MASADA 



The rock of masada, at the eastern edge of the wilderness 

 of Jiidea, with a sheer drop of more than 1,300 feet to the 

 western shore of the Dead Sea, is a site of gaunt and majestic 

 beauty. It is also the location of one of the most dramatic 

 episodes in Jewish history. 



In the first century c.E. (Common Era — .'V.d.), Palestine 

 was under the occupation of the Romans, who had over- 

 thrown the Jewish Kingdom in the middle of the previous 

 century. Periodic rebellions by the inhabitants, who sought 

 to regain their freedom and sovereignty, were quickly 

 crushed. But in the year 66 c.E., the Jewish rebellion flared 

 into a full-scale country-wide war which raged with fierce 

 bitterness for four years, with the Romans having to bring 

 in legion after legion of reinforcements. In 70 c.E., Titus 

 conquered Jerusalem, sacked the city, destroyed the Temple 

 and expelled many of the Jewish survivors from the country. 



One outpost alone held out, Masada. At the beginning 

 of the rebellion, a group of Jewish zealots had destroyed the 

 Roman garrison of Masada and held it throughout the war. 

 They were soon joined by a few surviving patriots from 

 Jerusalem who had evaded capture and expulsion and made 

 the long, arduous trek across the Judean wilderness, deter- 

 mined to continue their battle for freedom. With the fortress 

 of Masada as their base for raiding operations, they harried 

 the Romans for two years. In 72 c.E., Flavius Silva, the 

 commander of the Tenth Roman Legion, resolved to crush 

 this outpost of resistance. He marched on Masada with a 

 legion and auxiliary troops, with thousands of prisoners of 

 war carrying water, timber and provisions across the lengthy 

 stretch of barren plateau. The Jews at the top of the rock, 

 commanded by Eleazar ben Yair, prepared to defend them- 

 selves, making use of the natural and man-made fortifica- 

 tions, and rationing the supplies in their storehouses and 

 cisterns. 



Silva's men tried to storm the fortress. They were beaten 

 back. Denied swift victory, they prepared for a lengthy 

 siege. They established camps around the base of the rock; 

 the remains of eight are visible to this day. They built a 

 circumvallation around the fortress. And, on a rocky site 

 near the western approach to Masada, they constructed a 

 ramp of beaten earth and large stones. On this they threw 



up a siege tower and, imder covering fire from its top, they 

 moved a battering-ram up the ramp and directed it against 

 the fortress wall. They finally succeeded in effecting a 

 breach. The defenders countered by rapidly building an 

 inner wall consisting of a double stockade of wood filled 

 with earth. Silva's reply was to set this ablaze with fire- 

 brands. This was the beginning of the end. What hap- 

 pened next we know from the writings of the contemporary 

 historian, Josephus Flavius. When "the whole of the wall" 

 was in flames, "the Romans . . . returned to their camp full 

 of spirits, and with a fixed determination to attack the enemy 

 at the break of day. . . ." 



That night, at the top of Masada, the Jewish leader, 

 Eleazar ben Yair, reviewed the hopeless position. The de- 

 fensive wall was now consumed. The Romans would over- 

 run them on the following day. There was no hope of relief 

 and none of escape. Two alternatives remained: surrender 

 or death. He resolved "that a death of glory was preferable 

 to a life of infamy, and that the most magnanimous resolu- 

 tion would be to disdain the idea of surviving the loss of their 

 liberty." Rather than become slaves to their conquerers, 

 the defenders — 960 men, women and children — thereupon 

 ended their lives at their own hands. When the Romans 

 reached the height next morning, they were met with silence. 

 Then two women emerged, the only two who had not gone 

 through with Eleazar's plan and had hidden themselves. 

 It is their story that Josephus recoimts. 



The top of Masada, scene of this drama, is shaped like a 

 boat, measuring some 1,900 feet from its northern to its 

 southern points and 650 feet from east to west. 



It was Herod the Great, King from 37 b.c.e. to 4 b.c.e., 

 who turned Masada into a formidable fort in the early years 

 of his reign, creating a citadel of potential refuge from the 

 threat of Cleopatra of Egypt. He built a casemate wall 

 around the top, defense towers, storehouses, barracks, ar- 

 senals, palaces and also a magnificent palace-villa, built on 

 three terraces of the cliffside just beneath the northern edge 

 of the summit. He also dug large cisterns linked ingenu- 

 ously to dry riverbeds which occasionally filled with rain 

 water. It was these fortifications and buildings that served 

 the last band of Jewish fighters in their struggle against the 



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