On the northern edge of the plateau was the three-level palace of King Herod, the residence of the commander of the fortress, the guardhouse, administrative and representative rooms, along with large stores of grain, wine, olive oil and other foodstuffs, allowing to survive very long sieges.
The stamp was issued on 03/02/1965 (Catalog Number: 333) in series with two other stamps, also with the theme Masada and First Day Cover. The stamp has a denomination of 0.36 Shekel.
After comparing the scene on the stamp and the current reality, it is clear that since 1965 there has been some restoration work.
This is written on Wikipedia:
Masada (mecada - "fortress") is an ancient fortress on top of an isolated rock cliff on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, about 3 km west of the southern end of the Dead Sea. The fortress was built by Herod the Great in the 1st century BC. nl, during the First Jewish War, Masada became the last place of resistance of Jewish insurgents against the Romans. In 2001, the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
...
The top of the mountain was surrounded by a casemate wall with a total length of 1,290 meters, consisting of 70 rooms with a width of 4 meters and a length of up to 35 meters, but most often 10 meters. The width of the outer wall reaches 1.4 meters, the inner is slightly weaker - only 0.95 meters. The height of the walls is estimated from four to eight meters depending on the position of the fortification section in the terrain. The wall was protected by 27 towers, which were built at a distance of 35-90 meters from each other, and were probably two- or three-storey. In addition to their defensive significance, these towers also served as craft workshops for leather processing or for breeding pigeons, which were bred for meat and manure used as fertilizer. The rooms in the casemate wall were used to accommodate the inhabitants of the fortress. On the northern edge of the plateau was the three-level palace of King Herod, the residence of the commander of the fortress, the guardhouse, administrative and representative rooms, along with large stores of grain, wine, olive oil and other foodstuffs, allowing to survive very long sieges. Stocks of weapons and raw materials, especially iron, bronze and tin, were also stored here for defensive purposes. Flavius estimates that the stored armaments and equipment were enough for 10,000 men. Other large buildings were Herod's Palace on the west side, a barracks of soldiers near him, and three smaller palaces for Herod's guests. In addition to the bathrooms in the palaces, the comfort of the king and his guests was ensured by a Roman-style spa and a large swimming pool on the south side, and the horses had stables on the west side. Water supplies were provided by a large number of rock-hewn cisterns. Despite this construction activity, most of the area of the plateau remained free and could be used either to house the retreating army in tents or to grow agricultural crops. After the occupation of the fortress by Jewish insurgents, the palaces were divided by partitions to accommodate a larger number of families, food preparation was decentralized by building small ovens, mikvehs were created instead of spas and stables rebuilt into a synagogue - mikvehs in Israel.
Source: (
visit link)