[Leica] (no subject)

[pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein)]

Thanks, everyone. Daniel, When I saw your first post, I remembered that
you and Ewa met in Israel.

The landlocked Dead Sea is indeed dying--drying up.  Parts of the highway
that used to be right at the shore are now some distance back from the
water's edge.  The Jordanians have a plan to channel water from the Red
Sea into the Dead Sea, the Israelis concur and may help. It's in the
Wikipedia article you cited.  We heard a bit about this during our trip.

Masada has a spectacular view and an eerie history. After the destruction
of Jerusalem in 70 CE, nearly 1,000 people took the mountain fortress, and
held out there until the year 73 CE. They committed mass suicide the night
the Romans breached the walls, knowing they would be killed or enslaved
the next day.

Most of the group were "Zealots"--religious fanatics who had actually
helped bring about the destruction of Jerusalem by refusing to compromise
in any way, even to save the inhabitants of the city. One faction (the
Sicarii) actually had made a practice of murdering fellow Jews who were
less religious than they, or who favored accomodation with the Romans.
While at Masada, they didn't just conduct raids against the Romans.  They
supplied themselves by raiding nearby Jewish communities, often killing
the inhabitants.

On the other hand, the Romans had been harsh rulers.  Sometimes they gave
the Jews reasonable autonomy in their domestic affairs, other times they
imposed idol worship and worship of the person of the emperor, and put
down any dissent with killings and crucifixions. Jesus was one of
thousands of Jews who died on the cross.

So Masada can be called both an example of heroic people willing to die
for their faith and freedom, or the Jonestown of the ancient world.

There's some evidence that members of the nearby religious community of
Qumran--the people who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls--also took refuge at
Masada.

Last night I finished editing a group of pictures from both Qumran and
Masada, which I plan to post tonight. They include shots of the the Roman
seige ramp, and the legion camp Daniel mentioned.

--Peter

> Yes, I should have made that clear. I really enjoyed it.

> For several reasons and it was the last one that I mentioned. I was
> there about 35 years ago now. Met my wife on that trip and we were
> there. While I was there, I tried to get to the Dead Sea quite often
> and the story of Masada was always fascinating. Imagine looking down
> and seeing a Roman legion down below, ready to take its prey. I think
> there are less than 8 good remains of legion camps. One of them is
> here.

> The bird raises the shot above all of this. Nice.

> Daniel

On Thu, Dec 23, 2010 at 7:19 AM, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com>
wrote:
> The bird sure makes it.
> A totally effective shot as far as I go.
>
>
> --------------------
> Mark William Rabiner
> Photography
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/
> mark at rabinergroup.com
> Cars: ? http://tinyurl.com/2f7ptxb
>
>
>
>
>> From: Daniel Ridings <daniel at dlridings.se>
>> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>> Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:15:28 +0100
>> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>> Subject: Re: [Leica] IMG: Dive bomber
>>
>> Not much left of the Dead Sea anymore, is there?
>>
>> Nice shot.
>>
>> Daniel
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 8:47 AM, Peter Klein <pklein at threshinc.com>
>> wrote:
>>> From the top of Masada. ?You can see the Dead Sea through the fog at
>>> upper
>>> right. ?Does this work?
>>> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/pklein/israel/9-Masada/L1007837.jpg.html>
>>>
>>> --Peter