• Herod the Great—A Master Builder
    Awake!—2009 | September

    • Outstanding Palace-Fortresses

      Yet, Herod had another option for winter living. He developed a fortress on the towering rock plateau known as Masada, which rises over 1,300 feet [400 m] above the Dead Sea. At that location he built an elegant, three-tiered palace with a terrace and bathing pools, as well as another palace that featured a Roman bathhouse with heating pipes in the walls and a lavatory with a flushing system!

      In that hostile desert environment, Herod created what one might call a royal health resort. He equipped it with a dozen cisterns able to hold some 10,500,000 gallons [40,000,000 L] of water. Since the fortress was also provided with an efficient system for collecting and storing rainwater, there was ample water to grow crops and enjoy swimming pools and baths.