The dramatic story of the last stand of a group of Jewish rebels who held out against the Roman Empire, as revealed by the archaeology of its famous site Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children—the last holdouts of the revolt against Rome following the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple—reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman army. This dramatic event, which took place on top of Masada, a barren and windswept mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, spawned a powerful story of Jewish resistance that came to symbolize the embattled modern State of Israel. Incorporating the latest findings, Jodi Magness, an archaeologist who has excavated at Masada, explains what happened there—and what it has come to mean since. Featuring numerous illustrations, this is an engaging exploration of an ancient story that continues to grip the imagination today.

Masada in the Hasmonean period -- Masada in the Herodian period -- Building materials -- Ornamentation -- Construction at the time of the procurators and the Roman garrison -- Construction during the priod of the rebels -- The eastern gate -- Building 8 (the commandant's residence?) -- The storerooms -- The large bathhouse -- The approach to the northern palace -- The northern palace -- The water supply system -- The synagogue -- The casemate wall -- Building 9 (hostel?) -- Building 10 : the western palace -- The small palaces -- The layout of the palaces -- The phases of construction of Herodian Masada -- Pottery Written finds -- Coins -- Other finds -- The battle for Masada -- Masada in the Byzantine period -- Archaeology and the Masada myth.

An account of the archaeological excavations at the rocky fortress site of a Jewish revolt against Roman oppressors.

In 73 A.D., legend has it, 960 Jewish rebels under siege in the ancient desert fortress of Masada committed suicide rather than surrender to a Roman legion. Recorded in only one historical source, the story of Masada was obscure for centuries. In The Masada Myth, Israeli sociologist Nachman Ben-Yehuda tracks the process by which Masada became an ideological symbol for the State of Israel, the dramatic subject of movies and miniseries, a shrine venerated by generations of Zionists and Israeli soldiers, and the most profitable tourist attraction in modern Israel. Ben-Yehuda describes how, after nearly 1800 years, the long, complex, and unsubstantiated narrative of Josephus Flavius was edited and augmented in the twentieth century to form a simple and powerful myth of heroism. He looks at the ways this new mythical narrative of Masada was created, promoted, and maintained by pre-state Jewish underground organizations, the Israeli army, archaeological teams, mass media, youth movements, textbooks, the tourist industry, and the arts. He discusses the various organizations and movements that created “the Masada experience” (usually a ritual trek through the Judean desert followed by a climb to the fortress and a dramatic reading of the Masada story), and how it changed over decades from a Zionist pilgrimage to a tourist destination. Placing the story in a larger historical, sociological, and psychological context, Ben-Yehuda draws upon theories of collective memory and mythmaking to analyze Masada’s crucial role in the nation-building process of modern Israel and the formation of a new Jewish identity. An expert on deviance and social control, Ben-Yehuda looks in particular at how and why a military failure and an enigmatic, troubling case of mass suicide (in conflict with Judaism’s teachings) were reconstructed and fabricated as a heroic tale.

In the year 72 C.E., after a four-year war between Rome and Judea, only one fortress remains to be taken: Masada, high above the Dead Sea in what is now Israel. Two years later, the commander of the famous Roman Tenth Legion, Flavius Silva, marches toward Masada to capture or kill the 960 Jewish zealots who hold it. In this eloquent and powerful novel, we meet 17-year-old Simon ben Eleazar, son of the Jewish leader of Masada. Apprenticed too Masada s only physician, Simon learns to help victims of the enemy s onslaught as he struggles with his love for Deborah, the intended of his best friend, and with the painful decision he must ultimately make.

Dani Sharon, an Israeli business entrepreneur, is recruited by his governments clandestine LEKEM to mastermind acquiring the components and technology to build a nuclear arsenal. Danis flamboyant character and tactical brilliance make him a natural for the assignment. His only stipulation in accepting the task is that he be allowed to skim a profit off all his transactions to finance his movie ventures. Dani obtains the necessary material and information through extralegal and clandestine methods. He cuts numerous deals with European, South African, and American companies. What he cant buy, he steals in daring capers monitored by the superpowers. Within a short time Israel explodes its first atom bomb. However, soon after this success, Israeli leaders realize radioactive fallout would endanger their own population if the atom bomb were used against hostile Arab neighbors. They conclude a neutron bomb is necessary to protect the Israelis from this danger. Using a movie production company as a cover, Dani begins acquiring the technology for such a bomb and the ballistic missile to deliver it.

The dramatic history behind one of the great landmarks of ancient Israel. In the spring of 73 AD, the rock fortress of Masada on the western shore of the Dead Sea was the site of an event that was breathtaking in its courage and self-sacrifice. Here the last of the Jewish Zealots who, for nearly eight years, had waged war against the Roman occupiers of their country made their last stand. The Zealots on Masada had withstood a two-year siege but with Roman victory finally assured, they were faced by two options: capture or death. They chose the latter, and when the Roman legions forced their way into the hill fort the following morning they were met only with utter silence by row upon row of bodies. Rather than fall into enemy hands the 960 men, women, and children who had defended the fortress so heroically had committed suicide. The story of the siege and eventual capture of Masada is unique, not just in Israeli legend but in the history of the world. It is a story of bravery that even the Roman legionaries, well used to death and brutality, could see and appreciate. It was a massacre but a massacre with a difference: carried out by the victims themselves. This book tells the story, also covering the excavation of the remote hilltop site in the twentieth century.

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When the Jews revolted against Rome in 66 CE, Josephus, a Jerusalem aristocrat, was made a general in his nation’s army. Captured by the Romans, he saved his skin by finding favor with the emperor Vespasian. He then served as an adviser to the Roman legions, running a network of spies inside Jerusalem, in the belief that the Jews’ only hope of survival lay in surrender to Rome.As a Jewish eyewitness who was given access to Vespasian’s campaign notebooks, Josephus is our only source of information for the war of extermination that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, and the amazing times in which he lived. He is of vital importance for anyone interested in the Middle East, Jewish history, and the early history of Christianity.