Category:Masada (subject)

Masada was a fortress built by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 BCE. During the Jewish War a group of Sicarii took control of the fortress, which led to the siege and destruction of the site by the Romans, in 72-73 CE.

Masada in ancient sources

The sole source of information about the site of Masada are the writings of Flavius Josephus.

Masada in Scholarship

The site of Masada was identified in 1842 and extensively excavated between 1963 and 1965 by Yigael Yadin.

Masada in Fiction

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.