The story of the Jewish resistance to a Roman siege at Masada, and the fortress’ eventual fall, has gripped religious, and scholarly, interests for many years. Archaeologist, Dr. Jodi Magness, Professor, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joins the show to share the story and more details about it.
Some topics explored
- A description of the Mountain of Masada
- King Herod’s numerous palaces in the Kingdom of Judea
- More about the Masada palace and when it was fortified by King Herod
- The first Jewish revolt against the Romans (known as the Maccabean Revolt that’s celebrated by the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah) and the Hasmonean dynasty
- The First Jewish-Roman War
- Rome’s influence of the Kingdom of Judea in this period
- Mark Antony of Rome & Cleopatra VII of Egypt’s indirect involvement in the Masada story
- Conflict with the Parthian Empire
- The Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans
- The story of Masada, as cited by Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus (born Yosef ben Matityahu)
- Details on how the Romans conducted the Masada siege
- What’s known about the life of Josephus and his relationship to the siege
- An excavation in the 1960s, led by Israeli archaeologist and former military Chief-of-Staff, Yigael Yadin, and what was discovered
- What aspects of the story is supported by evidence, and what aspects haven’t been accounted for by evidence.
Listen to the episode
The episode can be streamed below and is also available on major podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
Show Notes
Professor Jodi Magness is author of the monograph Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth (Princeton University Press)
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.