Siege of Masada
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The hilltop fortress of Masada, in present-day Israel, was successfully besieged and taken by Roman imperial forces between 72 and 73 AD, during the final period of the First Jewish–Roman War. At the
Masada National Park
Remnants of Camp F, one of several legionary camps just outside the circumvallation wall around Masada
The Roman siege ramp seen from above. This was partly rebuilt for a 1981 TV miniseries, Masada.
Francesco Hayez 018
Josephus
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Flavius Josephus was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing The Jewish War, he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of priestly desc
Siege of Masada
…the time, the fortress was held by members of the Sicarii rebel group. The siege is recorded by a single contemporary written source, The Jewish War by Josephus. According to Josephus, the long siege ended with the mass suicide of the Sicarii and resident Jewish families. In modern times, the story of the siege…
Engraving by John Sartain, 1880
Galilee, site of Josephus's governorship, before the First Jewish–Roman War
The works of Josephus translated by Thomas Lodge (1602)
1581 German translation of Josephus's The Jewish War in the collection of the Jewish Museum of Switzerland