Masada Revisited
A Play in Ten Scenes
by
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What really happened at Masada in 73 ce? The description given by the historian Josephus in his book, "The Jewish War Against the Romans," is very unsatiafying. This version is a lot more satisfying. Instead of committing mass suicide as given in Josephus., the men after dispatching their wives and children fight and kill many Romans before the are killed.
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About the Book
The play "Masada Revisited" is a semi - fictionalized retelling in play form of an incident set in the locale of Masada, a place near the Dead Sea in modern day Israel, that occurred in 73 ce. It refers to the last event of the Jewish War against the Romans that lasted from 66 ce to 70 ce with cleanup operations lasting until 73 ce, Masada being the last one. The only historical refence is from the book "The Jewish War Against the Romans" written by the historian Josephus who lived in the first century ce. Josephus was not an eyewitness to the incident and was notoriously inaccurate sometimes as well as having to write under the constraint of ingratiating himself with his Roman sponsors. Many Jewish people object to the original form of the story. This version is, hopefully, less objectionable. The book "Judas the Galilean" by Daniel Unterbrink published by iUniverse contains some background material that is referred to in the play "Masada Revisited".
About the Author
Arthur Ziffer is currently retired. He worked many years as a mathematician. He has published four other books. One is a play about Isaac Newton, "On the Shoulders of Giants," written with co-author Herbert Hauptman Two is a book titled One Act Plays. Three is a book titled Two Act Plays. And four is a book of two plays titled Countertransference and Retribution.