Generally known in English as Alexandreion (the Greek name) or Alexandrium (Latin), its alternative name, Sartava (sometimes rendered Sartaba) in Hebrew (סָרְטָבַה) and Arabic (سرطبا) has been preserved locally since ancient times, and a further ruin nearby was known to the Arabs as Khŭrbet Iskander. This inaccessible, steep, conical peak, commanding 360-degree views, was first crowned with a fortress by the Hasmonaean king, Alexander Yanai (Alexander Jannæus, 104-77 BCE), hence the Greek name, to accommodate a military garrison, as well as to guard political prisoners. One day in April, Amber and I set out to conquer it, a long-held ambition.
As Sartava, the place is mentioned in the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 23a) and the Mishna (Rosh Hashanah 2:4), where it is mentioned as the second station in the chain of beacons which would be lit to convey the news of the sanctification of the new month (rosh chodesh) in the days of the Second Temple. These stations were established on prominent mountain peaks, and enabled the rapid transmission of messages from Jerusalem to the rest of the country, and even to the Jews of Babylon:
וּמֵאַיִן הָיוּ מַשִּׂיאִין מַשּׂוּאוֹת, מֵהַר הַמִּשְׁחָה לְסַרְטְבָא, וּמִסַּרְטְבָא לִגְרוֹפִינָא, וּמִגְּרוֹפִינָא לְחַוְרָן, וּמֵחַוְרָן לְבֵית בִּלְתִּין,
And from which mountains would they light the torches? They would transmit the message from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to Sartava, and from Sartava to Gerofina, and from Gerofina to Ḥavran, and from Ḥavran to Beit Baltin.
Sartava was the northernmost of the Judaean desert fortresses in Herodian times. Some writers have identified the name Sartava with the name of the biblical city Tzartan or Zaretan (צָרְתָן), near the location where the Hebrews crossed the Jordan, but most accept that the etymological similarity between the two names is unfounded.
As Alexandrium, it is mentioned several times in Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews. In Book 14, it is referred to as the place that Aristobulus II, the younger son of Alexander Jannaeus, escaped to, at which Pompey led his army against him there (14:3:4 et seq). It is described as "a most beautiful fortress that was built on the top of a mountain called Alexandrium" (14:3:4). It was destroyed by Gabinus, Pompey's general, in 57 BCE.
In Book 16, it is again referred to as one of the fortresses which Herod had erected at great expense, along with Herodium and Hyrcania (16:2:1). The old Alexandreion fortress was restored and given the character of a palatial desert fortress. Herod left his wife, Mariamme, and her mother in custody there in 30 BCE. Fifteen years later he entertained Marcus Agrippa there. Later, it was the place where the bodies of Herod's sons, Alexander and Aristobulus IV, whom he had had strangled at Sebaste (Samaria), were carried at night, and buried alongside their maternal uncle and other family members (16:11:7).
The palace-fortress was finally razed by Vespasian or Titus during the Great Revolt (66-70 CE), and was never resettled. The ruins are all that remain to this day. Remains from the Hasmonean period , including parts of columns and capitals, stucco and fresco fragments have been uncovered in excavations at Sartava by archaeologist, Ehud Netzer, in 1984 and 1993. He dated them to the Hasmonean period; but further excavation of the site is necessary. The remains indicate a peristyle structure, probably two storeys, with terraces, the peristyle having a mosaic floor.
An impressive water system four kilometres long carried water from a dam in a nearby wadi to the north, to large cisterns located at the foot of the fortress, several of which remain today. The water system was surveyed by the PEF. David Amit also surveyed the water system in 1958 and found three aqueducts from the Herodian (Second Temple) period, that led the water to the cistern system where the water was stored.
Left: Plan of the water system at Sartava [Palestine Exploration Fund, Survey of Western Palestine: Samaria, 1882, Public Domain]
Middle and right: Two of the cisterns on the eastern slope today
The climb is strenuous, in its last stage, over steep and loose scree. Before the establishment of the state of Israel, soldiers of the Palmach used to climb to the peak as a test of endurance. After the conquest of the Jordan Valley and Samaria during the Six Day War, units of the IDF took on this tradition, which is maintained by a number of units to this day.
