So ended the uprising that saw Jerusalem’s fall and the Second Temple’s sacking in 70CE.Īccording to Hoffman’s principal source, Josephus’ first-century The Jewish War, two women and five children survived the mass suicide and told the Romans the Masada story. Soldiers commanded by Lucius Flavius Silva entered the compound and found 900 dead Jewish Zealots –– warriors, women, and children –– all self-slain, having preferred death to slavery under imperial rule. In 73CE, high above the Judean desert and the Dead Sea, Masada, the besieged mountain fortress occupied by the last remnant of resistance against Roman occupation of the Holy Land, was finally breached. It helps that novelist Alice Hoffman has great historical material to work with. The Dovekeepers has it all –– convincing characters, compelling plot, breathtaking setting, plus age-old themes swirling in a maelstrom of religion, sex, and war.
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