The evocative Citadel of Mukawer, or Machaerus to the ancient world, is a site that is redolent with the narrative and wonder of history and faith. It is one of those very special places that seem to exist beyond time and in its own space. It sits in a deeply imbued landscape that brings to life the resting chronicle of belief, devotion and struggle.

This volume makes the history and story of Machaerus, today an abandoned hilltop site with its faded but once-magnificent fortified royal palace, more accessible to the public. The site occupies a strategic point overlooking the Dead Sea in the modern Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It has been known in recent generations as Qalat Mishnaqa, but according to the Roman historian Flavius Josephus (AJ XVIII 5, 2), one of the holiest men of the biblical era, the Prophet Yahya ibn Zakariyya (John the Baptist), was imprisoned and executed at Machaerus by the Jewish Tetrarch Herod Antipas almost 2,000 years ago. Recent archaeological excavations and research now tell the story of this magnificent site.