Suicide Over Slavery?

Perched at the top of the hill in Masada is the Masada National Park, home to the ruins of the first fortress built by Jonathan, the High Priest, in about 100 BC. What makes this place famous is not the impressive views of the Dead Sea, but rather, the ultimate end of all the occupants during the Roman siege.
 
Masada was the last rebel stronghold by the Jews and in 73 AD, the Roman army tried to conquer it. Over a period of a few months, the Romans built a dirt road up to the main gate and brought a battering ram up the mountain to knock down the gates. The Jews inside constructed a wall of wood to support the gate. However, the Romans then set the wall on fire. With one last night inside their fortress, while the Romans slept expecting to take over in the morning, the Jews, led by Eleazar Ben Yair, convinced the 10 community leaders of the ~1000 person community to commit suicide rather than be taken as slaves by the Romans. In his speech, Eleazar said "Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom as an excellent funeral monument for us.,,, we have preferred death before slavery" The defeat of Masada was the last conquest of Judea by the Romans. And the Romans were surprised to find only the dead left when they arrived in the morning.

Today, Masada is a pilgrimage for many Jews and there is much debate as to whether the group suicide was necessary and honorable. Regardless of public opinion on the matter, Masada provides a wealth of information of life during that time. What's most impressive is their development of water dams to lead floodwater to 12 cisterns in this desert region. The complex is filled with decorated bath houses and swimming pools that used the water from the cisterns.

For the tourist like me, I hiked up to Masada at 5:40AM to watch the sunrise at 6:40AM. It would have been a serene moment for me if there weren't several hundred kids at the top with me. After the sunrise, I spent the morning exploring the many ruins.The sunrise hike up to Masada is on the checklist of things to do in Israel.