The Siege of Masada: What Really Happened? 

ReligionForBreakfast yikes.

How utterly absurd.

Damn... It sucks that educational videos don't get treated as they should

RU-vid is being really stupid here, then. You're literally discussing history. The same kind of content would be featured on a BBC documentary. Why don't you try getting sponsors for your videos, like Squarespace or (far more appropriate for a history/religion/learning channel like yours) Brilliant.org? I certainly wouldn't mind a bit of advertisement for something like that given the insanely high quality content of your channel, and how dumb RU-vid's policies are becoming.

It's an absolutely interesting video. Shame about the demonetization.

Indeed, hence the suspicion of Josephus' accuracy.

ReligionForBreakfast 😄 yup. Thank you, I am slowly making my way through the myth of disenchantment. It has disturbed me on occasion.

It’s a great book. I think he puts too much trust in self-reported surveys in the early chapters, but the later history of science chapters are pure gold.

Josephus was a Jew, and of the essene, pharasee and saduccee sects. And a General. Not Roman

Purr Cat yes, but the culture we live in affects our personality and writing style.

What have you done for me lately?! The Romans: everythin'🤨

Schooling sanitation roads.... ah yea but apart from that....? Oh man I did not expect a Spanish Inquisition...

What hasn't Rome done for us?!?

@@Zeldarw104 actually Romans didn't do anything that people before them didn't already do. Religion, writing, architecture, education, temples, etc were actually done by Africans first.

@@lotuslicciardi5872 Mesopotamia, Persia or India ain't Africa sis

If you live anywhere in Europe you probably do it nearly everyday. How cool is that.

@@MaxieDeca Yeah. In England the Roman roads have been converted into highways in parts.

@@MaxieDeca Few Romans walked in Denmark. A small fleet sailed around Jutland under the reign and ambitions of Octavian. After all the Roman Empire ended south of the Elbe. Until 1972.

You don’t have to imagine, you can go back in time and walk amongst the Romans. They say anything is possible, the Bible tells us so. What are you waiting for?

I have to remember that native Americans probably trod every “wilderness” space I’ve ever hiked in California.

Quite

Nah! The Sicari definitely did not want to be captured alive because the Romans were not planning on killing them quickly. If they thought they would fall, they fought, but if they thought they were to be taken alive, they probably killed themselves.

@@MogofWar the risk of being at your enemies' mercy is true for all sieges in the ancient world. do people commit mass suicide in all of them? no, not even remotely most.

@@manuelmed98 That could all come down to exactly what crimes your enemies intended to try you or what information they believe they could extract from you... such as, in the case of the Romans intending to take the inhabitants of Masada alive, there was the strong suspicion that Parthian agents were among the Zealots, and getting said Zealots to refuse to be taken alive was how said agents would take their secrets to their graves. The Sicarii thus had three fears; being enslaved, being tried for their crimes, or being interrogated. Either pain, abject humiliation, or both awaited them, but q valiant end didn't because the Romans, with the decisive advantages in every relevant category, were fully prepared to actually take them alive and do what they will once they were prisoners... So there was only one course of action that would foil the Romans, and that was taking their own lives.

Lady Natascha Agree!

I visited in 1995, it was the best part of my trip.

Yes indeed, especially since you knew that it was an inevitability that they would at some point breach their fortress and overwhelm you. Day by day you see your margin of safety slowly but surely eroded. That would be enough to drive many/most people insane.

Goat in a past life 🤷‍♂️ it’s actually an enjoyable climb. Not terribly difficult, but not a piece of cake

Jesus bless Israel✡✡🕂

Nice place for a picnic...

@@Jesus.purple hahaha

A former Bahai here, now Christian, and yes I would like to see a video about the Bahai faith. Hoping he will sometime do a video on Manichaeism and also the heretical Christian beliefs such as Arianism, Nestorianism and the Iconoclasts. I think his insights would be very interesting.

He spoke a little bit about Arianism in the video about the Nicene and other councils, but I too would like to hear more about these counter-Calcedonian beliefs as well as Manicheanism

Not much has been said so far about these Persian religions, except for the video on Mithras. Zoroanastrism has had a significant impact on 3 of the world's great religions, and is still practised in it's homelands plus the Parsis on the Indian subcontinent. I think a video on Zoroastrianism would be good as it has been so influential, even the whole concept of the Demiurge appears related to Zoroastrian beliefs. While I am putting in a shopping list a discussion on the origins, beliefs and practices of the Druze would be valuable as well. Thanks!

He is no longer in Israel, but I think he *may* have some plans to make one about Bahai. I am pretty sure he visited Haifa when he was here.

I'm the same way good to see a kindred spirit! I'm a history geek. 🙂

roman lore lovers 🤝 jewish lore appreciators masada fort

I have a few videos in the pipeline along those lines. I'll post a video about the Western Wall in Jerusalem for example in the next few months.

I can't wait to see them.

Yeah, it was scary looking over the edge.

ReligionForBreakfast imagine how the Romans had done that.

I would have Darwined myself by tripping over my own feet and sending myself over the edge 😂😂

Too theological and political.

He recently did a video on the concept of the Rapture that touches on dispensationalism.

Actually it is partly true. The true part is that the ramp is a natural formation, but it was practically lower than it was now. Roman Engineering did the trick of building the entire ramp, and also continue to fight just for the sake of victory.

It hurts my feelings

Early christians played no part whatsoever in the jewish revolt

watch the masada tv mini series from 1981. it is excellent

headrock next time please think (Can you?) before you diseminate hints of infinite BS of which your brain apparently is made of.

The Masada Palace had water enough to maintain large gardens all around about the grounds up there. The ancestors knew and did much without our technical stuff - probably Because they didn't have it.

_"probably?!?!_ Just Masada. The rest of Israel is a sand pit full of rocks. The _Holy Lands_ are just "shithole countries". pbs.twimg.com/media/B7w_8QNCQAEAT5c.png:large May god b-less. ; )

@@MichaelJonesC-4-7 Not true, only the southern half of israel is a desert, the other half is not, it's valleys and even forests, in israel there is a great deal of diversity of environment for such a small area. Not to mention that in the time of the romans the environment was different and richer. Why shitposting nonsense when you clearly don't know what you are talking about. And consider the stupid picture you linked to (seriously, is this an attempt to show how witty you are) it makes it harder to take you seriously.

@@user-qv6nv6gt1s למי איכפת? זין.

The synagogue is on the west side of the plateau, north of the siege ramp. As far as I know, its one of the earliest examples of a synagogue known to archaeologists.

ReligionForBreakfast Thanks for the reply. Is it facing Jerusalem or the Temple Mount?

ReligionForBreakfast Your work is commendable and your way of interpreting things is very different yet unique and very close to truth. Thanks on behalf of thousands like me who can't go there any soon. I suggest you write books too...

Jerusalem is northwest of Masada, so it is possible that the synagogue was purposely oriented on the west side of the plateau. I'd need to know more about the interior layout of the building to know whether or not the rituals conducted in the synagogue were meant to be oriented toward Jerusalem. And yes I'd like to write books, I have a few outlines drawn up...but I need to finish my PhD dissertation first!

ReligionForBreakfast All the best for all your endeavours! What's the PhD topic? Just curious!

I’ve read where the Romans just tossed the bodies over the sides of the cliff. Food for wild animals and nature. Romans did not bury bodies of those they killed in battle.

I'd like to see "a study" about religion in the 2004 Battlestar Galactica series XD it's definitely greek based, with many twists.

Well, it looks to be a Catholic thing only. As a Hindu I can confirm that we too had this " Die rather than surrender " attitude like the Jews. Only difference is that our children were given poisen for easy death and women jumped into fire & men would fight until death.

Not an in-depth answer, but I tried to quickly look it up and it seems to be a rather post-exegetical question (regarding modern judaism as well as christian denominations). I checked an acknowleged German online source (www.bibelwissenschaft.de/stichwort/28321/) and I'll try to provide you with an accurate translation of the summary: Es gibt keinen biblischen Text, der das Phänomen des Suizids an sich grundsätzlich reflektiert und in bestimmten Situationen den Suizid als beste oder schlechtest mögliche Wahl vorschreibt. Es gibt lediglich Fallbeschreibungen von Ausnahmesituationen, in denen der Suizid gewählt wird. Es sind durchweg individuelle Entscheidungen. So nehmen Simson und Eleasar ihren Tod in Kauf, während sie eine Heldentat vollbringen. Abimelech und Saul sind schon tödlich getroffen und wollen ihren Tod nur beschleunigen. Bei Sauls Waffenträger, Ahitofel, Simri, Ptolemäus, Rasi und Judas kann man noch am ehesten von Suizid sprechen. There is no biblical text which reflects the phenomenon of suicide on a basic level and describes suicide to be the best or worst choice in a given situation. There's only descriptions of extraordinary cases where suicide is chosen. These choises are always taken individually. Simson (/Samson) and Eleasar accept their death by acting heroically. Abimelech and Saul are already deathly injured and just want to speed up their death. Regarding the servants of Saul (I won't look up all the English names) it's probably more adequate to speak of suicide. __________________________ In Christianity, suicide seems to be viewed in a more negative light after the suicide of Jude, however it would be interesting (at least for me) why and how (modern) Judaism came to similar conclusions.

Blake Bailey, just my guess but the first Christians, so at least we are told, faced martyrdom willingly and gleefully because they expected to go to heaven. The concept of heaven didn't exist in Jewish culture so there was no need to put a stop to people seeking to die en masse in order to be with Christ. If you think about it, what should stop people from killing themselves if it's true that this life is just a transient painful stage and we get real life and happiness after death? And in antiquity, considering slavery and the social structure as a whole, the large majority of people had a miserable life. I believe that the institution of suicide as a major sin was a fix for the problems caused by too many people taking the promises of the new religion at their word.

Also, a good thing would be to go to Uman, Ukraine before or after a Rosh Hashanah (They probably wouldn't allow you to film on the holiday), as I think the fact that Jews are making Pilgrimages to sites outside of Biblical Israel, with the fact we can't go to sites in Iraq, given the political situation there, (though there is one site in Jordan, but non-Muslims are not allowed to enter, though recently Israeli Jews did disguise themselves as Israeli Arabs and make a pilgrimage there) would be surprising to people, especially since Jews are leaving Israel for a Pilgrimage to Ukraine.

It is a pretty cool looking place. I’m taking suggestions on how to use all my hours of footage. Educational vids come naturally.

3 months? Maybe someone has a more accurate answer.

Vespasian's rule as Emperor was one of the best since Augustus. He was very popular with the legions, and the people. He was also a very good administrator and fiscal manager. All this is well documented.

Helicopter en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter

They thought death was better than being brutally gang-raped in front of their families.