Why did the 900 occupants of Masada, commit mass suicide rather than be captured by the Romans in 73 A.D.?
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Highlander is semi-retired from AB
ANSWERS: 5
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Dude, I'm sorry I don't have an answer for you, but there was a program on the History Channel that explained it all and damn if I can remember any of it. I saw it like three times.
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The story as told by Josephus is that the leader of the community, Eleazar Ben Ya'ir, `persuaded' the people to commit mass suicide rather than fall into the hands of the Romans. Josephus even cites the lengthy speech, running into some two thousand words, Ben Ya'ir was supposed to have delivered. Its keynote is that God, who had before taken the Jews into his favour, had by then condemned them to destruction. It was `the purpose of God' that Jerusalem and the Temple be destroyed. Therefore, let God's punishment come to this community not from the Romans but from God himself `as executed by our own hands'. Of Ben Ya'ir's supposed words one sentence merits careful note here for further reference in this paper: `God hath made such a decree against the whole of the Jewish nation.'
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Idealistically it was to spit in the eyes of the Romans, give a shining example of patriotism and defiance to their fellow-Jews, uphold their personal honour and so on... Realistically - I'm sure the fear of what the Romans would do to them upon their inevitable defeat was a factor. People are people and being crucified even if that was ALL that they had to figure would happen to them would have been a bloody frightening prospect. Psychologically one has to take into account how battle-weary, demoralised, isolated and desperate the defenders had to feel after so long being confined in an ultimately undefensible position and watching the ramp get closer day after day.... Poor bastards did the best thing they could think of in the end...
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Because the alternative was not much better. The Roman Legions were dispatched, led by General Titus. They would smash the rebellion. At Masada the rebels knew that they would either be killed, or perhaps led away into slavery.
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they died because they did not want to be captured by the romans
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