Machaerus

Machaerus (meaning the black fortress) was a fortified palace-fortress built by the Hasmonaean king Alexander Jannaeus on a desolate plateau east of the Dead Sea in Perea, later rebuilt and strengthened by Herod the Great. Josephus describes it as the second most formidable fortress in Judea after Jerusalem. The site commanded a sweeping view over the Dead Sea and the surrounding wilderness and served as a refuge and state prison for the Herodian dynasty.

Machaerus is where John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed by Herod Antipas at the request of Herodias's daughter Salome (implied by Mark 6:14–29, confirmed by Josephus in Antiquities 18.5.2). The fortress fell to the Romans during the Jewish War of AD 66–73, surrendering before the fall of Jerusalem. Its identification with the modern site of Mukawer on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea was confirmed by nineteenth-century explorers and later by archaeological work. The site thus connects directly to the death of the one Jesus called the greatest born of women.