Machaerus

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Khirbet. Mukawer. Machaerus means "the Black Fortress". A strong fortress of Perea, and the place, according to Josephus (Ant. 18.5.2), of John the Baptist's beheading. It was built by Alexander Jannaeus to provide protection against Arab marauders (Josephus Wars 7.6.2), Machaerus was destroyed by Gabinius when he made war against Aristobulus, taken by Pompey in 57 B.C.; and then it was rebuilt and fortified by Herod the Great who had built a palace there. It was situated in the gorge of Callirhoe, one of the valleys E of the Dead Sea, 3,860 feet above sea level, 2,546 feet above the Mediterranean, and 18 miles SE of the mouth of the Jordan River.

Machaerus was one of the three Jewish fortresses (with Masada and Herodium) to hold out after fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in A.D. 70.

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