Siege of Masada | |||||||
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Part of the First Jewish–Roman War | |||||||
![]() Masada National Park | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Jewish Sicarii | Roman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Eleazar ben Ya'ir † | Lucius Flavius Silva | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
967, including non-combatants |
Legio X Fretensis 4,800 Auxiliaries and slaves 4,000–10,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
960 dead, 7 captured (2 women, 5 children), according to Josephus | Unknown |
The siege of Masada was one of the final events in the First Jewish–Roman War, occurring from 72 to 73 CE on and around a hilltop in present-day Israel.
The siege is known to history via a single source, Flavius Josephus,[3] a Jewish rebel leader captured by the Romans, in whose service he became a historian. According to Josephus the long siege by the troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels and resident Jewish families of the Masada fortress.