Trapped atop a remote cliff in the Judean desert, 960 men, women, and children were surrounded by nearly 8,000 Roman troops and their auxiliary forces. The year was 72–73 or perhaps 73–74 C.E. (scholars are uncertain). Vowing that these rebels on Masada’s summit would not escape, Roman general Flavius Silva ordered his soldiers to encircle it with several camps and a stone wall up to 12 feet in height. Then, he commanded his legionnaires to construct a massive earth-and-timber ramp for their battering ram to reach the summit. Josephus—a Jewish priest, general, and (to some) a traitor for defecting […]
