Masada Falls - Last Stand of the Jewish Revolt

73 CE

On Passover eve, 73 CE, Roman forces breached the fortress of Masada after a two-year siege, only to discover that the 960 Jewish defenders—men, women, and children—had chosen mass suicide over Roman captivity. The fall of Masada marked the final chapter of the Jewish Revolt that had begun in 66 CE and cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

The Fortress:

Masada is a massive rock plateau rising 1,300 feet above the Dead Sea in the Judean Desert. Herod the Great had transformed it into a luxurious palace-fortress (37-31 BCE) with:

Elaborate palaces with mosaic floors and frescoes
Storerooms stocked with weapons and food
Massive cisterns holding rainwater (enough for years)
Defensive walls and towers
A seemingly impregnable location

The Sicarii Occupation:

When the Jewish Revolt began in 66 CE, a group of Jewish rebels called the Sicarii (“dagger-men”—zealous assassins) captured Masada from its Roman garrison. Led by Eleazar ben Yair, a descendant of Judas the Galilean (who had led the revolt against the census in 6 CE), they used Masada as a base for raids.

After Jerusalem fell in 70 CE, Masada became the last remaining Jewish stronghold. The defenders numbered about 960 men, women, and children—families living in this desert fortress, holding out against Rome even as the revolt collapsed everywhere else.

The Roman Siege (72-73 CE):

The Roman governor Flavius Silva led the Tenth Legion (about 8,000-9,000 troops) plus thousands of Jewish prisoners of war as slaves to besiege Masada. Silva established eight camps surrounding the fortress and built a siege wall to prevent escape.

The challenge was formidable: How to assault a fortress 1,300 feet up a sheer cliff?

The siege ramp: Silva’s engineers constructed a massive earthen ramp on the western side, using hundreds of thousands of tons of earth and stones. Jewish prisoners did much of the labor—forcing the defenders to watch their own people build the instrument of their destruction.

The ramp took months to complete. When finished, it allowed Roman siege towers and battering rams to be brought against Masada’s western wall.

The Breach:

The Romans breached the stone wall, but the defenders had built an inner wall of wooden beams and earth. The Romans set it on fire. Wind initially blew the flames back toward the Romans, but then shifted, consuming the wooden wall. The breach was complete.

Silva decided to wait until morning to assault—the defenders were trapped, exhausted, and doomed.

Eleazar’s Speech:

That night, Eleazar ben Yair gathered his followers and delivered two speeches (recorded by Josephus, based on testimony from survivors). He argued that death was preferable to slavery:

“Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself… the time is now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice… Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted of slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually.”

The defenders agreed.

The Mass Suicide:

To avoid violating the commandment against murder and suicide, they devised a method:

Each man killed his own family
Ten men were chosen by lot to kill all the rest
One man was chosen by lot to kill the other nine
That final man set fire to the palace and killed himself

They destroyed everything except the food stores—they left these intact to show the Romans they hadn’t died of starvation but by choice.

The Romans Discover:

On April 16, 73 CE (15th of Nisan, Passover eve), the Romans assaulted the fortress expecting fierce resistance. They found silence.

According to Josephus, 960 people died, but two women and five children had hidden in underground cisterns and survived to tell the story. They described Eleazar’s speech and the night’s grim proceedings.

The Romans, expecting to celebrate a victory, instead stood stunned at the piles of bodies and the eerie silence. Josephus writes: “They met with the multitude of the slain, but could take no pleasure in the fact, though it were done to their enemies. Nor could they do other than wonder at the courage of their resolution and the immovable contempt of death which so great a number of them had shown.”

Historical Debate:

Josephus’s account: The only ancient source, written by a Jewish historian who had defected to Rome. Some historians question whether his dramatic speeches are authentic or literary invention.

Archaeological evidence: Excavations confirm the siege, the ramp, the Roman camps, and destruction by fire. Pottery shards inscribed with names (possibly the lots used to select who would kill whom) and skeletal remains support elements of Josephus’s account.

Modern interpretations:

Traditional: Heroic martyrdom, choosing death over slavery
Critical: Mass murder-suicide led by a fanatical leader
Nuanced: Desperate people in impossible circumstances making tragic choices

Modern Significance:

Symbol of Jewish resistance: In modern Israel, Masada became a symbol of Jewish determination never again to be conquered. The Israeli Defense Forces held swearing-in ceremonies at Masada with the oath “Masada shall not fall again!”

Archaeological site: Excavated 1963-1965 by Yigael Yadin, Masada is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and major tourist destination.

Ethical debates: The ethics of Eleazar’s decision continue to be debated—was it noble resistance or tragic fanaticism?

End of the revolt: Masada’s fall closed the book on the First Jewish Revolt. A quarter million Jews (conservative estimate) had died. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. The Jewish state would not exist again until 1948—1,875 years later.

The stones of Masada stand in the Judean Desert as a monument to desperate courage, tragic choices, and the high cost of resistance against overwhelming power. Whether viewed as heroic martyrdom or cautionary tragedy, Masada remains etched in Jewish memory as the last stand—960 souls choosing death on their own terms rather than surrender to Rome.