Palace columns
On the summit.
hikinginjordan — CC BY-SA 3.0 · יעקב — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Mohammad hajeer — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mohammad hajeer — CC BY-SA 4.0 · יעקב — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mohammad hajeer — CC BY-SA 4.0
A palace-fortress on a cone-shaped hilltop near the village of Mukawir, overlooking the Dead Sea about 25 km southeast of the mouth of the Jordan River. The Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus built it in the first century BC; the Romans destroyed it in 57 BC, and Herod rebuilt and enlarged it. Herod added a palace, cisterns, baths, a dining hall and a colonnaded courtyard, and some of its columns still stand on the summit alongside the remains of walls and baths. The site is tied to the story of the Prophet Yahya son of Zakariya, peace be upon him, known to Christians as John the Baptist: the historian Josephus and the New Testament record that he was imprisoned here and put to death around 32 AD on the orders of Herod Antipas. A paved path climbs from the car park to the summit in about 15 minutes, and the top has sweeping views over the Dead Sea and the mountains, at their finest at sunset. Caves and the remains of Roman siege camps ring the hill.
On the summit.
From the top.
Up the hill.
Mukawir, Madaba Governorate
The historian Josephus and the New Testament record that John the Baptist, the Prophet Yahya in Islam, was imprisoned in this fortress and put to death here around 32 AD.