Hyrcania (Horkanya) Fortress - Judean Desert

The Hyrcania fortress was built either by Alexander Yanai of the Hasmonean dynasty who lived between (76-127 BCE) or by his father John Hyrcanus, whom the fortress is named after.
You look at the fortress in such a location and one of the questions that comes to my mind is what was the main purpose of building a fortress in this location? - on the face of it the desert forts seemed to be perceived by many as a place of refuge for the ruler, but when examining the essence of the forts throughout the Persian Empire for example, one can see the hierarchy of forts, and the most important where actually used to store treasury including documents related to the King's land Administration such as the leasing of the lands and their registration, records of tax collection and so on. The fortresses of the Judean Desert from the Second Temple period played a similar role. These fortresses were not built like the other fortresses of the Hasmoneans as part of their defense system, but they served primarily as treasuries and administrative centers.

Yehuda Holtzman