Nadene Goldfoot
One mile West of the Dead Sea lies a lofty, isolated rock in Israel. It's called Masada. It's where all the IDF are sworn into the service of becoming the Israel Defense Force. Why here? Because of its history of Zealots being the last to stand for Israel.
Zealots were a Jewish political party in 2nd Temple Times founded in 6CE b Judah the Galilean and Zadok the high priest who demanded non-compliance with the Roman demand for a census which was their assessment of property on the grounds that this would constitute an acknowledgment of subjection. Most likely they joined or already were Essenes who were living in caves. They claimed that the sole ruler of the Jewish nation was G-d. Their numbers were increasing.
Their presence endangered another group, the Sicarii, a rebel group in the late 2nd Temple Period. They were called after the dagger (sica-Latin) that they carried beneath their clothes. They were against those desiring peace with Rome because of what they would be forced to lose in the process-their own religion, Judaism. Menahem ben Jair and ELEAZAR BEN JAIR were known Sicarii.
During the period immediately preceding the revolt against Rome in 66 CE, the Zealots won adherents from all social strata. After the conflict with Rome had been sparked off, Menahem, son of Judah the Galilean, a member of the Sicarii, went to Jerusalem and appears to have claimed messianic status, and was slain by the captain of the Temple, Eleazar ben Hananiah. His comrades, led by his kinsman, Eleazar Ben Jair, fled the city to Masada.
It was originally a fortified area by the Judean king Alexander Yannai who was also the Cohen-the high priest, who reigned 103-76 BCE, who was the son of John Hyrcanus, a Hashmonean of our Chanukah days, and then served as a refuge for King Herod's family in 40 BCE when it was unsuccessfully besieged by Antigonus Mattathias. Later, Herod built a palace there.
Masada is on a massive plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. A cable car and a long, winding path climb up to the fortifications, built around 30 B.C.E. Among the ruins are King Herod's Palace, which sprawls over 3 rock terraces, and a Roman-style bathhouse with mosaic floors. Recognizing the defensive advantages of Masada, Herod built his complex there as a winter escape and haven from enemies, complete with castle, storerooms, cisterns and a foreboding wall.
It became a Roman garrison. It was annihilated by the zealot, Eleazar ben Jair in 66 CE and Masada was a Zealot fortress Rome destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's 2nd Temple in 70 CE. Zealots had escaped to this high mountainous fortress with their wives and children who lived up there until the Romans came for them, ready to kill them all as they had done to Jerusalem. The Zealots held out until 73. What happened then was formidable. The garrison of 960 Zealots and their wives and children under Eleazar, committed suicide in order to avoid capture by the Romans who were sure to do more savagery than just kill them with one blow. They expected the worst; punishment for living. Books have been written about it. The one I read told of an older woman and child who was left alive, and the Romans let them live. 
Led by Flavius Silva, a legion of 8,000 Romans built camps surrounding the base, a siege wall, and a ramp on a slope of the Western side of the mountain made of earth and wooden supports. (Peter O'Toole on TV)
After several months of siege without success, the Romans built a tower on the ramp to try and take out the fortress’s wall. When it became clear that the Romans were going to take over Masada, on April 15, 73 A.D., on the instructions of Ben Yair, all but two women and five children, who hid in the cisterns and later told their stories, took their own lives rather than live as Roman slaves.
According to Josephus’s account in The Wars of the Jews: “They had died in the belief that they had left not a soul of them alive to fall into Roman hands; The Romans advanced to the assault … seeing none of the enemy but on all sides the awful solitude, and flames within and silence, they were at a loss to conjecture what had happened here encountering the mass of slain, instead of exulting as over enemies, they admired the nobility of their resolve.”
In later centuries, the site became a Roman post, a Byzantine chapel, and a Crusader stronghold. A survey in 1955-6 uncovered the remains of Herod's palace as well as another palace dating from the Hasmonean Period.
In 1963-5, extensive excavations were under Yigael Yadin--and the finds included scroll fragments and the site of the earliest known synagogue in Israel.
Now an Israeli national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the 840-acre complex holds well-preserved ruins attesting to the history of the ancient kingdom of Israel and the courage of its people in the face of a Roman siege. The Masada Museum has archaeological exhibits and recreations of historical scenes for today's visitors.
Resource:
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-new-political-religious-judean.html
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/masada
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