Justin Marozzi

A legend under siege

Eleazar Ben-Yair’s death-and-glory address at Masada in AD 73 may have been fabricated by Josephus. But that hasn’t deterred devotees from flocking to the site

issue 15 June 2019

As rousing death-and-glory speeches go, it is one of the best. With a besieging Roman army only hours from storming the mountain stronghold of Masada, where 967 Jews were making their last stand in around AD 73, the rebel leader Eleazar Ben-Yair gathered the men together and called for a mass suicide.

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