Masada

By Jodi Magness,

Book cover of Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth

Book description

A new account of the famous site and story of the last stand of a group of Jewish rebels who held out against the Roman Empire

Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children-the last holdouts of the revolt against Rome following the fall of Jerusalem and the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Masada as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

In 74 CE, 960 Jews on top of the rock fortress of Masada reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to a Roman army. Their defiant self-sacrifice became a modern, nationalist rallying cry in Israel: “Masada shall not fall again.” Jodi Magness, who directed excavations of the Roman siege-works at Masada and is one of the preeminent archeologists of the ancient world, has written a superb book about Masada, describing its physical setting and development, the history of the site’s excavation, the story of the Roman siege, and the creation of Masada’s hotly contested modern myth. What happened in…

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