Masada- Fact or Fiction ?

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

The " funny" Thing is that in light of these references, a Rabbi in Jerusalem last year came up with a plan to put sachest of pigs blood in the roofs of buses to prevent muslim suicide attacks from happening.

M.VIB.M.

PS It is well known that pork was a FAVOURITE dish with the Romans, and that Romans loved to mock others, including religions, so leaving or slaughtering pigs on purpouse on top of Masada does not strike me as being strange at all! if not for sacrifice, then at least for mockery.

[Jona Lendering]

leaving or slaughtering pigs on purpouse on top of Masada does not strike me as being strange at all! if not for sacrifice

I would not be surprised either, but there is a problem: Yigal Yadin did not report it. This suggests that this explanation had not occurred to him, which in turn suggests that the bones were found in contexts which Yadin felt that he had to deny. So I would like to know more about it.

And before people start to blame Yadin: that would be like the modern sport of Schliemann-bashing. Both kept their notes, and can be controled; both have done so because they felt that they were not in the position to offer definitive statements - Schliemann because he knew Troy was too complex, and Yadin because he had more important things to do than archaeology. This man was a soldier and used Masada as a weapon in the war of propaganda.

You may dislike this, but he had reasons to make scholarship subordinate to other things, and he took measures to see that his errors would be corrected. It's like Schliemann's pinacles in Troy. Schliemann and Yadin are to be admired, not despised.

[ambrosius]

The " funny" Thing is that in light of these references, a Rabbi in Jerusalem last year came up with a plan to put sachest of pigs blood in the roofs of buses to prevent muslim suicide attacks from happening.

Neat idea. Trouble is, who's going to volunteer to put it there? :o

M.VIB.M.

PS It is well known that pork was a FAVOURITE dish with the Romans, and that Romans loved to mock others, including religions, so leaving or slaughtering pigs on purpouse on top of Masada does not strike me as being strange at all! if not for sacrifice, then at least for mockery.

Yeah, I thought that. Didn't they have the annual 'pig-run', hiring
swineherds to drive the little porkers into Rome, where they could
be turned into sausages? And as Sally Grainger told me, animals
were meant to be sacrificially offered to the gods by priests, before
being butchered (not sure how universal that was, though). And
wasn't it the case that the Romans deliberately desecrated the
Temple in Jerusalem by dragging pigs' carcasses over the altar? :oops:

Mike

[Demetrius]

Ave,

I have to assume the Israeli govt and other archeologists have searched for human ashes. The Israeli govt has always poured alot of money in archeology. Everywhere you step is an archeology site and they keep coming up with something new. Just like Turkey.

How knows. Having said this, Masada has become part of the Israeli psyche. This where airborne recruits have their graduation ceremoney. Fact or fiction, I have visited Masada and it is quite impressive. I walked up and I walked down. Herod was quite a builder. This was my thought. Masada is tall and the terrain is horrific and the weather is even worse. Why suicide, maybe they were massacred. The Romans must have pretty pissed off to endure a siege like that.

Vale,

Demetrius

[Jona Lendering]

Masada has become part of the Israeli psyche.

Yes. There's a poem from the early Zionist movement, in which the line "Masada will not fall again" returns several times. Like "Remember the Alamo", this has become a focus in Israeli thought, and Masada became a lieu de mémoire.

[M. Demetrius]

The " funny" Thing is that in light of these references, a Rabbi in Jerusalem last year came up with a plan to put sachest of pigs blood in the roofs of buses to prevent muslim suicide attacks from happening.


Neat idea. Trouble is, who's going to volunteer to put it there?

OH, well, there are many Christians and atheists/agnostics of all backgrounds living in Israel, and they'd probably like to have safer bus rides. If the idea was presented, I'll bet they could get volunteers. But what do I know? If I lived there, though, I'd volunteer, just to up the odds of getting where I was going when I rode the bus. Am I officially off topic yet?