Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: DiogenesLamp
Yeah, I hear everyone died at Massada. Am willing to bet they killed more than their number of Romans first.

According to Josephus, they didn't kill any Romans. "Now for the Romans, they expected that they should be fought in the morning, when, accordingly, they put on their armor, and laid bridges of planks upon their ladders from their banks, to make an assault upon the fortress, which they did; but saw nobody as an enemy, but a terrible solitude on every side, with a fire within the place, as well as a perfect silence. So they were at a loss to guess at what had happened."

On the other hand, Josephus also tells us that the Sicarii--the group occupying Masada--did venture out before the Romans got there and massacred 700 Jews in a nearby village on Passover. "As for such as could not run away, being women and children, they slew of them above seven hundred. Afterward, when they had carried every thing out of their houses, and had seized upon all the fruits that were in a flourishing condition, they brought them into Masada. And indeed these men laid all the villages that were about the fortress waste, and made the whole country desolate."

178 posted on 06/04/2019 4:40:09 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("The rat always knows when he's in with weasels."--Tom Waits)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies ]


To: Bubba Ho-Tep
If they didn't kill any Romans, why were the Romans after them?

Appears the Zealots killed 6,000 Romans in one battle in 66 AD.

That appears to be what pissed off the Romans.

193 posted on 06/05/2019 7:24:17 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no o<ither sovereignty.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 178 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson