The Great Revolt & The Siege of Masada // History Documentary

[Music] it's 70 a.d the roman empire is at war following the downfall of the tyrant nero just a handful of months have passed since four powerful generals vied for control of the capital and the position of emperor himself in the wake of this political instability following the demise of rome's first imperial dynasty far-off client states opportunistic power players and subjugated people alike seized the opportunity to strike out for themselves from the forests of germany to the deserts of africa battles had raged allegiances shifted but none of these conflicts was as far-reaching and as all-encompassing as that which played out in the holy land the recently provincialized client state of judea homeland of the jews four years earlier this latest addition to the empire had exploded into rebellion the likes of which had not been seen in the region for decades for this is the age of the bible and messianic millenarian fever has gripped the land [Music] with candidate after candidate harking back to the time of independence by claiming the revered title king of the jews with the aim of throwing off the shackles of roman rule a charismatic bandit leader called hezekiah had been one mysterious rebels known simply as the samaritan and the egyptian were others but each of these messiahs had failed mostly ending up nailed to a cross for four years one of the great cities in the east the most celebrated of all according to the writer pliny the elder had been self-governed by the jews once more [Music] but of course by 70 a.d a reckoning was on the way when the roman general titus arrived outside the city walls that summer he was presented with a horrific sight astride two holy mountains resplendent with vast palaces and public buildings mostly the work of the pro-roman client king herod who had ruled a generation earlier the multi-walled city had already thrived for a thousand years since the days of solomon and david of old but now as many as half a million jews tacitus say six hundred thousand hemmed in on all sides suffered and starved in unimaginably horrendous conditions after four years of self-rule three vying warlords now held separate quarters of the city some of them die hard religious fanatics others opportunistic bandits and yet more innocents swept up in the carnage [Music] titus marching at the head of 60 000 legionaries as well as all manner of local syrian auxiliaries eager for war against the jews had been left in command of his father's army when he'd headed to rome to pursue his claim on the imperial throne [Music] vespasian a veteran commander who'd seen service all over the known world had been successful with that claim the first non-julio claudian to hold the imperial title yet there was still much work to be done and above all else jews needed to be made an example of generally respectful of ancient religions no other peoples in the empire had been given the same freedom of religion and rights as the jews given free reign to carry on with their religious practices in return for a perfunctory yearly sacrifice in honour of the emperor and yet since herod's death they'd be nothing but a thorn in the roman side [Music] amongst titus's entourage stood the romano jewish historian josephus a former rebel himself who'd realized the ultimate futility of resistance against rome [Music] from whom we get much of our knowledge of the events to come in josephus's account titus is painted as a conflicted character generally seeking to lessen the worst of the violence he still had to end the war there was only one way that he knew how fear by mid-july 500 prisoners were being crucified every single day the hills around the city were covered by their splayed corpses [Music] and yet more bodies filled the streets rotting in the midday sun [Music] the result of jewish infighting as much as roman attack according to josephus who puts the figure taking refuge inside the city at 1 million as many as 24 jewish sects already violently struggled over the capital and access to food tens of thousands starved finally by late july after four months of siege titus gave the orders to attack focusing on the very heart of the city and judaism itself the temple mount where the most die-hard rebels held out though he'd sought above all else to preserve that most holy site in all of judaism an orgy of violence followed the scale and severity of which has rarely been matched in history according to the roman sources tens of thousands were not only massacred but suffered ignominious violent ends hearing rumors of some of the wealthier jews having swallowed their riches some of the syrian auxiliaries allegedly cut open their bellies while they lived to retrieve the gold within and finally as the rebels continued to fight with no end in sight titus gave orders for the holy temple to be set ablaze the highest point in all jerusalem the only official temple in all the land for the jews the sole place where god had been communed with for a thousand years where all sacrifices were made the place was burned to the ground within hours as the blaze raged out of hand in the heat of the day the very place where the physical and the divine met as far as the jews were concerned said to have once housed the ark of the covenant the holy chest which contained the ten commandments handed down to moses and the only temple in all of mainstream judaism the very place where god existed on earth was reduced to rubble and ruins just one wall survives today josephus tells us the destruction was so severe that nothing was left of the city that could have reminded that it had once been there at all the jewish people had been shattered during the war hundreds of thousands had already been slaughtered and more would follow [Music] countless others marched out of the city in chains according to the historian eusebius vespasian ordered every descendant of the royal line of david to be hunted down royal line also traditionally holding the title of high priest was to be exterminated in the aftermath the surviving religious elders seeking no such disaster to ever befall their people again altered the very teachings of their faith to take on more pacifist leanings permanently altered by the brutality of the sac [Music] with the focus of veneration shifting from the now destroyed temple to the home of the individual and specifically the holy book of the torah finally by the 2nd century a.d becoming the rabbinic judaism we know today its brother religion christianity also branching off as a result at the very culmination of hundreds of years of millenarian messianic fever in the holy land the end of the world had come and yet despite the overwhelming odds against them one last sect continued to hold out in the desert to the south of the great city for years to come on the shores of the dead sea on a vast naturally imposing plateau here stands one of the great fortresses of the ancient world and in 73 a.d the last bastion of jewish resistance against rome still celebrated today the place where less than a thousand rebels kingdom already in the dust made their final stand against tens of thousands the reverberations of which can still be felt today this is the epic tale of the war for the holy land and the siege of masada hello and welcome to history time as always i'm your host pete kelly the research and initial scripting for this video was undertaken by eric tenwold go follow his instagram page roman military history for epic history content [Music] shortly we'll return to the holy land to delve deeper into one of the great conflicts of antiquity but first a quick word from our sponsor a long-time supporter of the channel and one of my favorite streaming services on the web it's magellan tv for just a small monthly fee there are thousands of documentaries here you can choose from history culture geography science and much more all streamed directly to your computer your tablet or your phone if you want more romans after this video why not check out the eight episode playlist the grandeur of rome along with a whole wealth of other ancient history films now i've teamed up with magellan tv to offer you an exclusive free trial head on over to tri dot magellan tv dot com forward slash history time or click on my link in the description below and now back to the ancient world few figures in history can be said to have had as much impact on events to come as king herod reviled in the bible as a child murderer the real herod ambitious son of a regional governor under the hazmanian dynasts was probably already dead by the time the historical jesus was born he'd been a giant in his own lifetime rising from an obscure only recently converted family to become ruler of the entire kingdom and a client to the romans a close friend to augustus caesar and mark anthony alike ever seeking to please his roman patrons herod was famous for the massive construction projects he undertook the magnificent port city of caesarea a massive fortress at herodium the colossal temple complex in jerusalem arguably the largest the world had ever seen and of course his winter lair the great fortress of masada [Music] fully willing to have his own wives and children executed at the slightest hint of disobedience herod's rule had been so absolute during his lifetime that very few uprisings are recorded during his day yet tensions remained ever boiling away under the surface long held grievances passing on from one generation to the next and when a giant of history dies a power vacuum always follows reviled by many in judea as not even really being jewish herod was certainly not descended from king david as rulers were supposed to be after winning roman support during his early years putting down regional revolts he'd continued to legitimize himself by supplying rome with an ever constant supply of coin unlike the previous ruling family who he was now married into descended from the maccabees who'd waged war to win their independence from the seleucid empire 150 years earlier herod completely split apart the positions of high priest and king with the latter now much more of a secular position [Music] traditionally the intertwined position of king and high priest came with a high level of intimacy and responsibility [Music] like david solomon and those who came before they were god's representative on earth presiding over the only cultic center in all the land for in ancient judea there was only one temple [Music] one institution one central bank all roads led to the temple and what a temple it was absolutely monumental in its scope during the major yearly festivals as many as a million jews would come flooding into the city from the rest of the kingdom yet during herod's day they would have increasingly noticed something unprecedented not only were roman soldiers now garrisoned all throughout the land but some 600 of them had been stationed on the temple mount itself an imperial eagle placed over the portal to the other world in gratitude to rome sacrifices even made to the deified emperor herod had been named king of the jews by rome and just like he had done his priests would continue to buy their positions from the romans any sort of agency and as far as many jews were concerned legitimacy was gone herod and his picked men were roman employees an arrangement that would remain after his death a theocracy run by a priesthood in league with rome [Music] but of course rome also divided the kingdom between herod's sons upon his death none of them reaching anywhere near the statesmanship of their father and with no strong-handed ruler to keep everything together it was only a matter of time before all hell broke out as far as they were concerned the jews were the chosen people as we have seen they already had special concessions from rome being allowed to continue the worship of their one god but many saw the situation differently god had given them their land one thousand years before and it was supposed to be a pure land of jews and no one else those ancestors had been a conquering people war-like semitic pastoralist nomads following in the footsteps of the acadians and the amorites before them the old testament regales their destruction of entire cities [Music] and now after years of outside occupation a fierce nationalistic streak still ran deep [Music] and by the end of herod's reign just like within the roman empire a stark contrast between the rich and the poor had began to reveal itself [Music] aristocracy becoming ever richer peasants and farmers ever poorer previously free folk now often reduced to serfdom and slavery in response popular uprisings began to spring up every few years to the romans they were rabble-rousers but to the jews they were so much more hailed as heroes and freedom fighters by the poor and the devout the lest i were motivated by religion as much as social conditions [Music] forced into a sense of urgency by the apocalyptic fervor increasingly taking over the land [Music] in the wake of herod's death many a figure would be crowned king of the jews and another position harking back to the priest kings of old the messiah to be a messiah during this age of slow-burning revolutionary zeal meant that you yearned to restore the independence of the jewish state and of course declare war against rome simon a former slave of the king had been one before being captured and beheaded he was soon followed to the grave by another messiah a shepherd boy named a thronghise and finally by 6 a.d the romans had had enough judea was absorbed wholesale into the empire there would be no more client kings or semi-independent self-rule but there would be many more messiahs the most famous of all founder of a movement that would change the world would end his days one cross on a hill coated with them like so many others before the little we know of the historical jesus doesn't bear much resemblance to the peaceful long-haired shepherd of the gospels compiled later with a sign nailed above his crucified body labeling him as king of the jews and either side of him two men labeled as thieves a word more commonly used by the romans to describe rebels the story of jesus at the temple confronting the priests takes on an altogether different meaning all of these messiahs no matter their backgrounds had something in common they yearned for the time before the romans came to the holy land the last time the jews had enjoyed self-rule for a very brief time after domination by greeks and before rule by rome under the hasmonean dynasts of old how had rome become involved in the holy land in the first place [Music] at the beginning of the second century bc in the aftermath of the punic wars judea had been under the rule of the celia sid kings one of the successor empires that had risen to power in the wake of alexander the great's death and the latest in a long line of all-powerful empires to rule the region [Music] the celiacides however were faced with stiff resistance from their jewish subjects who appear to have tried to gain support from the fledgling roman republic the jews ultimately wouldn't get any direct assistance but a treaty of some kind does seem to have been agreed between the two though this remains poorly understood thus followed the war of the maccabees which saw the overthrow of foreign rule for the first time in centuries rome's direct involvement in jewish affairs only came around a century later by which time judea had been an independent kingdom for a century in 63 bc the roman general pompey the great became involved in a jewish civil war throwing his support behind the hasmonean dynast hierarchinus as a candidate for the throne [Music] pompey launched a quick and highly successful offensive against his rival arista ballas supported by the parthians he captured the city of jerusalem after a three-week siege seeming to treat the place well pompey's campaigns had the effect of drawing judea ever closer into the roman sphere of influence but first as an allied client state by 6 a.d however things had changed the first emperor of rome and nephew of julius caesar augustus chose to annex judea as the latest province of his empire as we have seen over the next 60 years the romans discovered that judea could be a highly unstable and rebellious region its garrison frequently becoming embroiled in clashes with bandits and rebel cells the province was sharply divided between religious and ethnic lines finally in 66 a.d a disturbance between the greek and jewish populations of the city of caesarea unexpectedly exploded into a massive rebellion finally the messianic movement had been successful with the rebels swiftly overtaking the entire province even repelling an imperial counter-attack from the governor of syria however the cracks began to show very quickly as the jewish sects began turning on each other already before the war there had been a variety of opposing groups the pharisees the sadducees the essenes and now the zealots and the sicarii it didn't bode well [Music] in 67 a.d the emperor nero dispatched vespasian to retake the province the romans first struck into the northern region of galilee and despite fighting fiercely the jews were overcome in just a single campaign season [Music] in truth such was the overwhelming power of rome that a swift attack on jerusalem and premature collapse of the revolt was only prevented by an outbreak of civil wars and internal power struggles in the western provinces [Music] as we have seen vespasian himself participated in this spate of civil wars called the year of the four emperors eventually emerging as its victor in december 69 a.d finally enabling him to dispatch his son to capture the great city of the east the most part rebellion had been crushed yet all over the land pockets of resistance would continue to fight [Music] as jerusalem burned so vespasian undertook a grand reorganization of the volatile province its status changing from a pro-curatorial province answering to the governor of syria to a full status one governed by an imperial legate appointed by the emperor its garrison was also increased with a legion for the first time being based in judea as opposed to before when only auxiliary units guarded it [Music] judea's first imperial governor was the distinguished commander sextus syrialis though his appointment was more of a stop gap measure until more long-term leadership could be decided on in 71 a.d syria alice was replaced by lucialis basus the former commander of the roman fleet at ravenna it's likely that vespasian intended this to be a reward for bassus's loyalty in the recent civil wars as he had switched sides to support vespasian against the emperor vitellius whatever the details of his appointment basus got to work quickly in suppressing the last elements of rebellion out in the countryside three major jewish strongholds still stood herodium machaerus and masada [Music] herodium was captured with ease it's garrison having no stomach for continuing the war the romans then besieged the fortress at mac areas which chose to resist the governor's advance and for a time mounted stubborn resistance however eventually the romans were able to force the garrison's surrender too after this basis learned of a large host of survivors from the sieges of jerusalem and macarus hiding out in the jada's forest [Music] encircling their position as the rebels tried to break out they were wiped out [Music] basus would have continued his campaign against the jews but he died in 72 a.d being replaced the following year by flavius silva another supporter of faspasian during the civil war who immediately continued his predecessor's campaign by moving against the final jewish fortress masada [Music] before the outbreak of the great revolt masada had been held by a roman garrison [Music] until one day in 66 a.d stealthily climbing up the mountain under cover of darkness they were cut down one by one by the daggers of a radical jewish sect the sicarii taking their name from the curved dagger their enemies knew so well for a time during the earliest stages of the revolt the sicarii had fought against the romans and worked alongside the other rebel sects but before long being more violent than most they fell out of favor seeking their fate outside of jerusalem their leader eleazar ben yeah though maligned during his own lifetime in the writings of josephus has undergone a facelift in recent years increasingly seen as a hero and freedom fighter by israelis since the excavations undertaken at masada in the 1960s nevertheless since taking masada the sicarii used the place as a base for not only pillaging the countryside but targeting anyone suspected of being pro-roman clashes also continued with the forces of the other rebel sects like the opposing sects of zealots of ellazar ben simon and simon barghiora both executed during the fall of jerusalem or in the case of john of giscala paraded through rome in chains before being imprisoned for life secure atop their formidable mountain stronghold the sicarii either chose not to or were unable to come to the aid of the revolt even as it was collapsing amidst the disastrous defeats in galilee and at the siege of jerusalem [Music] by 71 a.d it would now be up to silver to eliminate this last bastion of defiance to rome [Music] by the first century a.d the roman military was a standing army composed of paid professional soldiers the core of which were the vaunted legions standing front and center among rome's conquests for centuries these were large formations of around 5 000 men composed almost entirely of infantry supported by 120 cavalrymen legionaries fought primarily as heavy infantry and swordsmen armed with a deadly short sword optimized for thrusting a dagger a pair of javelins and a dished rectangular shield unlike many warriors during this time they were well armored wearing a helmet of bronze brass or iron and either chain mail a scale curace or the banded iron armor popularized by hollywood of course the legions were further supported by troops called auxilia and contingents called naciones drawn from rome's many client states and allies the latter troop type being especially prominent in campaigns in the east where cities and civilizations had existed long before the romans eager for plunder and status large numbers of these client soldiers took part in the jewish revolt the auxiliaries provided the roman army with a broad variety of troop types including heavy infantry equipped similarly to the legions light infantry for skirmishing and almost all of the army's cavalry infantry were organized into independent cohorts and cavalry units called alley though mixed units of both types also existed the allied troops tended to fight in their own style but many of them were also equipped and trained in the roman style [Music] the sicarii on the other hand do not appear to have had any well-organized unit structure or even chain of command simply following whichever figure was most prominent amongst them in contemporary depictions jewish warriors are typically shown as lightly equipped judea having very little army to base themselves on [Music] and also lacking the resources to equip everyone with high quality weapons and armor this was likely the case also for the sicarii at least initially probably having no armor or helmets besides those looted from the romans though it remains possible that they gained access to the old herodian era armouries too such as that said to be housed at masada [Music] nevertheless compared to the meticulously kitted out roman legions the sicarii fought with an irregular mixture of spears swords shields javelins slings bows and whatever they could get their hands on [Music] in 71 a.d massively outnumbering the locals silva's army marched to masada unopposed easily securing the countryside and his roots of supply his army consisted of the single legion available to him the tenth battle-hardened veterans to a man grizzled from combat experience during the war supported as always by a force of auxiliary infantry and cavalry likely none of them being at full strength due to the fiercely fought campaign silva's army probably numbering around five thousand still massively outnumbered the sicarii numbering no more than 967 according to josephus including women and children [Music] archaeology tells us that the great fortress itself had first been built during the hasmonean era though it underwent massive upgrades under the orders of herod who'd considerably expanded the military capabilities of the kingdom with the construction of several brand new palace fortresses and the renovation of existing ones from the old hasmonean dynasty [Music] [Applause] masada's fortification however may have been due to more personal reasons if josephus is to be believed according to him herod had fortified masada as a safe refuge in case he faced a serious revolt from his own people but even more so due to the threat posed by cleopatra the famous ptolemaic queen of egypt [Music] she was said to have spurred her lover and ally the roman general mark anthony to destroy herod's kingdom [Music] though this may well just be a story as masada was much better situated to guard against the powerful nabataean kingdom to the south [Music] the mighty ruins we see today are uniquely complemented by detailed descriptions of the place given by josephus [Music] writing that its construction occurred in three stages between 37 and 20 bc the grandeur and fortifications gradually increasing each time [Music] standing on a tall cliff face cut off by deep ravines and only approachable from two locations to the east and the west the eastern route to the dead sea was grimly known as the snake due to the zigzagging pathway that led to the top very slow and perilous to ascend the summit was encased in a wall except for one part in the north made of dolomite stone quarried from the cliff itself it was 18 feet high and 12 feet wide with 37 interval towers placed along it as well as four gateways herod also built a fortified palace on the western side of the cliff sloping down from the fortifications to the north the palace was ringed by a strong wall with a 90-foot tall tower at each of the four corners the western side of masada was easier to approach but it was guarded by a separate fort at its narrowest point but it wasn't just the fortifications of masada that made it impressive it was also exceptionally well provisioned containing storehouses capable of holding large amounts of supplies as well as wells aqueducts and cisterns to bring in water the plateau also had fresh soil ripe for farming meaning that starving out the garrison was nearly impossible as the defenders could easily have had enough food and water for several years particularly given their small numbers meanwhile any procedure would have had to bring in their own supplies from far away at the judean coast or nearby communities which is what silva had to resort to [Music] according to josephus masada's grain oil and wine stores were by the time of the siege as much as a century old reportedly remaining in perfectly good condition owing to masada's position high above the ground and the dryness of the place dominating the landscape for miles around this was a monumental obstacle facing the roman army and the greatest siege engineers history had ever seen [Music] silva's first task was to establish siege lines around the fortress it was normal practice for defenders to try and disrupt these and show their confidence by making sally's against the attackers [Music] but at masada the sicarii never attempted such assaults due to the region's geography making any retreat to friendly lines extremely difficult and so silva was permitted to build his lines without impediment in full view of the defenders over the next weeks the romans built a massive wall around the fortress between which were a series of fortified camps [Music] silva built his own headquarters on high ground where he could direct the siege better though this proved to be an awkward position to resupply a total of seven roman camps were built many of which can still clearly be seen on the landscape today designated by modern historians from a to g [Music] two of these camps b and f were quite large and likely housed the legionary forces while the remaining smaller ones were likely the camps of the auxiliaries [Music] of these smaller camps four were built into the besieging wall while two were further behind them [Music] with his lines established and the sicari eye firmly locked in silver's next predicament was how to besiege the fortress [Music] traversing the treacherous eastern approach was simply out of the question and the romans found only one approach to the west to be usable beyond the road leading to the western palace fort was a rocky projection 450 feet below masada called the white cliff guarded by a single tower placed at the approach the one weak spot of the entire fortress silva had his men occupy this area the sicarii were unable to respond before watching the romans begin construction of a massive siege ramp the intent here was to build up to the enemy defenses allowing for siege engines to finally be brought up to the walls so they could breach them for months silver's men worked to build this monumental ramp heaping up massive amounts of earth with large wooden beams in between to hold it all together eventually an earth ramp 300 feet high was completed on top of which the romans built a stone pier of the same height and 75 feet wide to support their siege engines finally by the spring the ramp which can still be seen today was completed to match it of course silver also ordered the construction of a massive 90-foot siege tower [Music] coated on all sides with iron plates to protect against incendiary weapons [Music] contrary to popular belief however this was not intended as a troop transport but essentially as a massive gun platform looming over enemy walls to hurl projectiles of the unfortunate defenders from above the romans even added bolt shooters and stone thrower artillery it must have been a truly apocalyptic sight silva also ordered the construction of a large battering ram intended to break down the walls as the siege tower was moved into position to cover the advance the battering ramp did its work demolishing a section of the walls after repeated blows however as the walls collapsed the romans discovered that the defenders had been busy building a second earth and timber wall where the breach appeared all the while pelting the romans with missiles as they worked in the heat to get past the enemy defenses close enough to hurl insults at each other undeterred silva ordered the ram to be brought up once more to break down this second wall only to discover that the concussive force from its blows only hardened the defenses [Music] pushed back again silva changed tactics to hurl a deluge of flaming projectiles at the earth wall for a moment panic erupted in the roman lines the winds had changed and flames now coursed backwards towards the siege engines themselves in a great stroke of fate however once more the winds changed the fires burning back toward the jewish lines their wooden wall soon enough collapsing into a heap of burnt ash and earth after a brutal day of close quarter siege fighting only the onset of darkness prevented the continuation of the assault [Music] nevertheless a breach had now been formed and it was only a matter of time before the fort fell to the roman assault confidently falling back to their siege lines remaining alert and vigilant so as to not let any of the defenders escape both sides knew the siege was over [Music] inside the fortress the sicarii knew the battle was as good as over knowing their fate to be death or slavery according to josephus elizar decided it would be better for his people to take their own lives rather than be subject to the mercies of the roman army page after page of desperate rousing speeches are recorded as elazar gradually convinced the others that to choose the manner of their own ends would be the honorable thing to do [Music] rather than fight a doomed battle against the romans and be subject to their vengeance thus one by one the sicari-eye warriors killed their own wives and children before turning the daggers on each other the last of them setting the palace ablaze before driving his own sword through his [Music] body within a matter of hours as dawn rose over the desert the romans moved back up the siege ramp over the scorched remains of the earth timber wall and into the fortress rather than encountering resistance as they expected they were met only with eerie silence calling out for the jews to show themselves they were met by two women and five children emerging from their hiding place [Music] they'd had no desire to partake in the mass suicide and reported everything that had happened to silva [Music] he was both astonished and impressed that the sicarii had gone to their deaths so fearlessly [Music] in the aftermath of the siege silva left a garrison before returning with his army to caesarea according to josephus nowhere was there an enemy left the whole country having been subdued in the long war which had made itself felt in even the most remote of regions thus ended the great jewish revolt after years of political instability and warfare the province of judea could at long last breathe easy yet even then the fighting didn't completely come to an end a handful of sicarii had been able to escape judea and flee into egypt hoping to incite yet another uprising there from the province's extensive jewish population it seemed like a plausible option for ten years earlier there had been a bloody clash between the city of alexandria's greek and jewish populations though ultimately the jews were unable to gain any serious ground in egypt and they were soon apprehended by the romans one of them a man named jonathan escaped to the neighbouring province of cyrenica where he was able to yet again gather a small force but this hasty and poorly equipped uprising was immediately crushed thus ended the great jewish revolt though today many in israel may view the battle of masada with pride to the ancient jewish people the siege meant little in the grand scheme of things when compared to the loss of the holy city the siege represented little more than the destruction of a small brigand army and an unpopular group within the wider jewish population for the romans aside from the practical value of retaking a major fortress and eliminating a disruptive hostile force their victory at masada would have been seen as a symbol of imperial power the courage and ingenuity of their soldiers had brought low one of the greatest fortresses in the middle east delivering a firm message that not even the most inaccessible holdouts were beyond the reach of roman might in more recent times masada has become a powerful symbol to the nation of israel seen as an example of the courage of their ancestors and a symbol of their identity others however see it as an example of violent extremists refusing to compromise further punctuated by their extreme act of suicide today the remains of masada attract throngs of visitors every year seeking a glimpse of this formative period in world history and when the emperor hadrian rebuilt the holy city of jerusalem at the beginning of the second century a.d they would be banned from entering the place entirely in the centuries that followed the remade non-temple-based judaism and its offshoot would scatter all across the empire a creed which would ultimately find its way into the imperial house itself shaping the world to come christianity [Music] you've been watching history time don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed the video let me know what you think in the comments and i'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: History Time

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Keywords: history time, history, documentary, ancient history, archaeology, anthropology, mythology, early medieval, early middle ages, learning, history documentary, ancient history documentary, history medieval, medieval

Id: xwGJYIWhZDM

Length: 65min 17sec (3917 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 03 2021