Fortress of Machaerus

Machaerus was a Hasmonean hilltop palace and desert fortress, now in ruins, located in modern-day Jordan, 25 km southeast of the mouth of the Jordan river on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. According to the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus, it was the location of the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist. According to the chronology of the Bible, the execution took place in about 32 CE shortly before the Passover, following an imprisonment of two years. The site also provides the setting for four additional New Testament characters: Herod the Great; his son, Tetrarch Herod Antipas; his second wife, Princess Herodias; and her daughter, Princess Salome. ()