Mount Sartaba

Two springs under the tell are the sources of the river Tirza. 24km/15mi down the Tirza valley to the southeast (7km/4.5mi before Adam's Bridge over the Jordan) the road to Jericho goes off on the right. 6km/4mi along this road, to the right, can be seen Mount Sartaba (alt. 377m/1,237ft), rising some 700m/2,300ft above the Jordan rift valley. Here in the first century B.C. the Hasmonean king Alexander Jannaeus built the fortress of Alexandreia, destroyed by the Romans and later rebuilt by Herod.

In 31 B.C. it served as a place of confinement for Herod's wife. It is a steep climb up the hill to the remains of the fortress destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, but the effort is rewarded by the magnificent views from the summit, extending southwestward to the Mount of Olives at Jerusalem (40km/25mi) and northeastward to the castle of Belvoir on its hill (55km/35mi). In the time of the Second Temple Sartaba, lying between these two points, was part of a chain of beacon stations which transmitted signals from Jerusalem to the boundaries of Israelite territory to announce the beginning of the month and of religious festivals.