Understand
Masada, whose Hebrew name means "fortress", is on a breathtaking rock plateau with steep cliffs rising on all sides. Roman client King Herod the Great constructed a fortified palace complex atop of the plateau between 37 and 31 BCE. During the Jewish rebellion against Rome in first century CE, a sect of Jews called the Kanai took refuge in isolated Masada. They were known in Greek as zelotes, or the Zealots. After remaining there for seven years, the Zealots finally fell at the hands of the Roman army in 73 CE. However, rather than be killed or enslaved, it is claimed the holed up rebels chose to commit a mass suicide, a deed which forever enshrined them in the annals of Jewish history. The mass suicide story has never been proven and archaeologists working the site have found fewer than 30 skeletons in total and no sign of any mass burial. As a result of this there is evidence suggesting the mass suicide is nothing but a myth.
Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has been granted a special place in the heart of the Jewish nation. Though the actions of the Zealots are still debated, Masada has become synonymous with the tragic and much-mourned downfall of Jewish life in the Holy Land. More recently, this symbol of death has been contrasted with Jewish rebirth, the founding of the State of Israel. Indeed, many Israeli soldiers, sworn in atop Masada, emotionally chant, "Masada shall never fall again."
