Editing Masada (section)

==== Historicity of mass suicide ====
According to [[Josephus]], the [[siege of Masada]] by [[Roman Empire|Roman]] troops from 73 to 74 [[Common Era|CE]], at the end of the [[First Jewish–Roman War]], ended in the [[mass suicide]] of the 960 [[Sicarii]] rebels who were hiding there. However, the archaeological evidence relevant to this event is ambiguous<ref name="Sloane2017">{{cite news |last1=Sloane |first1=Elizabeth |date=May 16, 2017 |title=Did the Jews Kill Themselves at Masada Rather Than Fall Into Roman Hands? |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/MAGAZINE-is-the-masada-tradition-true-1.5472686 |access-date=21 March 2021 |work=[[Haaretz Newspaper]]}}</ref><ref name="Magness2020">{{cite web |last1=Magness |first1=Jodi |date=May 27, 2020 |title=The Remarkable Story of Masada: Guest Post by Jodi Magness |url=https://ehrmanblog.org/the-story-of-masada-guest-post-by-jodi-magness/ |access-date=21 March 2021 |website=The Bart Ehrman Blog |publisher=The Bart Ehrman Foundation}}</ref> and rejected entirely by some scholars.<ref name="Sloane2017"/><ref name="Rodgers2007">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/makinghistoryjos00rodg |title=Making History: Josephus And Historical Method |date=2007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-15008-9 |editor=Zuleika Rodgers |page=[https://archive.org/details/makinghistoryjos00rodg/page/n411 397] |url-access=limited}}</ref> Eric Cline also believes that Josephus is retelling a similar event that happened to him during the [[Siege of Yodfat]]. There he and another soldier, the last survivors, decided to surrender rather than have one kill the other.<ref name="Cline">{{cite journal |last1=Cline |first1=Eric H |title=Decoding the ancient tale of mass suicide in the Judaean desert {{!}} Aeon Essays |journal=Aeon |date=20 Feb 2017 |url=https://aeon.co/essays/decoding-the-ancient-tale-of-mass-suicide-in-the-judaean-desert |language=en}}</ref>