01x19 - Masada

[bunniefuu]

[music]

I'm going on an adventure.

There's only one way to figure it all out.

Unzip the archeology. Make it naked.

[music]

Rabbis, Stars of David, Bagels, and the Synagogue.

The Pope, the Cross, candy cane, the Church.

Today we think of Judaism and Christianity...

...as distinct and powerful world religions,

but years ago they were minorities in the Roman world

And the Romans were hell-bent...

...on wiping them off the face of the earth.

History tells us that Jewish rebels...

...fought the Romans to the bitter end.

And early Christian historians would have us believe...

...that followers of Jesus refused to fight Rome,

they turned the other cheek and fled to Pella in Jordan.

But is that the whole story?

Isn't it possible that Jesus followers fought the Romans...

...tooth and nail, shoulder to shoulder...

...with their Jewish brethren?

[SIMCHA] Rome crucified Jesus for being a rebel.

Just another Jew making trouble.

The more Rome clamped down on the troublemakers,

the harder the Jews fought back.

Thousands of crucifixions, and years later...

...Rome wanted to finish it once and for all.

In AD they entered Jerusalem...

...and destroyed the Jewish Temple.

They took survivors as slaves...

...and with the gold they stole from the Temple,

they built the t*rture theatre we all know as Coliseum.

They thought it was over. It wasn't.

A group of Jewish rebels called the "Sacirii"...

...were stationed at a place called Masada,

a palace fortress they had taken from Roman soldiers...

...years before.

Masada became the last stand of the rebels,

who refused to surrender to the Romans.

What then took place has made this site...

...a symbol of resistance for people around the world.

What can archeology tell us about the Masada rebels?

And is it possible that there were Jesus followers...

...among the fighters?

This is Masada, the legendary Masada.

years ago, Jerusalem had already been burnt.

The whole country had been subdued.

There's only a handful of rebels,

and they were up on top of that rock,

and they were still fighting.

[SIMCHA] Some say the Jews started this w*r.

Some say the Romans did.

Before I go up there,

I need to go back to where all this began, Jerusalem,

to uncover the critical events that led to this rebellion.

I met up with Professor Isaiah Gafni,

st century historian,

to talk about the conditions of those times.

The Romans sent to this province governors...

...that were ill equipped to rule...

...in a very challenging part of the world.

Governors by definition just came to rip off people.

And that's how-

Exactly. Roman rule was not only corrupted,

it was bankrupt.

[SIMCHA] The Central Bank was in Jerusalem,

in the Holy Temple.

Monies collected from Jews around the world...

...were kept here, where Jews prayed,

and the ground was considered so sacred,

non-Jews could be sentenced to death...

...if they entered the inner courts.

And yet, in AD a Roman governor...

...planted his pagan sandals on God's domain.

Now you got to understand what that means.

It means a pagan was entering the Holy ground,

the physical presence of God on earth,

and he was essentially desecrating it.

But that wasn't enough. He grabs talents.

talents was a lot of money in those days.

And the Jews had enough.

Enough of the crucifixions,

enough of the beheadings,

enough of the stealing of the money,

enough of the taxation, enough of the oppression,

and they said it's revolution time.

[SIMCHA] No ordinary revolution.

It required a messiah to lead them.

According to Jewish faith,

a messiah was a political figure sent by God...

...to lead the faithful to freedom.

The Sicari were front row and waiting.

This group of Sicarii developed a religious ideology...

...that claimed you cannot be subservient to Rome.

These Sicari, they were dagger men.

Yeah. Well what happens is ultimately...

...they wind up in places like Jerusalem with daggers hidden.

They're t*rrorists of sort.

They're there to sow terror and fear.

This is a group that have Galilean roots.

The Galileans were troublemakers,

as far as the Romans were concerned.

Yes. As far as the Romans were concerned.

Yes and in fact when these Galilean showed up...

...in Jerusalem they encounter local segments of zealots...

...that are also against the Romans.

The Sicari were from the Galilee.

So was Jesus, and so were most of his followers.

The Sicari were considered by the Romans...

...zealots, troublemakers, political opponents,

and so was Jesus, and so were his followers.

The Sicari believed they were living the end of days,

messianic times. So was Jesus and so were his followers.

Now the Sicari, and the Jesus movement...

...may have differed about tactics but they would have...

...appreciated each other's anti-Roman stance...

...and religious zealotry.

In the Sicarii go down to Masada...

...where they break into the armory.

They take arms, come to Jerusalem,

try to take over the mini rebellion...

...that had already had begun in Jerusalem.

They were unsuccessful. They were pushed out.

They go back to Masada and they bide their time there...

...from until when the w*r catches up with them.

So is it possible that some of the followers of Jesus...

...ended up seeking refuge with the Sicari at Masada?

I'm going to go and check it out.

The rebels were on top.

All around here was the greatest Roman legion of all time,

the tenth legion.

If you were a Roman...

...and you try to make your way up the snake path,

you'd end up dead.

So, what the Romans had to do was to build siege engines.

They had to build a giant ramp,

they had to surround the whole place.

Today, archaeology confirms the broad outlines of the story.

But as they say, God is in the details.

What does archaeology have to tell us about the details?

[SIMCHA] This is not the way I would go up Masada...

...with the cable car.

I would go up the snake path, that's the way to do it.

But I'm here with Guy Stiebel,

who is the co-director of the Masada expedition...

...and he likes to take the cable car.

It's nice to blame someone, yeah?

[Laughs.] So blame me.

[SIMCHA] Guy Stiebel explains...

...that the story of the Sicari,

the rebels who took refuge here at Masada,

comes to us from only one source.

st century historian, Flavius Josephus.

If it hadn't been for Josephus' writings,

this place would have been a rock in the distance...

...with no story.

And archaeologists couldn't have understood...

...what they found here.

As it is, Archaeologists have uncovered evidence...

...for how the Sicari lived here as good Jews.

They had ritual baths, and they ate kosher,

and they prayed in their synagogue.

It was used as a real synagogue.

People prayed here. After their praying,

they had a little bit of Schnapps, maybe vodka.

Just, just like today, right?

It was a living community that lived here.

You can see where they live.

I know where the baker used to live.

I have a receipt that was given by the baker saying,

I'm giving one challah every Sabbath.

So this is actually giving part of your bread...

...to the priest every week.

It's actually the most ancient evidence for this practice.

[eagle cry]

[GUY] These rooms were converted into living quarters..

...by the refugees themselves, by the rebels.

So, what he did here was just plastering the wall.

So the rebel, the baker, came in here,

he was assigned this little room,

as his personal tiny spartan condominium, if you will.

He came in here, it was supposed to be a wall...

...but he turned it into a room.

And as he plastered it he used his hands to plaster it...

...and you literally have the finger marks.

Yeah.

Archaeology doesn't get better than this, eh?

No. It can't.

When I'm here in this simple living quarters of the baker,

I put my hands on his hands, literally.

I feel tremendous sympathy, tremendous connection.

These people weren't just sitting around...

...saying who could we k*ll next?

No.

[SIMCHA] As Guy shows me around,

I become aware that this isn't just the headquarters...

...of militant assassins.

This is a community of refugees...

...running for their lives from the Romans.

There was probably a mix of anti-roman types here.

I started to think of Jesus and his followers.

There was Simon, who was a zealot.

Zealot was a term applied to those...

...who acted with God's zeal fighting Roman paganism ...

...and Jewish collaborators.

So, they called Simon Zealotes.

There was also Judas Iscariot.

Could it be that he was a Sicari?

You know that there is a theory that Judas Iscariot,

just like you have Simon Zealotes,

that those two guys at the very least,

one was a zealot, one was a Sicari.

You refer to his name in English...

...but if you refer to the Greek, or Latin,

or actually to the Hebrew version,

his name was Judas Ish-cariot:

The man who came from Cariot.

So, it's nothing to do with the Sicarii.

[SMCHA] Cariot means, "place".

Why would you call Judas the Man from Place?

The fact is, Romans corrupted people's names all the time.

For example, they called Plato, Aphalton.

Some scholars confirm that Iscariot...

...is a Roman jumble for Sicari.

If Judas Iscariot, Judas the Sicari,

followed Jesus until his death,

then it's quite possible that some Sicari...

...praying in the Synagogue here at Masada...

...were followers of Jesus.

Is it possible that there were early Christians at Masada?

We have no proof whatsoever.

However, when I'm saying that we know about other sects,

as Jewish sects at Masada, its based on facts.

I have scripts that are typical of them,

so we have hard evidence.

So, if you ask me as an archeologist...

...or historian, no.

We don't have any evidence of Christianity.

[SIMCHA] But I can say...

...you show me evidence that they weren't here.

Needless to say, I'm not convinced.

So, what are the facts?

Well, he tells me here in the Synagogue,

archaeologists found scrolls buried in the ground.

Holy writings on goatskins.

And inside one of the scrolls...

...was the resurrection of the dry bones.

[SIMCHA] "The Resurrection of the dry bones"...

...is a portion of the biblical book of Ezekial.

This scroll has been attributed to a Jewish sect called Essenes.

Like Christian monks today, Essenes took vows of celibacy,

and lived together in communities.

Like the Sicari of the time, they awaited the messiah,

and believed that they were living the last days...

...prior to the final judgement.

The scroll reflects the Essenes belief....

...that on the day of Judgement,

God would raise the dead for a new life.

Some scholars suggest that this scroll...

...may have been buried by the rebels at Masada...

...as a last act before their death.

According to Josephus,

the Masada rebels didn't die by Roman sword.

They committed su1c1de en mass.

The fact is that theth legion of the roman empire,

the mightiest force, the Delta Force of ancient times...

...came here surrounded the place...

and couldn't break it for months or years on end.

And the fact is, at the end, one way or another, the defenders..

...some thousand people chose death rather than sl*very.

[SIMCHA] There is archaeological evidence around Masada...

...for a long and brutal siege.

The Roman camp, the spur...

...on which the soldiers built a ramp to crest the wall.

But what archaeology on Masada confirms the story of su1c1de?

[SIMCHA] These are the last words,

which, according to the historian Josephus,

were uttered by the commander of the people...

...who defended Masada.

He told them "Come while our hands are free,

and can hold a sword, let them do a noble service.

Let us die not as slaves,

and let's leave this world as free men...

...in the company of our wives and children."

[SIMCHA] I went with Guy to the Northern Tower.

He talked about what archaeologists found...

...that supports the broad outlines...

...of this sad story of su1c1de.

They came eye to eye with what they described as...

...the last minute of Masada,

when they found skeletons or bones of a man,

a woman and a child.

That seems to fit the Josephus story.

He says that the defenders of Masada voted,

that each one went to his own family,

embraced them, k*lled them, then they k*lled each other,

the man, and then the last guy fell on his sword.

There is a skeleton of a man, a skeleton of a woman,

a skeleton of a child.

Do you think it really happened?

That they committed su1c1de?

It's very tempting to take the narration of Josephus,

take his account and say this is what we have here.

It is very tempting.

[SIMCHA] Can we take Josephus so literally?

I mean, if all the rebels at Masada committed su1c1de,

how could Josephus know about this story?

I talked with st-century historian...

...and Josephus expert, Professor Steve Mason,

about the very convenient way...

...this story gets to Josephus.

[MASON] Josephus claims that an older woman...

...as well as a younger woman with five children,

hid in a cavern or cistern,

there were big cisterns dug into the cave,

they hid there and escaped...

...while everyone else was busy k*lling themselves.

The defenders of Masada had water, giant cisterns.

This is just one of them. Come look.

[MASON] They hid and escaped.

And then when the Romans arrived on the scene...

and called out "anybody there?"

They responded "yes, we're here" and were taken into protection.

And Josephus de-briefed them?

Well, that's the question.

Where does this story come from?

Do you think it might be just a literary device?

-Yeah.

[SIMCHA] So, if the literary source is in question,

then what archaeological evidence do we have...

...that the Masada rebels committed su1c1de?

The most profound archaeological proof...

...that Josephus' story is true are the Lots.

pieces of pottery with names on them,

used by the rebels...

...to pick the men who would do the deed.

The men k*lled their women and children,

and then, by lot, men were chosen to k*ll the other men.

The last ten then chose lots to determine the one...

...who would k*ll them, and then himself.

Written on the lots are names like "son of the donut".

Was that the Baker? And one was Ben Ya'ir.

The Sicari leader was named Eleazar Ben Y'air.

But where are the bones?

people d*ed here...

...and Guy has told me of only skeletons found.

There should be more human remains.

You have to bear in mind...

...that the Romans stayed here for several more months...

...on top and several more years down in the west.

So, they would have b*rned the bodies.

Yes, so this is just common sense.

I mean, they would stay here with one thousand corpses?

Why do that?

[SIMCHA] Romans would have...

...b*rned all evidence of the su1c1de.

And yet, in , skeletons remains were found...

...in a cave archaeologists call Cave -.

Unofficial reports also say that a scroll was found in this cave.

Does this scroll place Jesus followers on Masada?

[SIMCHA] Unofficial reports say that...

...a scroll was found in Cave -...

...that could connect Jesus followers to Masada.

I met with Professor James Tabor,

archaeologist and historian,

about the contents of the Cave.

This is a mystery.

You're saying a cave was found. Bones in there,

artifacts in there. Nobody's talking about that.

Well there is a journalist from Australia.

His name is Donovan Joyce,

and he does claim that he went to Masada...

...and saw a scroll that had come from this cave,

written by a Nazarene.

[SIMCHA] Hold on.

Jesus was from Nazareth.

Can this be proof that Jesus followers...

...were at Masada, after all?

But the scroll got sort of smuggled out.

So Masada still has its secrets?

It does.

One thing that does checkout in a really odd way,

the scroll he saw that's now disappeared,

he said it had a date on it.

Era Pesach, which in Hebrew as you know,

is the evening of Passover.

So I looked at Josephus and he says...

...that Masada fell on the th day of the rd Greek month.

I have a computer calendar.

I typed in th, AD, "bfzzz".

It comes out Passover evening.

You talk about a Last Supper.

If there were Nazarenes at Masada,

picture this emotion.

Their leader ate a Passover meal and d*ed the next morning.

They're eating a Passover meal and dying the next morning.

That's, that's kind of chilling to think about.

[SIMCHA] I went back to Jerusalem...

...to find out from Guy about evidence of a Last Supper.

Is it possible that in that cave, in cave twenty-one,

they were sitting down to a Passover-

, No. -.

-they were sitting down to a Passover meal?

No, no.

Did you find lamb, for example?

Yes, but that mustn't-

Among the defenders? -Yeah.

But could that be the remains of a Passover meal?

No. How can you say these are the remains of the meal?

They lived there for or years.

They were eating goats and they were eating lamb.

No, I'm just saying it's possible...

...that some of the early Jesus followers were also up there.

Everything's possible.

I can't as an archaeologist or as an historian,

if I don't have any kind of evidence,I can't say anything.

You need hard archaeological evidence.

Yes.

[SIMCHA] Not dissuaded by the lack of Pascal lamb,

I decided to track down one last expert,

Bill Klassen, early Christian Historian.

[BILL] I think that there were some Christians up there.

Of course we have no proof of that...

...but it seems to me to be a very probable situation.

Why?

Well, let's take a Jewish family in Jerusalem.

And you have two members of that family have become Christians.

They follow Jesus as the Messiah they are still Jews of course.

The others two of them have joined the Zealot group...

...and they're here to fight against Rome...

...and the others are kind of lukewarm,

but they're saying it's getting hot here...

...and the only way to survive is to leave.

So why don't we go to Masada?

And it's quite likely in my judgement...

...that the Christians in that family would have said:

"we're going with you. We're staying together"

[SIMCHA] The fact is that we have archaeological proof...

...that there was a mixture of people on Masada.

But they all believed in messianic times.

And maybe some of these guys were Jesus followers.

If a Jesus follower...

...was sitting in the synagogue next to the baker,

how could we know, years later?

What was the difference at that time...

...between a Jew and a Jesus follower?

Well, one was waiting for the Messiah to come,

and the other was waiting for the Messiah to come back.

Whatever their difference, they stood as one force against Rome.