Masada: A New History
FAIN: FZ-250036-17
Jodi Magness
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC 27599-1350)
A book on Masada, the mountain fortress built by Herod the Great near the Dead
Sea, and the Jewish mass suicide that took place there two thousand years ago. Combining historical, literary,
and archaeological research, the book will offer a new history of Jewish resistance to Roman rule.
Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish rebels chose to take their own lives rather than suffer enslavement or death at the hands of the Roman army. This event occurred atop Masada, a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea that was fortified by Herod the Great. The story of the mass suicide is related by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Josephus ended his account of The Jewish War – which describes the First Jewish Revolt against Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 C.E. – with the fall of Masada. Whereas for Jews the revolt was a national disaster, Christians viewed the temple’s destruction as a fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy. The Jewish resistance at Masada became a symbol of the modern State of Israel as a result of Yigael Yadin’s 1963-1965 excavations. Masada: A New History integrates historical/literary evidence with archaeological findings, yielding a gripping narrative that follows the fate of the Jews under Roman rule through the story of Masada.