dwelling ascetic monks
Christian monasticism started as an independent movement of the so-called Desert Fathers in
Egypt in the second half of the 3rd century. Anthony the Great is generally accepted as a
founder of this way of life and since then he has had a great number of followers. After the
Council of Chalcedon in the year 451, monastic organizations became universally
acknowledged within the Christian Church (and special legislation was created for them).
What was the motivation of these people to leave the advantages and safety of urban area and
to spend often the rest of their lives in a desert wilderness?
The simplest answer is a spiritual one. Subsequently, it is important to mention ideological
connotations to the desert ascetic life. The word ‘monk’ itself is derived from the Greek
adjective ‘monachos’ meaning the single/lonely one. One of the main ideas behind the desert
life in solitude was “the paradisal experience of an entirely non-technical life” 2. Only in the
desert could a believer practice quietness, overcome all the temptations of an ordinary life
“and finally return to human society as a spiritual guide”3. They spent their time in prayers or
simple and repetitive handicrafts, such as basket weaving or rope making 4. There are four
1
COLLINS, John J. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East, p. 428.
2
COSTACHE, Doru. John Moschus on asceticism and the environment, p. 27.
3
BRAKKE, David. Demons and the making of the monk: spiritual combat in early Christianity, p. 15.
4
HIRSHFELD, Yizhar. The monastery of Marda: Masada in the Byzantine period, p. 151.
1
basic ways ascetic monks organized themselves in late antiquity: coenobium (the communal
monastery), laura (the eremitical monastery), skete (the semi-communal/semi-eremitical
monastery) and eremitical solitude.
The boom of the monastery movement in late antiquity Israel (that time known as the
Byzantine province Palaestina Prima) started with Hilarion the Great (291-371)5, the main
role is attributed to Euthymius the Great (377-473) and Sabbas the Sanctified (439-532) who
founded many lauras around the Judaean Desert. The monastery of Masada (in Byzantine
time known as Marda, meaning ‘fortress’ in Aramaic) is one of a few monasteries built within
the ruins of fortresses of the Second Temple period in the Judean Desert. “Remains of
monastic dwellings were found in six of the eight fortresses: Masada, Ilyr 'ania , Dok-Dagon,
Herodium, Cypros and Nuseib el-' Aweishireh.”6
Why were the remains of abandoned desert fortresses such attractive locations to monks?
There is more than one plausible reason. The abandoned fortresses used to be connected to a
previous infrastructure (paths, roads etc.) but usually in remote locations (mountain peaks).
That satisfied the demand of isolation for the monks but connection was possible if needed. It
also took less effort to reconstruct parts of previous buildings (for example water supply) or to
use building material to create a new one. Finally, abandoned places with uncertain historical
background were sometimes seen by monks as haunted by evil spirits and thus had to be
purified by their presence and hard work.
Archaeological Findings
The first extensive excavations on Masada were conducted by Yigael Yadin in 1963-1965.
Besides other things remains from the Byzantine period were uncovered and identified, such
as a church, service buildings, cells and caves. The precise foundation date of the monastery
of Marda (a laura type) is unknown, but it most likely happened few years after the Council of
Chalcedon in a second half of 5 th century. The abandonment of the monastery took place in
first half of 7th century (the Muslim conquest of Palestine), which means the community of
monks survived on Masada over 150 years.
The church is the only building constructed from its foundations by the monks (traditionally
attributed to Euthymius). The floor of the church was paved with mosaic but only a small
parts have survived to these days. Interestingly, a workshop for the manufacture of stones for
5
TZAFERIS, Vassilios. Early Monks and Monasteries in the Holy Land, p. 45.
6
HIRSHFELD, Yizhar. The monastery of Marda: Masada in the Byzantine period, p. 147-150.
2
mosaics was discovered at Masada as well. The church consists of a prayer hall, a narthex and
two rooms to the north. One of the rooms was recognized as diaconicon - the place where
ritual objects and other valuables of the monastery were held.7
The casemate wall was rebuilt for safety purposes as well as the gate of the Western Palace
(known as 'the Byzantine Gate') or the caldarium of the large bathhouse serving as a basis for
some of monks’ cells.8 In the rooms attached to the casemate wall monks established the
service buildings consisting of a refectory, a kitchen, stables and a storeroom. The remains of
13 cells scattered over the entire site were found at Masada. Cells 9 and 10 were built around
cave entrances where a number of painted crosses and an inscription of the name Kyriakos
were discovered. It is estimated that the maximum number of monks living at Masada at the
same time would be 17 or 189. Gardens and cultivated plots, recognized in several places on
the summit of Masada, supplied the key part of monks’ diet.
Literary Sources
There are exactly two Byzantine literary sources commenting the presence of monks at
Masada: The Spiritual Meadow (Pratum Spirituale in Latin; Leimonarion in Greek) by John
Moschus and Vita Euthymii by Cyril of Scythopolis.
The Life of Euthymius written in 560 AD describes a short visit of Marda by St. Euthymius
with his pupil Domitian. According to Cyril’s straightforward account, the two “came to a
high mountain, separated from the others, called Marda” 10 around year 422. After the
restoration of a collapsed well they built a church with an altar inside on the site and then left
for the desert of Ziph.
The second piece of literature gives us a little bit more information about the monastery at
Masada as a community. The Cilician monk John Moschus (550-619) gathered together more
then two hundred monastic tales and anecdotes from the Palestinian environment. One of
them is titled An Ass in the Service of the Monastery Called Mardes and describes an
unusually intelligent donkey who was able to take a trip by himself to a garden six miles away
and back to supply the monastery. This account may sound rather amusing, nevertheless it is
much more interesting in context of the central themes of the book itself.
7
Ibid., p. 128.
8
HIRSHFELD, Yizhar. The monastery of Marda: Masada in the Byzantine period, p. 133.
9
Ibid., p. 144.
10
SCYTHOPOLIS, Cyril of. The Lives of the Monks of Palestine, p. 17.
3
The title The Spiritual Meadow itself reveals the main metaphor: a life surrounded by nature
is compared to the restoration of the lost paradise. The paradisical environment is then the
result of monks’ constant effort and spiritual fight against the bestiality of desert wilderness.
The monks fought only with their faith and trough humility, dispassion and prayerfulness “the
forces of chaos, represented by aggressive animals, catastrophes and demons, are vanquished
and transformed into beauty, order and goodness.”11
The understanding of the relationship between eremitical monks and animals in the book is
also highly important. The progress towards humanization12, as we saw in story about a clever
donkey, is prominent through the whole book. The most obvious example of it is in the tale
about a lion who was proselytized and became a vegetarian for a certain time. 13 This evokes a
harmonious coexistence and possible equality of humankind and all creation in God’s
paradise.
Finally, the garden itself played an irreplaceable role as in life of the desert monasteries as in
symbolical and spiritual meaning in the earliest monastic hagiographies. According to both
literary sources and archaeological findings, communal gardens were an essential part of
every laura as well as private gardens, cultivated by each monk individually. 14 We can suggest
the hard work behind these small desert gardens could bring the spiritual satisfaction to their
owners.
Conclusion
Thanks to the rich historical background and enormous popularity, Masada became Israel’s
first UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001 15. Even though the Byzantine occupation of the
site is not the most famous part of its history, it still offers us an interesting field of study
through the connection of literary and archaeological sources.
References
BRAKKE, David; BRAKKE, David. Demons and the making of the monk: spiritual combat
in early Christianity. Harvard University Press, 2009.
11
COSTACHE, Doru. John Moschus on asceticism and the environment, p. 34.
12
COSTACHE, Doru. John Moschus on asceticism and the environment, p. 33.
13
MOSCHUS, John. The spiritual meadow, pp. 86-88.
14
HIRSHFELD, Yizhar. The monastery of Marda: Masada in the Byzantine period, p. 146.
15
MAGNESS, Jodi. Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth, p. 246.
4
CHITTY, Derwas J. The desert a city: an introduction to the study of Egyptian and
Palestinian monasticism under the Christian Empire. 1966.
COLLINS, John J. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. 1999.
COSTACHE, Doru. John Moschus on asceticism and the environment. In: Colloquium. 2016.
p. 21-34.
HIRSHFELD, Yizhar. The monastery of Marda: Masada in the Byzantine period. Bulletin of
the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 2001, 19: 119-156.
MAGNESS, Jodi. Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth. Princeton University Press,
2019.
MAGNESS, Jodi. The archaeology of the Holy Land: from the destruction of Solomon's
Temple to the Muslim conquest. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
MOSCHUS, John. The spiritual meadow. Collegeville: Cistercian Publications, 1992.
SCYTHOPOLIS, Cyril of. The Lives of the Monks of Palestine. Transl. by Richard
Price. Cistercian studies series, 1991.
STIEBEL, G. Masada. Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2007, 13: 20072.
TZAFERIS, Vassilios. Early Monks and Monasteries in the Holy Land. Deltion tis
christianikis archaeologikis etairias, 1991, 15: 43-66.
