Editing Sicarii (section)

==History==
{{See also|Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70)|Zealot Temple Siege|Pillage of Ein Gedi}}
The Sicarii are known to history from only one source – [[Josephus]]. In a 2009 study ''The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War'', Professor Mark Brighton of [[Concordia University Irvine]] wrote that Josephus referred to the Sicarii directly fifteen times in eight separate contexts of ''[[The Jewish War]]'':<ref name="s267">{{cite book | last=Brighton | first=Mark Andrew | title=The Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War: Rhetorical Analysis and Historical Observations | publisher=Society of Biblical Lit | date=2009 | isbn=978-1-58983-406-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_H8_k6Su-oC | access-date=2025-04-14 | page=49}}</ref>
* The Sicarii rise during the time of Felix (2.254)<ref name="s267"/>
* They join the rebels (2.425)<ref name="s267"/>
* They raid Engaddi (4.400)<ref name="s267"/>
* Mentioned in a passage about the Idumeans (4.516)<ref name="s267"/>
* The summary condemnation of Jewish rebels (7.253, 254, 262)<ref name="s267"/>
* Masada narrative (7.275, 297, 311)<ref name="s267"/>
* Activity in Egypt (7.410, 412, 415)<ref name="s267"/>
* In the cities around Cyrene/Catullus narrative (7.437, 444)<ref name="s267"/>

Brighton also noted five passages where the Sicarii are not mentioned directly but their activity is implied from the wider context:
* Rise and activity of Judas in 6 CE (2.117–18)<ref name="s267"/>
* Capture of Masada (2.408)<ref name="s267"/>
* Rise and fall of Menahem (2.433–48)<ref name="s267"/>
* Joint activity with Simon ben Gioras—Part 1 (2.652–54)<ref name="s267"/>
* Joint activity with Simon ben Gioras—Part 2 (4.503–8)<ref name="s267"/>

Victims of the Sicarii are said by Josephus to have included the [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest]] [[Jonathan (High Priest)|Jonathan]], and 700 Jewish women and children at [[Ein Gedi]].<ref name=Josephus/><ref name=Cockburn/> Some murders were met with severe retaliation by the Romans on the broader Jewish population of the region. However, on some occasions, the Sicarii would release their intended victim if their terms were met. Much of what is known about the Sicarii comes from the ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'' and ''[[The Jewish War]]'' by [[Josephus]], who wrote that the Sicarii agreed to release the kidnapped secretary of Eleazar, governor of the Temple precincts, in exchange for the release of ten captured [[assassin]]s.{{sfn|Smallwood|2001|pp=281f}}{{sfn|Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews||loc=[[s:The Antiquities of the Jews/Book XX#Chapter 9|Book XX 9]]}}

At the beginning of the [[First Roman-Jewish War]], the Sicarii, and (possibly) Zealot helpers (Josephus differentiated between the two but did not explain the main differences in depth), gained access to Jerusalem and committed a series of actions in an attempt to incite the population into war against Rome. In one account, given in the [[Talmud]], they destroyed the city's food supply, using starvation to force the people to fight against the Roman siege, instead of negotiating peace. Their leaders, including [[Menahem ben Judah|Menahem ben Yehuda]] and [[Eleazar ben Ya'ir]], were notable figures in the war, and the group fought in many battles against the Romans as soldiers. Together with a small group of followers, Menahem made his way to the fortress of [[Masada]], took over a Roman garrison and slaughtered all 700 soldiers there. They also took over another fortress called [[Antonia Fortress|Antonia]] and overpowered the troops of Agrippa II. He also trained them to conduct various guerrilla operations on Roman convoys and legions stationed around Judea.<ref name="Ross"/>

Josephus also wrote that the Sicarii raided nearby Hebrew villages including [[Ein Gedi]], where they massacred 700 Jewish women and children.<ref name=THL>{{cite book | pages = 378–381 | title = The Holy Land | series = Oxford Archaeological Guides |first1= Jerome |last1=Murphy-O'Connor |first2= Barry |last2=Cunliffe | edition = 5th | publisher = Oxford University Press}}</ref>{{sfn|Josephus, Wars of the Jews||loc=[[s:The War of the Jews/Book IV#Chapter 7|Book IV 7-2]]}}<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ancient-battle-divides-israel-as-masada-myth-unravels-1275878.html Ancient battle divides Israel as Masada 'myth' unravels; Was the siege really so heroic, asks Patrick Cockburn in Jerusalem], The Independent, 30 March 1997</ref>

The Zealots, Sicarii and other prominent rebels finally joined forces to attack and temporarily take Jerusalem from Rome in 66 AD,<ref name="Levick1999">Levick, Barbara (1999). ''Vespasian''. London: Routledge, pp. 116–119. {{ISBN|0-415-16618-7}}</ref> where they took control of the Temple in Jerusalem, executing anyone who tried to oppose their power. The local populace resisted their control and launched a [[Zealot Temple Siege|series of sieges and raids]] to remove the rebel factions. The rebels eventually silenced the uprising and Jerusalem stayed in their hands for the duration of the war.{{sfn|Josephus, Wars of the Jews||loc=[[s:The War of the Jews/Book II#Chapter 8|Book II 8-11]], [[s:The War of the Jews/Book II#Chapter 13|Book II 13-7]], [[s:The War of the Jews/Book II#Chapter 14|Book II 14-4]], [[s:The War of the Jews/Book II#Chapter 14|Book II 14-5]]}} The Romans returned to take back the city, counter-attacking and laying siege to starve the rebels inside. The rebels held out for some time, but the constant bickering and lack of leadership caused the groups to disintegrate.<ref name="Levick1999"/> The leader of the Sicarii, Menahem, was killed by rival factions during an altercation. Finally, the Romans regained control and destroyed the whole city in 70 AD.

Eleazar and his followers returned to Masada and continued their rebellion against the Romans until 73 AD. The Romans eventually took the fortress and, according to Josephus, found that most of its defenders had died by suicide rather than surrender.<ref name="Ross"/> In Josephus' ''[[The Jewish War]]'' (vii), after the fall of the Temple in AD 70, the ''sicarii'' became the dominant revolutionary Hebrew faction, scattered abroad. Josephus particularly associates them with the [[Siege of Masada|mass suicide at Masada]] in AD 73 and to the subsequent refusal "to submit to the taxation census when Cyrenius was sent to Judea to make one," as part of their rebellion's religious and political goals.

[[Judas Iscariot]], one of the [[Twelve Apostles]] of Jesus according to the New Testament, was believed by some to be a sicarius.<ref>{{citation |title=Judas Iscariot web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/307411/Judas-Iscariot |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url-access=registration |access-date=30 September 2014}}</ref><ref>Bastiaan van Iersel, Mark: A Reader-Response Commentary, Continuum International (1998), p. 167.</ref>  Modern historians typically reject this contention, mainly because Josephus in ''The War of the Hebrews'' (2:254–7) mentions the appearance of the Sicarii as a new phenomenon during the [[Procurator (Roman)|procurator]]ships of [[Antonius Felix|Felix]] (52–60 AD), having no apparent relation with the group called Sicarii by Romans at times of [[Quirinius]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0021_0_21428.html|title=Zealots and Sicarii|access-date=30 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141118030318/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0021_0_21428.html|archive-date=2014-11-18|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 2nd century compendium of Jewish [[Oral Torah|oral law]], the [[Mishnah]] (''Makhshirin'' 1:6), mentions the word ''sikrin'' ({{Langx|he|סיקרין}}), perhaps related to Sicarii, and which is explained by the early rabbinic commentators as being related to the {{langx|el|ληστής}} (= robbers), and to government personnel involved with implementing the laws of [[Sicaricon]].<ref>''Rabbi [[Hai Gaon]]'s Commentary on Seder Taharot'', cited in [[Babylonian Talmud]] (Niddah Tractate), s.v. ''Mishnah Makhshirin'' 1:6; also in ''The Geonic Commentary on Seder Taharot - Attributed to Rabbi Hai Gaon'', vol. 2, Berlin 1924, s.v. '''סיקריקין'''.</ref> [[Maimonides]], in his Mishnah commentary (''Makhshirin'' 1:6), explains the same word ''sikrin'' as meaning "people who harass and who are disposed to being violent."<ref>Yosef Qafih (ed.) ''Mishnah with Maimonides' Commentary'' (vol. 3), [[Mossad Harav Kook]]: Jerusalem 1967, s.v. ''Makhshirin'' 1:6 (p. 393) [Hebrew].</ref>