New Study: Roman siege of Masada lasted 4-9 weeks
A recently concluded archaeological study on the Roman siege system at Masada, published in Cambridge University Press and the Journal of Roman Archaeology, reported that during the First Jewish–Roman War in 72 CE, the Roman legion laid siege to the Jewish mountaintop stronghold of Masada, building over four kilometers of walls, including towers, in less than two weeks.
While the mountaintop fortress has been the focus of decades of intense study, the Roman siege system surrounding it has received comparatively little academic attention. In 2017, an international team of researchers, led by Hai Ashkenazi from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Goethe University Frankfurt, used contemporary archaeological methods and cutting-edge technology to analyze the Roman camp. The desert environment and the remote location allowed for the superb preservation of this system. Today, it is easy to identify its various features. Even the wood used to construct the siege ramp is still intact.
Masada is situated on top of an isolated rock plateau on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod the Great built two palaces on the mountain, fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE in the event of a revolt, and provided the palaces with an endless food supply. According to the first-century Jewish Roman historian Josephus, the siege of Masada by Roman troops from 72 to 73 CE at the end of the First Jewish–Roman War. Despite previous claims that the siege ended in the mass suicide of the 960 Sicarii rebels who were hiding there, the archaeological evidence relevant to a mass suicide event is ambiguous at best and is rejected entirely by some scholars.
Following a comprehensive surface survey and photogrammetric 3D modeling, the study reported that the Roman army built an extensive siege system around the fortress during the battle over Masada. This system included eight army camps, a siege wall (circumvallation), and a large ramp approaching the fortress’s wall. The report concluded that the circumvallation wall stood to a height of 2–2.5 meters and served several functions – as an obstacle, a means of psychological warfare, and a platform to mount counterattacks. The circumvallation wall sent a message to the besieged that consent was no longer an option, and the assault was near. It might arouse feelings of desperation or lower morale among the defenders. In some cases, the construction of the circumvallation wall and siege ramp led to the surrender of the besieged. The downside of building a circumvallation was that it demanded large amounts of time and labor, delaying the assault.
The study concluded that the main aim of the wall around Masada was to send a message to the besieged population. Therefore, it only needed to appear impressive from the besieged’s point of view and be functional for a short time. While the wall system was over four kilometers long and undertaken with great effort, it was relatively low, and the ditches built in front of Roman army camps were fairly shallow.
In addition, the Roman army either built or re-used a network of trails connecting the Judean Plateau and the eastern plain.
The siege wall, with 15 towers incorporated into it, was approximately 4,300 meters long. The walls of the camps, which were not directly integrated into the main wall, were included to offer optimal surveillance of the surrounding plain and repel possible escape or relief attempts from that direction. The total length of the Roman defensive structures reached 6,300 meters.
This underscores the discipline and organization of the Roman army, capable of mobilizing and coordinating large amounts of labor in a hostile desert environment. According to the researchers, the siege lasted four to nine weeks.
A 1995 study refuted the belief that the siege lasted several years, suggesting that it only lasted four to nine weeks. That study claimed the ramp was never finished, and the Jewish-held fortress was conquered by Roman soldiers who accessed it through the southern gate. A later study by Gwyn Davies and Jodi Magness rejected that theory, concluding that the Romans did break into the fortress using the ramp.
The recent study confirmed Davies and Magness’s conclusions. The researchers noted that large sections of the eastern wall disappeared or were covered by colluvial sediments and that substantial erosion occurred on Masada’s side since the 1st century CE. Based on this, they concluded that the siege of Masada ended with the breach of its western wall by Roman siege machines.
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