The story told by Josephus Flavius

The primary and only source of what happened at Masada originates from Josephus Flavius the Jewish Roman historian, writing in Greek for an upper class Roman audience, who was commissioned by Roman emperor Vespasian to write the history of Jews.

A vast literature deals with the authenticity of Josephus’ accounts. The writings of Josephus Flavius inspired many academic debates and various answers were given to the major question how credible he is and in what aspects of his accounts could be trusted. On many points stories told by him turned out to be no more than literary topos. In many instances his descriptions even contradicts military logic.