Endnote 8 – Gamla: Portrait of a Rebellion

Eleazar is said to be the descendant of Yehuda the Galilean, the founder of the Sicarii sect; see Josephus, The Jewish War 7.235. This same Yehuda was from Gamla (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.4–10) and the son of Hezekiah of Gamla, whom Herod executed as a brigand leader (Antiquities of the Jews 14.159). Yehuda is also mentioned in the New Testament as having been killed—possibly executed—by the Romans (Acts 5:37). As for the Sicarii versus Zealot identification of the defenders of Masada, the issue is still controversial. I prefer the word used by Josephus himself See Menachem Stern, “The Suicide of Eleazar Ben Yair and His Men on Masada and the ‘Fourth Philosophy,’” Zion 47 (1982), pp. 367–397 (in Hebrew).