MASADA - WHO LIVED THERE?

The plateau of Masada covered a large area, all of it used

Few people realize how large a king's retinue was in ancient times, and how much space was needed to house the small army of people who accompanied him wherever he went.

Herod's relatives (by blood and by marriage), together with his personal bodyguards and friends, made up the wealthiest section of the entourage.

His harem included

• ten wives (though not all at once, it must be admitted)
• many concubines or secondary wives and a number of boy lovers
• fifteen children, twenty grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren
• towards the end of his life, even two great-great-great-grandchildren

There were, as well, a large number of assistants, eunuchs, butlers, grooms, tutors, musicians, entertainers, porters, physicians, barbers, cooks, stewards, secretaries, freedmen and slaves.

The Jewish historian Josephus, our best source of information about Herod the Great, mentions almost one hundred such people by name - and there must have been many others as well.

Most of these people travelled with the king, and had to be housed wherever he stayed. The area on the summit of Masada, large as it seems, would have been crowded whenever the king was in residence.