Masada: Never Again

The view from Masada, a fort built by Herod next to the Dead Sea. Herod never actually went there after it was finished, though.

It became famous after a group of Zealots took up residence there. After hearing of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, they wanted to hurt Rome. So they attacked 3 salt mines (Roman soldiers were paid in salt, as it was so valuable... which is where "worth his salt" and even the word "salary" come from). In retaliation, General Silva sent 10 Roman legions (12,000 soldiers) to the wilderness. On the way, they killed all the Essenes of Qumran.

When the soldiers arrived, they surrounded Masada and cut off the water supply, expecting the Zealots to surrender. What they didnt know is that Masada had full storage rooms and its own internal water supply, thanks to King Herod. They held out for 3 years.

Then, one day, a soldier saw a Zealot on top of Masada getting out of a bathhouse and reported another water supply. The soldiers began to build a ramp to scale the mountain. They used Jewish slaves to carry bucketfulls of sand to build the ramp, so the Zealots wouldn't theow down rocks and boulders - they couldn't kills their own countrymen.

The night before the Roman siege, the Zealots said, "our choice is slavery or death. We choose death."

The men killed their wives and children (leaving 2 women and their kids who had ties to Rome who could tell the story to Josephus) and then cast lots, killing each other until the final "loser" had to kill the other guy... and then himself. When the Romans scaled the walls, they found hundreds of dead bodies and a fort with full storage rooms (they wanted the Romans to know they chose death and it wasn't because they ran out of food).

Today, in Israel there is a saying: "Masada, never again." #israel #apictureadayofIsrael