Besieging Masada

Besieging Masada

Dramatically placed on a plateau with drops of 400m to the east and 90m to the west, Masada translates from Hebrew as fortress. It became just that when Herod the Great built a magnificent palace complex upon it between 37 and 31 BC, the remains of which are in fantastic shape today. But the site isn’t only notable for its connection to the bible-famed King of Judaea. Masada was also the stronghold of some of the survivors of a Jewish revolt and, in response, the locus of a Roman siege in the early 70s AD. For this first of two parts, Tristan, from our sibling podcast The Ancients, spoke to Jodi Magness from the University of North Carolina. Jodi co-directed the 1995 excavations of the Roman siege works at Masada, and in this episode, she tells Tristan about the archaeological findings at the site, many of which are still visible to the untrained eye.


Jodi is the author of 'Masada: From Jewish Revolt to Modern Myth'.


Part 2, which focuses on the fall of Masada, the myths and the siege's legacy, is available here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(1498)

Georgian Musings on Homosexuality

Georgian Musings on Homosexuality

Eamonn O'Keeffe is a young Oxford Researcher in the midst of a PhD. He stopped off in Wakefield Library to look at a journal Yorkshire farmer Matthew Tomlinson to see if the author had any opinions on...

20 Feb 202015min

The Boundless Sea

The Boundless Sea

We are a land animal. But millions of us have taken to the sea to live, fight, travel, eat, escape and seek fame and fortune. I am obsessed with the sea. On how humans have built ever more efficient a...

19 Feb 202022min

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz

This is the most remarkable father and son story I have ever come across.We are still marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz here at History Hit and this time I am talking to hist...

17 Feb 202045min

West Africa before the Europeans

West Africa before the Europeans

Toby Green has been fascinated by the history of West Africa for decades after he visited as a student and heard whispers of history that didn’t appear in text books. Years later he wrote ‘Fistful of ...

16 Feb 202026min

Suicide at the Fall of Nazi Germany

Suicide at the Fall of Nazi Germany

There is almost no end to the dark secrets that emerge from the smashed ruins of 1945 Europe. Dr Florian Huber has spent years researching the fascinating story of the epidemic of suicide that spread ...

13 Feb 202022min

The Adventuress

The Adventuress

In the 1930s Lady Lucy Houston was one of the richest women in England and a household name, notorious for her virulent criticisms of the government, but politics had been far from her mind when, as y...

12 Feb 202021min

A Very Stable Genius

A Very Stable Genius

Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig are both Pulitzer Prize winning journalists at the Washington Post.They've written a new book with yet more revelations from inside the Trump White House so Dan seized ...

10 Feb 202022min

Dresden. 75 years on.

Dresden. 75 years on.

75 years ago this week Dresden, in Saxony, known as the ‘jewel box’ because of its stunning architecture was obliterated by British and American bombers. The flames reached almost a mile high. Around ...

9 Feb 202035min

Populært innen Historie

rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
rss-katastrofe
henrettelsespodden
historier-som-endret-norge
historier-som-endret-verden
rss-benadet
aftenposten-historie
rss-nadelose-nordmenn-gestapo
med-egne-oyne
historiepodden
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
rss-frontkjemperne
sektledere
rss-historiske-romanser-svik-drap-og-kjarlighet
rss-gamle-greier
liberal-halvtime
taakeprat
vare-historier
virkelig-grusomt
rss-politisk-preik