Masada Falls to Rome: Jewish Fortress Defenders Choose Death
The Jewish defenders of Masada, numbering 960 men, women, and children under Eleazar ben Ya'ir, chose mass suicide rather than surrender to the Roman Tenth Legion on April 16, 73 AD, after a siege of several months. The Romans had built a massive earthen ramp to breach the fortress walls atop a mesa overlooking the Dead Sea. When they broke through, they found the defenders dead. Josephus, the Jewish-Roman historian whose account is the primary source, claimed the defenders killed their families, then each other by lot, with the last man falling on his own sword. Modern archaeological excavation by Yigael Yadin in the 1960s confirmed much of the account but raised questions about the numbers. Masada became the symbol of Israeli military resolve, with recruits swearing "Masada shall not fall again."
April 16, 73
1953 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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