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This article is about early Zionist retelling of the Siege of Masada. For the historical siege, see Siege of Masada.
1965 Israeli postage stamps, with the phrase "Masada shall not fall again"

The Masada myth is the early Zionist retelling of the Siege of Masada, and an Israeli national myth.[1] The Masada myth is a selectively constructed narrative based on Josephus's account, with the Sicarii depicted as heroes, instead of as brigands. This version first emerged and was promoted in Mandatory Palestine and later Israel. Despite the modern academic consensus, popular accounts by figures like Yigal Yadin and Moshe Pearlman have perpetuated the myth, influencing public perception.[2][3]

In the myth narrative, the defenders of Masada were depicted as national symbols of heroism, freedom, and national dignity. This narrative selectively emphasized Josephus's account, highlighting the defenders' courage and resistance while omitting the details of their murderous campaign against innocent Jews, as well as certain elements of their final mass suicide.[4] The early Zionist settlers wished to reconnect with ancient Jewish history, and thus used the Masada myth narrative to establish a sense of national heroism and to promote patriotism.[5][6] In the aftermath of the Holocaust, the story's themes of resilience and isolation resonated with and circulated in Israeli public discourse, youth movements, and film media.

The widespread embrace of the Masada myth in Israel started waning in the late twentieth century. Israelis advocating for compromise in the Israeli–Palestinian peace process associated Masada's symbolism as an uncompromising last stand with right-wing nationalism, and the story became less prominent as a broad national symbol.

The Masada myth's central role in Israeli collective memory has puzzled scholars due to its structural differences from other national myths: Josephus's account was not an origin myth, did not provide formative context, and was not heroic in nature. It has been described as "an extreme example of the construction of national memory", as it had no prior basis in Jewish collective memory.[7][8]

Background and elements

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The only original source on the Siege of Masada is the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus Flavius, who, though not a witness to this event, had participated in the broader Jewish Revolt before joining the Roman side. In a 1986 article investigating the national myth by Barry Schwartz, Yael Zerubavel and Bernice M. Barnett, it was described as "one of the least significant and least successful events in ancient Jewish history".[9] Josephus describes the defenders of Masada as Sicarii, an extreme Jewish group known for assassination. The Sicarii's activities had been suppressed by 65 C.E. The following year, under Menahem ben Judah, they seized Herod’s fortress at Masada, slaughtering its Roman garrison and then conducted a raid on Jerusalem, burning the upper city and its archives and assassinating the High Priest in Jerusalem, Eleazar ben Hanania.[10][11] They then withdrew to Masada,[12] and plundered local villages, such as Ein Gedi, where, during the observation of Passover,[4] they massacred over 700 women and children.[13][14] Josephus also states that the Sicarii did not participate in the war with Rome between 66 and 73 CE. In his account, the denizens of Masada were persuaded to die en masse by Eleazar ben Ya'ir. Most were purportedly[15] killed by ten rebels, and only seven survived by hiding, two old women and five children. By contrast, the mythical narrative depicts the Sicarii as morally upright anti-Roman freedom fighters,[a] who only escaped to Masada after the fall of Jerusalem, and who unanimously chose death over slavery.[17]

Evolution

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Lamdan's 1927 Masada poem in Masada visitors center

In 1927, shortly after the first Hebrew translation of Josephus was published, 27-year-old Yitzhak Lamdan published a Hebrew epic poem called "Masada: A Historical Epic" about the Jewish struggle for survival in a world full of enemies. The poem described Masada as a symbol for the Land of Israel and the Zionist enterprise, and as both a refuge and a potential trap. The poem was highly influential, but the "potential trap" aspect was left out in its mainstream Zionist reception and interpretation.[18] According to literary scholar and cultural historian David G. Roskies, Lamdan's poem later inspired the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.[19]

The transformation of Masada into a symbol of modern Israeli heroism has been attributed to Shmarya Guttman. In 1942, through organized treks and advocacy, Guttman established Masada as a Zionist emblem. The Masada myth often whitewashed Josephus's account, overlooking the Sicarii's violent actions and presenting them instead as heroic defenders. This transformation was facilitated by a constellation of events in the twentieth century, including knowledge of the Holocaust. Between February and July 1942, the Masada ethos became deeply rooted in youth movements and public discourse. The myth narrative resonated strongly, symbolizing Jewish resilience and loneliness during the Holocaust. Youth movements and Palmach squads integrated this ethos into their activities, reinforcing its significance.[20]

1969 Israeli state funeral for 27 skeletons found in the excavation of Masada. This photo includes Yigael Yadin, Menachem Begin and Yisrael Yeshayahu Sharabi.

Archeologist Yigal Yadin, formerly the Israeli Chief of the General Staff, sought to portray the defenders as committed supporters of a national resistance led by the Zealots.[14] For example, Yadin interpreted scrolls found at Masada as evidence of diverse sectarian support. However, these scrolls might have been looted from nearby villages, and Josephus's identification of the defenders as Sicarii suggests a more complex picture.[14] In 1969 the Israeli government held a state funeral for 27 skeletons found during Yadin's excavations.[21] Since the skeletons were later admitted by Yadin to have been found together with pig bones, later archaelogists suggested the bones may well have been those of local Christians or Roman soldiers.[21] A 1981 miniseries and, later, full-length movie, Masada, was broadcast, which further popularized the myth narrative.[22]

According to historian Tessa Rajak, the Masada myth's prominence in the collective memory of Israel has surprised scholars because the original Josephus narrative it draws from structurally differs from common national myths, which usually are origin myths, provide formative context, or narrate heroics.[23] Citing the narrative's absence from Jewish collective memory prior to its popularization in the twentieth century, historian Shlomo Sand called the Masada myth "an extreme example of the construction of national memory".[7]

Decline

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The Masada myth began to decline in the latter half of the 20th century; this has been attributed to the changing political and social dynamics within Israel. During the 1970s and 1980s, Israeli society faced complex challenges, including debates over the occupied territories and the peace process. The rigid and uncompromising stance symbolized by Masada became associated with right-wing nationalism and was increasingly viewed negatively by those advocating for peace and compromise. As a result, Masada’s significance as a national symbol waned, with fewer youth and military groups visiting the site, and official ceremonies shifting to other locations.[24]

In parallel with these changing political dynamics, scholars and intellectuals began to critically analyze the historical sources, particularly the writings of Josephus, to reveal discrepancies and fabrications within the popular myth. Although most scholars have focused on the differences between the modern myth and Josephus's version, others have focused on the question of the accuracy of Josephus's narrative.[25][26][27]

Notable scholars who have studied the phenomenon include[28][29] Bernard Lewis (1975),[30] Baila R. Shargel (1979),[31] Yael Zerubavel (1980),[32] Edward M. Bruner and Phyllis Gorfain (1984),[33] Barry Schwartz, Yael Zerubavel, and Bernice M. Barnett (1986),[34] Robert Paine (1991, 1994),[35] Pierre Vidal-Naquet (1983, 1991),[36] Anita Shapira (1992)[37] and Nachman Ben-Yehuda (1996).[28][29] Rhetorical usage of the myth continues in modern Israeli political discourse, particularly in discussions of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[38]

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ 'During the years when Vespasian besieged the Judaeans the Sicarii did not furnish aid to the Judaeans nor did they venture to harass the Romans. Though the terrain in the environs of Masada was favorable for ambuscades, the Sicarii did not take advantage of this and did not ambush the Romans, nor did they organize any guerilla warfare against the Romans. Even when finally besieged by the Romans they did not move to assail them. At other fortresses that were besieged by the Romans, such as Jotapata, the Judaeans counter attacked and assailed the Romans with missiles, rocks and even poured boiling water on the enemy.' Many Judaeans distinguished themselves by great heroism in defending their cities and fortresses. There were no counter-attacks against the Romans when the Sicarii were besieged in Masada.'[16]

References

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  1. ^ Sheldon 1998, p. 448: "The belief system he refers to is a myth created around the story of Masada and the Jewish fighters who committed suicide there at the end of the Great Jewish War against Rome in A.D. 73. The story, as Josephus tells it, is not one of heroism. The sicarii on Masada were simply an extremist group of terrorists who had never participated in the Jewish Revolt to begin with and had spent more time killing other Jews than fighting the Romans. Modern twentieth-century Zionists, however, took the original story, eliminated the more embarrassing parts (like the massacre of Jews at Ein Gedi by the sicarii), then used the remaining core to construct a "mythical narrative" of heroism, sacrifice, and national pride for modern Israelis."
  2. ^ Ben-Yehuda 1996, p. 307: "On the professional level, we now know that the Masada myth is a particular selective historically invented sequence (narrative) based, par-tially, on Josephus Flavius's account, minus some very important details and supplemented by items ranging from a rather liberal interpretation of his writings to sheer fabrication. The way in which this particular sequence was socially constructed can be understood in terms of leveling, sharpening, and assimilation. The Allport and Postman model that was used in this context was very helpful in conceptualizing the process. In this book, we analyzed the way in which the Masada mythical narrative was socially constructed by Jews in British-occupied Palestine and in the State of Israel. Hence, most of the emphasis was placed on social activities in this region and on texts in the Hebrew language. However, the non-Hebrew-speaking person, in Israel and abroad, has also been exposed to much of the same myth. Two of the more popular books in English - Yadin (1966) and Pearlman (1967) - present a magnificent example of the Masada mythical narrative. The debate in the more academic journals did not reach most interested parties, and the discussion in the popular Jewish press (e.g., in the Jewish Spectator) may have only helped to confuse the issue. The Masada mythical narrative was consciously invented, fabricated, and supported by key moral entrepreneurs and organizations in the Yishuv. At the time, central Jewish leaders (see, e.g., Guttman's interview) were very reluctant to use this rather questionable tale. Much of the success in its acceptance can be attributed to these key moral entrepreneurs"
  3. ^ Cockburn 1997: "Most Israeli archaeologists now accept that what really happened at Masada was very different from the picture painted by Professor Yigael Yadin, the archaeologist and former chief of staff of the Israeli army, who carried out the highly publicised excavations in 1963-65."
  4. ^ a b Silberman 1989, pp. 96–97: "The Sicari - or "knife-wielders" - adopted their name from their favorite means of political persuasion, and their reputation was anything but heroic in their own time. According to Josephus's testimony, they terrorized any Judeans who opposed the rebellion— using the tactics of assassination, arson, and theft. After killing the Roman garrison and taking control of the fortress at Masada at the outbreak of the revolt, they continued their violent ways. They did not come to the aid of their rebel colleagues in Jerusalem when the city was under siege by the Tenth Roman Legion but preferred to remain at their desert hideaway, maintaining themselves by preying on the surrounding populace. During the festival of Passover in A.D. 68, for example, they raided the nearby settlement of Ein Gedi, carrying off the inhabitants' crops and livestock. Their victims in this encounter were not the hated Romans, but - according to Josephus - more than 700 innocent Jewish men, women, and children."
  5. ^ Magness 2019, p. 197: "How did the site of a reported mass suicide of a band of Jewish rebels who terrorized other Jews become a symbol of the modern State of Israel? The creation of the Masada myth—in which these Jewish terrorists are transformed into freedom fighters and the mass suicide becomes a heroic last stand-has been explored by a number of scholars. While archaeology has been used in many countries to advance political or nationalistic agendas, Masada perhaps best exemplifies this phenomenon. Although Masada's eventual fame is largely a result of Yadin's excavations, the site had become a symbol of the modern State of Israel long before the 1960s. It is the late Israeli archaeologist Shmaryahu Gutman who deserves much of the credit for the creation of the Masada myth. Beginning in the 1930s and through the next couple of decades, Gutman organized treks to Masada for youth movements and groups of guides which established the site as an emblem of Zionist aspirations. With the creation of Israel in 1948, Masada became a symbol of the new state. Gutman continued to make a case for Masada's importance through the 1950s and was involved in the first archaeological explorations of the site. It was because of Gutman's persistence that Yadin later undertook excavations at Masada. Nachman Ben-Yehuda, an Israeli sociologist, notes that the Masada myth is based on a whitewashing of Josephus's account. For example, instead of referring to sicarii, the Jews atop Masada are typically described as Zealots, as for example by Yadin, or as defenders or rebels-neutral terms that mask the group's violent activities. Their terrorism of other Jews, including the massacre of innocent villagers at Ein Gedi, is overlooked in the Masada myth. A constellation of interrelated events in the twentieth century made possible Masada's transformation into a symbol of Jewish heroism and the modern State of Israel. First, the European Jews who immigrated to Palestine in the first half of the twentieth century sought to establish a physical connection to the Zionist homeland. Treks like those organized by Gutman to Masada were intended to forge this bond…. "
  6. ^ Zerubavel 1995b, pp. 68–69: "Thus, the meaning of Masada was first and foremost shaped by the urge to forge a sense of historical continuity between the modern-day Zionist National Revival and Antiquity, when Jews lived in their own homeland, and to heighten their divergence from Exile. The Masada episode, marking the end of the Jewish revolt against the Romans, was seen as the essence of the national spirit that made the Jews stand up and fight for their freedom. In the period in which the Zionist settlers and the first generation of New Hebrews wished to define themselves as the direct descendants of the ancient Hebrews, they portrayed the Masada people as the authentic carriers of the spirit of active heroism, love of freedom, and national dignity, which, according to the Zionist collective memory, disappeared during centuries of Exile. Masada was therefore presented as a positive model of behavior and an important patriotic lesson. To fulfill this role, the Masada commemorative narrative required a highly selective representation of Josephus's historical record. By emphasizing certain aspects of his account and ignoring others, the commemorative narrative reshaped the story and transformed its meaning. The new myth narrative highlights the defenders' courage in rebelling against the Romans in the first place and in sustaining their resistance long after the rest of Judaea had been defeated. It stresses their heroic spirit, devotion, and readiness to fight until the last drop of blood but does not dwell on the specifics of the final episode of death. In so doing, the myth narrative elaborates where Josephus is silent and silences some of his more elaborate descriptions: the ancient historian does not mention a direct confrontation between the besieged Masada people and the Roman soldiers, yet he does provide a long and detailed description of the collective suicide."
  7. ^ a b Sand 2012, Chapter 2, footnote 34Masada is an extreme example of the construction of national memory with no basis in traditional collective memory.
  8. ^ Lewis 1975, p. 5-6: "Both themes — Masada and Cyrus - also share another feature: that they had been forgotten and were unknown among their own peoples, and were recovered from outside sources. The Rabbinic and other Jewish tradition knows nothing of Masada. The name is not mentioned in the rich Rabbinic literature; even the Hebrew, spelling of the name is conjectural. The sole source from which we derive our information on the heroic deaths of the defenders of Masada is the chronicle of Josephus, a renegade Jew who wrote in Greek and whose work is not part of the traditional Jewish cultural heritage."
  9. ^ Schwartz, Zerubavel & Barnett 1986, p. 147.
  10. ^ Ben-Yehuda 1996, pp. 35–36.
  11. ^ Green 1997, pp. 404, 413.
  12. ^ Zeitlin 1967, p. 253.
  13. ^ Zeitlin 1967, p. 255.
  14. ^ a b c Cockburn 1997: "The only literary source is Josephus Flavius, the Jewish historian who had himself taken part in the revolt before joining the Roman side. His account says that the defenders of Masada took no part in the war against Rome during the siege of Jerusalem, but instead plundered local villages including En Gedi on the Dead Sea, where "women and children, more than 700 in number, were butchered"... Professor Yadin wanted to prove that the defenders of Masada were the hard-core supporters of a national resistance movement led by the Zealots, the movement which fought in Jerusalem. He interpreted scrolls found at Masada as showing that the defenders came from different sects and groups, though the scrolls may have been looted from nearby villages. What Josephus actually said was that the defenders of Masada were Sicarii, an extreme Jewish group who specialised in assassination and had killed the High Priest in Jerusalem."
  15. ^ Shepkaru 2020, p. 324.
  16. ^ Zeitlin 1967, pp. 254–255.
  17. ^ Ben-Yehuda 1996, pp. 13–14.
  18. ^ Ben-Yehuda 1996, pp. 222–223: "... the manner in which secular Zionists utilized the poem, that is, as a major element for experiencing the Masada mythical narrative, deviated ― very clearly ― from Lamdan's original intent. Lamdan's ambivalence simply disappears. His genuine concern that Eretz Israel may become a trap (and not a refuge) for Jews (that is, a second Masada) was almost completely eliminated in favor of what was presented as a proud, heroic national interpretation."
  19. ^ Baskind, S. (2018). The Warsaw Ghetto in American Art and Culture. Penn State University Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-0-271-08148-9. This ancient story has since become a national symbol well known to Israelis and disseminated to tourists who find a trip to Masada at sunrise a compulsory part of a pilgrimage to the Israeli homeland. The struggle of the Jews on Masada has been embellished and wrapped in hyperbole, and they themselves have been deemed freedom fighters, resisters, and warriors who retained their freedom against all odds. In 1981, ABC made those mythologized events recognizable to the wider American population with the broadcast of a well-watched television miniseries starring Peter O'Toole that dramatized the story. Some historians even couple the thwarted capture of Masada with the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Citing Zionist Isaac Lamdan's 1926 poem Masada, about this earlier Jewish conflict, David Roskies asserts that it, "more than any other text, later inspired the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto." No doubt Masada was influential, but Roskies's observation remains in the realm of speculation, considering the equally influential poetry of Hayim Bialik, whose prose more insistently calls for passionate resistance.
  20. ^ Shavit 2013, pp. 79–97
  21. ^ a b Watzman, Haim. "Masada Martyrs?". Archaeology Magazine Archive. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  22. ^ Ben-Yehuda 1996, pp. 225–227: "One famous movie has been made that popularized the Masada mythical narrative to a great extent… The movie, produced by a Christian missionary, created a bit of controversy in Israel, angering Yigael Yadin so much that he considered suing its producers… based on a novel by Ernest K. Gann, were made, and shooting was under way. The book and the movie both repeat many elements of the Masada mythical narrative while clothing it in a synthetic “love story.”… The movie repeats the elements of the mythical narrative, such as the lack of mention of the Ein Gedi massacre, the escape from Jerusalem after the city was destroyed, and the lack of mention of the Sicarii (the movie portrays the defenders of Masada as Zealots); the siege is shown to have lasted for three years against ferocious resistance, complete with fierce, pitched fightings. Moreover, the movie adds some elements, too, such as the contact between Flavius Silva and Elazar Ben-Yair."
  23. ^ Rajak 2016, p. 233: "Commentators on the role of the Masada myth as a central feature in Zionist collective memory have found themselves puzzled. 'The battle of Masada in 73 A.D. was one of he least significant and least successful events in ancient Jewish history’ is the opening salvo of one study (Schwartz, Zerubavel and Barnet, 1986:147–64). They ask how this of all stories could become a national myth. They find Masada quite unlike ‘other nations’ commemorative preferences: it is not a myth of origins; it lacks ‘formative significance’; it is not heroic."
  24. ^ Green 1997, pp. 414–416.
  25. ^ Zerubavel 1995a, pp. 112–113: "The prominence of Masada as a major archaeological site and a tourist attraction since the late 1960s has also attracted attention to its meaning and status as a new Israeli national myth. As we shall see below, criticism of the Masada myth was multivocal, challenging it from different perspectives. While some counter-myth texts target the validity of Josephus's record, most texts choose to focus on discrepancies between this account and the commemorative narratives it has generated. By highlighting the tensions between history and memory, these texts question various aspects of the myth, denying the legitimacy of its representation of the past as well as the values that it promotes. Some other voices of criticism focus on the impact of the tragic commemorative narrative on current Israeli policies, underscoring the role of memory in negotiating between the past and the present."
  26. ^ Swedenburg, T. (2003). Memories of Revolt: The 1936–1939 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past. University of Arkansas Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-61075-263-3. Retrieved 2024-08-30. Yadin's attempt to create a textual "reliving" of the Zealot past and a re-ex-periencing of their emotions represents a forgetting of the invented nature of the Masada tradition. Meron Benvenisti argues that the Zionist movement was fundamentally misguided in adopting Masada as the national symbol. Its story, he claims, is a "myth" unknown in the Jewish sources; its sole chronicler, Flavius Josephus, a Jewish official who defected to the Romans, is probably unreliable. Jewish texts are silent about Masada, Benvenisti maintains, "apparently because the mass suicide committed by its defenders is entirely alien to the spiritual characteristics that sustained the Jewish people in their land and ... in the Diaspora" (1986a: 35).22 Other archaeologists have also raised questions about Yadin's interpretation of the remains at Masada, claiming there is no compelling material evidence that any suicide took place. Shaye Cohen, moreover, argues that Josephus probably invented the collective suicide and employed a classical literary motif according to which the Zealots admit their mistake in rebelling against Rome. But such scholarly doubts have neither punctured the popularity nor diminished the ideological power of Masada (Silberman 1989: 95-101).
  27. ^ Benveniśtî, M.; Benvenisti, M. (1989). Conflicts and Contradictions. Eshel Books. ISBN 978-0-935437-27-0. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
  28. ^ a b Ben-Yehuda 1996, p. 14-16.
  29. ^ a b Green 1997, pp. 406–407.
  30. ^ Lewis 1975, pp. 3–41.
  31. ^ Shargel, Baila R. 1979. “The Evolution of the Masada Myth.” Judaism 28:357-71.
  32. ^ Zerubavel, Yael. 1980. The Last Stand: On the Transformation of Symbols in Modern Israeli Culture. Ph.D. Diss. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
  33. ^ Bruner, Edward M., and Phyllis Gorfain. 1984. “Dialogic Narration and the Paradoxes of Masada.” In Text, Play, and Story: The Construction and Reconstruction of Self and Society, ed. Stuart Plattner and Edward M. Bruner, pp. 56-75. Washington: American Ethnological Society.
  34. ^ Schwartz, Zerubavel & Barnett 1986, p. 147-164.
  35. ^ Paine, Robert. 1991. Masada between History and Memory. Paper prepared for the “Politics of Memory” session, conference of the Canadian Historical Association, Memorial University of Newfoundland, June; Paine, Robert. 1994. “Masada: A History of a Memory.” History and Anthropology 6(4): 371-409.
  36. ^ Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. 1983. “Josephus Flavius and Masada.” Zemanim 13:67—75 (Hebrew); Vidal-Naquet, Pierre. 1991. The Murderers of Memory. Trans. Ada Paldor. Tel Aviv: Am Oved (Hebrew).
  37. ^ Shapira 1992, pp. 310–319.
  38. ^ Amossy 2012, pp. 1–15.

Bibliography

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