Category:Masada (subject)
Masada was a Herodian fortress.
History
Between 37 and 31 BCE, Herod the Great built the fortress for himself, as a refuge in the event of a revolt. The fortress included the royal palace.
In the first year of the Jewish War, Masada became the stronghold of the Sicarii led by Simon bar Giora. When Simon moved to Jerusalem in 69 CE, the command of the fortress was taken by Eleazar ben Yair.
In 72-73, after the fall of Jerusalem, Masada also was besieged by the Romans, led by Lucius Flavius Silva. The Roman legion X Fretensis surrounded the fortress and built a ramp against its western walls. According to Josephus, in anticipation of the final assault, Eleazar ben Yair and the Jewish occupants of Masada committed mass suicide, preferring death to surrender.
Masada, in ancient sources
The sole literary source of information about the site of Masada are the writings of Flavius Josephus.
See Masada (sources)
Masada, in scholarship
The site of Masada was identified in 1842 and extensively excavated between 1963 and 1965 by Yigael Yadin. The remoteness of the place had left the site virtually untouched.
See Masada: An Epic Story (2009 Eshel), book (English ed.)
Masada, in the arts
In 1927 the poem Metzadah by Isaac Lamdan transformed Masada from a symbol of destruction into an emblem of rebirth, renewal, and reconstruction. The line “Again Masada shall not fall” became a motto of the Zionist movement and made the poem Metzadah the most influential literary work for a whole generation of Jewish Israelis. Especially in the aftermath of the establishment of the State of Israel, the myth of Masada has generated a flow of fictional works.
In the 1950s, units of the Israeli army initiated the practice of holding their swearing-in ceremony on top of Masada.
The Observer published on November 20, 1966 a special issue of the magazine that helped solidify the myth of Masada.
See The Masada Myth (1995 Ben-Yehuda), book
Related categories
References
- Fortresses and Palaces: Masada / Adam Marshak and Daniel C. Harlow / In: The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), edited volume, 651-652
- Masada / Kenneth Atkinson / In: The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), edited volume, 919-922
External links
Pictures from the web
- Thermal Baths (from Wikipedia)
- Palace (from Wikimedia Commons)
- Remnants of one of several legionary camps at Masada (from Wikipedia)
- Roman Siege Rampe (from Wikimedia)
Subcategories
This category has the following 2 subcategories, out of 2 total.
Pages in category "Masada (subject)"
The following 41 pages are in this category, out of 41 total.
1
- Metzadah (1927 Lamdan), poetry
- Bi-nefol Metsadah (1940 Braslavski), children's novel
- Aharit Metsadah (1959 Braslavski/Weil), children's novel
- Metsadah (1966 Yadin), book
- The Zealots of Masada (1967 Pearlman), non-fiction book
- The Rider and His Horse (1968 Haugaard/Dillon), children's novel
- The Last Days (1968 Rayner), novel
- The End of Days (1970 Gavron), novel
- Masada (1970 Greenberg), oratorio
- The Besieged (1972 Gant), novel
- Masada (1973 Berman), novel
- Masada Will Not Fall Again (1973 Greenspan), novel
- The Voices of Masada (1973 Kossoff), novel
- Metsadah 967 (Masada 967 / 1973 Tal / Eliraz), opera (music & libretto)
- A Time to Die (1974 Golden), novel
- The Gladiator: Hill of the Dead (1975 Bulmer), novel
- The Wolf of Masada (1978 Fredman), novel
- Last Night on Masada (1979 Douglas), novel
- Massada: les guerriers de Dieu (1979 Rachet), novel
- Zwölf Steine für Judäa (1979 Zitelmann), novel
- The Tenth Measure (1980 Segal), novel
- Masada (1980 Tacconi), novel
- Serpent (1981 Mosley), novel
- Ani zokher et Metsadah (1982 Ron-Feder/Harel), children's novel
- Sieg im Tod: Masada (1982 Weiss), novel
- Masada (1983 Brogan), novel
- Masada (1983 @1981 Sagal), TV mini-series (Italian ed.)
- Masada (1987 Levy), oratorio
- The Man of Masada (1990 Brogan), novel
- The Road to Masada (1994 Elwood), novel
- Milim (Metamorphosis of a Melody / 1996 Gitai), feature film
- Masada: The Last Fortress (1998 Miklowitz), novel
2
- Keeping Faith in the Dust (2000 Maltz), novel
- Return to Masada (2001 Makin), novel
- אני, שלום בת שמואל (I, Shalom bat Shmuel / 2003 Ben-Guigui Yeger), novel
- The Masada Scroll (2006 Block/Vaughan), novel
- Masada (2007 Siliato), novel
- Jerusalem's Traitor: Josephus, Masada, and the Fall of Judea (2008 Seward), non-fiction
- Masada: An Epic Story (2009 Eshel), book (English ed.)
- מצדה (Masada / 2009 Eshel), book
- The Last Man (2012 Deutermann), novel
Media in category "Masada (subject)"
The following 5 files are in this category, out of 5 total.
- 1966 * Yadin.jpg 379 × 499; 48 KB
- 1970 * Gann (novel).jpg 300 × 436; 22 KB
- 1981 * Sagal (TV miniseries).jpg 214 × 317; 12 KB
- 1995 * Ben-Yehuda.jpg 328 × 499; 26 KB
- 2011 * Hoffman (novel).jpg 333 × 499; 29 KB