Eleazar ben Yair
Eleazar ben Yair · Heroes of Israel
Commander of Masada, the last Jewish position holding out against Rome, until its fall in 73/74 CE.
73 or 74 CE, Masada, Judaean Desert
Masada, Judaean Desert
Eleazar ben Yair is recognized among Israeli contributors to Heroes of Israel — Commander of Masada, the last Jewish position holding out against Rome, until its fall in 73/74 CE.
Eleazar ben Yair was the commander of the Jewish garrison that held the desert fortress of Masada, the last position still resisting Roman legions after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE. He and his group, whom Josephus identifies as Sicarii, held the site until the Tenth Legion built a siege ramp and breached the wall in 73 or 74 CE. Josephus reports that the defenders chose death rather than capture, a scene that became one of the most powerful symbols of Jewish refusal to submit. Two honesty notes are required: Josephus is the sole literary source for Eleazar, and historians actively debate how far the mass-death account reflects events; excavation of Masada since the 1960s has confirmed the fortress, the Roman siege works and the ramp, but not the details of the final night.
Verify and go deeper with these external references.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Masada
Commander of Masada, the last Jewish position holding out against Rome, until its fall in 73/74 CE.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Masada
