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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus Maximus, post: 4358739, member: 102867&quot;]Very interesting topic for a thread.&nbsp; Thanks for starting.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately I don&#039;t have any related coins except a few that I show too often.</p><p><br /></p><p>The fall of Masada has an almost legendary character. The question is whether this is justified. There are a few issues:</p><p><br /></p><p>The first problem is that we only have one source, Flavius Josephus.&nbsp; The annoying thing about this is that we cannot compare sources and if possible eliminate exaggeration.&nbsp; However, we have a source that states this and that is more than for some other ancient events, so we will have to accept Josephus&#039;s report unless the contrary is proven.</p><p><br /></p><p>Josephus shows in his two great works: the Jewish war and the Jewish antiquities that he has a strong analytical ability.&nbsp; He also has a lot of knowledge about the Jewish tradition. He also has weaknesses that are particularly evident in Jewish antiquities. He often knows events but is difficult to date them properly. However, like almost all ancient authors, he still has another weakness. He has an agenda with his histories. This means that we cannot blindly copy everything Josephus writes.&nbsp; Back to the Jewish war that describes the fall of Masada.&nbsp; Josephus description contains numerous inaccuracies.&nbsp; For example, he estimates the height of the walls far too high, he also tells about one palace while there were two palaces.</p><p><br /></p><p>The next problem is archeological evidance.&nbsp; Research in Masada has shown that the suicides were not as massive as Josephus would have us believe. Quite a few skeletons of refugees have been found. So there is no conclusive evidence for the mass suicide.</p><p><br /></p><p>The major problem with the explanation Josephus gives is that he tells things that are extremely unlikely or that he could not know.&nbsp; The first problem is Eleazar ben Ya&#039;ir&#039;s speech.&nbsp; He gives an impressive speech in which he convinced his fellow fighters to commit suicide.&nbsp; However, if everyone committed suicide, how could the contents of this speech have reached Josephus? We can assume that any survivors were enslaved.&nbsp; And so they were never able to tell what had actually been said.</p><p>So we can conclude that Josephus made this speech to give a certain message to the reader.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is important since Josephus lets Eleazar say that God wanted Roman rule and that opposition to Rome was wrong.&nbsp; You could conclude that Josephus himself thought of it that way.&nbsp; Since he did not know what Eleazar had really said and because Josephus had spoken in similar terms after his capture.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another problem is that the Romans broke through the first wall, and then discovered that a second wall had been built by the Sicarians. Then they withdrew. This is an unlikely course, the Romans had besieged Masada for weeks and now victory was up for grabs. So it is unlikely that the Romans did not push through after the first wall fell.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is another aspect of the mass suicide that is an issue. According to several historians, the Romans would have immediately benefited from the fact that the walls were unoccupied.</p><p><br /></p><p>Personally I hope you don&#039;t consider this to be critical. My sole purpose is to provide a critical note to Josephus&#039; story.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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