Battle of Masada

The war of Masada and Titus, also known as the Great Revolt, was not a war about anything in particular for the Romans so much as just another war with no real significance other than to crush a rebellion. For the Jews however, the same did not hold true. This was a war over terrible conditions due to terrible leadership in Israel. For so many years, the Jews had paid their taxes, obeyed the laws of the government and had tried to do their best to be good citizens of the Roman Empire. The revolt was sparked because of a succession of terrible senatorial leaders in Israel and many internal crises as a result of that poor leadership and because the government of Rome did not help them despite the repeated pleas for aid from the Jews. It really did not help that the Jews were subject to unreasonable taxes where, if more money was collected than was the required amount, the tax collectors were able to keep the extra tax money, but nor did it make the tensions between the Roman Empire any less when Emperor Caligula threatened to destroy the Temple because the Jews said no to the Emperor’s proclamation that there be a statue of himself put inside every temple throughout the empire. They adamantly refused on the grounds that by doing so, they would be defiling their place of worship, because they would be placing a pagan statue in their holiest of places. Therefore, they decided to rebel because of all the unfair conditions and the fear of another emperor who would threaten them similarly, but actually follow through on those threats. The revolt was actually due mainly to Jewish radical groups. Two years after the beginning of the revolt, those radicals marched onto Jerusalem and killed all of the members of the government who were not radicals like themselves. The final major fight was on Masada, the sight of the once Roman fort which was then captured a number of years later by the Jews, towering 1700 feet above the Dead Sea. There atop Masada, the last of the Jewish rebels stood, mostly being the radical that originally instigated the revolt along with their families, holding up their defenses against the seemingly endless onslaught of Roman soldiers. Eventually, the Romans built a long ramp that reached all the way to the top of Masada and from there, they were able to capture the last major Jewish stronghold (there were still pockets of rebellion throughout the empire for several years afterward). However, as soon as the Romans reached the top of Masada, the Jews immediately set fire to everything and then almost all of the Jews swore a suicide pact, drew straws, and after one Jew had killed the others, he killed himself, leaving two women and five children to be captured by the Romans. These women, along with the children, would either be put to death or sold into slavery after being captured. Thus the Great Revolt of the Jews, which lasted for four years, ended in failure and instead of resulting in better conditions for the Jews of Israel, brought about the dispersal of the majority of the Jews from Israel for the next two thousand years, until 1948 when Israel was reestablished as the Jewish homeland.

Resources:

A History of the Roman People by Allen Ward, Fritz Heichelheim, and Cedric Yeo

History of Rome by Michael Grant

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt.html