Masada - The Complete Epic Mini-Series

Koch Vision - Koch Vision

Release date: 2007-09-11
DVD
Director:Boris Sagal
Actors: Peter O'Toole, Peter Strauss, Barbara Carrera, Anthony Quayle, David Warner

Color, Drama, Earnest, English, Feature, Historical Epic, Historical Film, Made for TV, Movie, Political Unrest, Rousing, Suitable for Children, Sweeping, TV Miniseries, Television


Masada - The Complete Epic Mini-Series
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Masada - The Complete Epic Mini-Series

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Masada (Hebrew îöãä, pronounced Metzada, from îöåãä, metzuda, "fortress") is the name for a site of ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel on top of an isolated rock plateau, or large mesa, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea. After the First Jewish-Roman War (also known as the Great Jewish Revolt) a siege of the fortress by troops of the Roman Empire led to the mass suicide of Jewish rebels, who preferred death to surrender.

According to Josephus, a first-century Jewish Roman historian, Herod the Great fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE as a refuge for himself in the event of a revolt. In 66 CE, at the beginning of the First Jewish-Roman War against the Roman Empire, a group of Jewish extremists called the Sicarii overcame the Roman garrison of Masada. After the destruction of the Temple, the jewish rebels and their families fled Jerusalem and settled on the mountain top, using it as a base for raiding Roman settlements.[1]

The works of Josephus are the sole record of events that took place during the siege. According to modern interpretations of Josephus, the Sicarii were an extremist splinter group of the Zealots who were equally antagonistic to both Romans and other Jewish groups.[2] The Zealots (according to Josephus), in contrast to the Sicarii, carried the main burden of the rebellion, which opposed Roman rule of Judea (as the Roman province of Iudaea, its Latinized name).

The Sicarii on Masada were commanded by Elazar ben Ya'ir (who may have been the same person as Eleazar ben Simon), and in 70 CE they were joined by additional Sicarii and their families that were expelled from Jerusalem by the Jewish population with whom the Sicarii were in conflict shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple.

Archaeology indicates that they modified some of the structures they found there; this includes a building which was modified to function as a synagogue facing Jerusalem, (in fact, the building may originally have been one), although it did not contain a mikvah or the benches found in other early synagogues.[3] Remains of two mikvahs were found elsewhere on Masada.
Wits and weapons clash in this 1981 epic chronicling a rebellion by Jewish Zealots against Roman rule. After Jerusalem falls to the Romans in 70 A.D., nearly a thousand Jewish rebels led by Eleazar ben Jair (Peter Strauss) withdraw to a mountaintop fortress 30 miles southeast of Jerusalem. There, fed by defiance and an unlimited supply of cistern water, they make their stand against Roman rule, now and then conducting surprise raids against Roman positions down below. Whenever the Romans retaliate, Eleazar goes them one better. He and his men burn grain supplies, poison wells and generally make life miserable for the Roman 10th Legion, encamped in the baking desert surrounding the fortress. Frustrated, the Roman general Cornelius Flavius Silva (Peter O'Toole) brings in a brilliant siege master, Rubrius Gallus (Anthony Quayle), to devise a way to breach the mountaintop stronghold. When Gallus begins construction of an earthen ramp up the mountainside, rebels rain down arrows on the Roman workers. Flavius then uses Jews from nearby villages to build the ramp. Meanwhile, Flavius makes several attempts to persuade the rebel Jews to surrender, promising they will live in peace and prosperity under Roman rule. But the Jews are adamant; they want only one thing: freedom, or, at the very least, limited freedom under a Roman-appointed Jewish governor. But after Roman Emperor Vespasian vetoes peace plans, the ramp continues to rise. When it is finished, the Romans pull a massive battering ram on wheels--another of Gallus's stratagems--up the ramp, and the stage is set for the final battle deciding the fate of the Jews. This film had at least three incarnations: as a 6-hour, 34-minute TV series in 1980, and then in trimmed-down versions in 1981 and 1984. Although the filmed-on-location Masada is based on history, parts of it are fictionalized.

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Masada - The Complete Epic Mini-Series

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Much more than a costume drama, very powerful movie! I was a teenager when Masada aired as a mini-series back in the early 1980s and bought the movie to show my teenage children who are now studying Roman history.

While some of the historical "facts" may be in question, the portrayal of 70 AD period Roman and Jewish life and politics is captured in fantastic detail and brought to life by a very fine collection of actors (O'Toole and Strauss). The cinematography and music score are just outstanding and really add to the dramatic feel of the movie.

Based on the excellent book, The Antagonists, the story covers deep issues that are still relevant today.

Highly recommended!

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Masada - The Complete Epic Mini-Series

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Since I recently spent three weeks in Israel and visited Masada the Epic Mini-Series brought to life that wich I could only imagne. Thank you for provideing all this at such a reasonable cost.

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