It was built by the high priest Jonathan, who also gave it its name - the name is Hebrew: məṣādā = "fortress".
Who Jonathan was is disputed. Some scholars associate the figure of High Priest Jonathan with Judah's brother Maccabeus (one of the leaders of the Jewish uprising against the Seleucids), while others, based on the data that Alexander Jannaeus of the Hasmonean dynasty was king and at the same time held the title of High Priest, and that Jannaeus is a short form of the name Jonathan, consider that Masada was built by King Alexander Jannaeus (king of Judea from 103 BC).
