States of Siege: The Assault on Education

Abstract

In 73 C.E., having destroyed Jerusalem and burned the Temple, the Romans marched on Masada where a group of zealots had take up residence at the fortress built originally by Jonathan, the High Priest, then occupied and refurbished by King Herod who was himself fleeing from Jerusalem. Later, at the outbreak of the Jewish War, a community of Zealots led first by Menachem, and later by his nephew, Eleazar ben Yair, occupied the fortress. Everything we know about Masada derives from Josephus’ first century book, The Jewish War .