Roman Legion ‘came, Saw, Conquered’ Masada In Just Weeks
Masada National Park, the site of the Roman siege in 73 CE. COURTESY OMER ZE’EVI-BERGER “> A newly published study suggests that the siege laid by the Roman army to the Judean desert fortress of Masada in 73 CE lasted…
Masada National Park, the site of the Roman siege in 73 CE. COURTESY OMER ZE’EVI-BERGER
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A newly published study suggests that the siege laid by the Roman army to the Judean desert fortress of Masada in 73 CE lasted no more than a few weeks, contrary to the long-held belief that the siege against a band of Jewish rebels lasted three years.
The Tel Aviv University (TAU) study utilized a range of modern technologies, including drones with remote sensors and 3D digital modeling to generate the first objective, quantified analysis of the elements involved in the siege.
The technology allowed the researchers to generate high-resolution measurements of the height, width, and length of all features of the Roman army’s siege system, which included eight camps and a stone wall surrounding most of the site.
The scientists then built an accurate 3D model based on the data, enabling them to generate an exact calculation of the structures’ volume and how long it took to build them.
“We know that approximately 6,000 to 8,000 soldiers participated in the siege of Masada, and reliable estimates point to the quantity of earth and stones a Roman soldier was able to move in one day,” said Hai Ashkenazi, head of the geoinformatics department at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who participated in the study.
The researchers concluded that the construction of the siege system took about two weeks.
“Once the assault ramp was completed, the Romans launched a brutal attack, ultimately capturing the fortress within a few weeks at the most. This leads us to the conclusion that the entire siege of Masada lasted no more than several weeks,” added Ashkenazi.
