Obsidio Masadae
About
Roman legion X Fretensis built a massive earthen assault ramp up the side of Herod's clifftop fortress to reach the last holdouts of the Jewish revolt. When the defenders breached the walls, they found nearly all 960 Jewish rebels inside had reportedly taken their own lives rather than be captured, according to Josephus. It was the last act of the First Jewish-Roman War, four years after Jerusalem fell. The Roman siege ramp still climbs the fortress's western face today.
What happened here
A Roman army fights the way it camps: in lines, by drill, on ground chosen if possible. The legions form up in cohorts with gaps that let ranks rotate, throw a volley of heavy javelins at close range, and then close with the short sword, pushing behind the shield. Auxiliaries hold the flanks and do most of the cavalry work and most of the skirmishing. Battles are short and decided by whether one line breaks, and the killing happens in the pursuit rather than the fighting. The camp is dug and palisaded every night regardless. Afterwards the dead are stripped and the field is looted for days; the ground is remembered locally long after the campaign is a paragraph in someone's history.
In ancient writing
- Josephus, Jewish War 7.275–406
The Roman camps and the ramp up the western face, and the account of the last night given to him by two women who hid in a water channel.
Sources
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