massada
view of massada from the west clearly showing the ramp built by the roman legions Masada is the name for a site of ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel on top of an isolated rock plateau, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. After the First Jewish-Roman War a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels, who preferred death to surrender. According to Josephus, a first-century Jewish Roman historian, Herod the Great fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War against the Roman Empire, a group of Jewish extremists called the Sicarii overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the destruction of the Second Temple, additional members of the Sicarii and their families fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountaintop, using it as a base for harassing the Romans The works of Josephus are the sole record of events that took place during the siege. According to modern interpretations of Josephus, the Sicarii were an extremist splinter group of the Zealots who were equally antagonistic to both Romans and other Jewish groups.
Size: 5000px × 3321px
Location: Dead sea Israel
Photo credit: © moris kushelevitch / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: .lucius, archeology, ben, christianity, collective, elazar, flavius, heritage, herod, israel, jewish, josephus, judaism, land, muslims, pilgrims, profesor, revolt, roman, siege, silva, site, suicide holy, tourism, travel, unesco, world, yadin, yair, yigal, zealots
