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Within an hourâ€™s drive from Madaba along the picturesque Kingâ€™s Highway, is Mukawir, Mukawir the hilltop stronghold of Herod the Great. Upon Herodâ€™s death, his son Herod Antipas inherited the fortress and it is from here that he ordered John the Baptist to be beheaded after Salomeâ€™s fateful dance.

Machaerus, today its name is Mukawir, it is the site of John the Baptist (pbuh). Located at 20 km southwest of Madaba along the King's Highway overlooking the Dead Sea, will protected on three sides.

This fortress was first built to defend Perea against the expansionist Nabataeans, and was destroyed by the Romans, later It was restored by Herod the Great who built a wall with towers at the corners, and a palace in the middle, but it was destroyed by Romans Again.