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r235a - With Renata Semizzi. Guided tour of the most famous archaeological site in Israel, where one of the most famous tragedies in the history of Israel took place. In the Masada Fortress (built by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 BC and his refined Northern Palace) in 74 AD, 4 years after the fall of Jerusalem, a community of 960 nationalist Jews was perched, led by Eleazar Ben Yair. Around the fortress was a legion of 7,000 Romans led by Flavio Silva. The Romans patiently built a ramp and took the city, but instead of battle they found 955 corpses: men, women and children... Hidden in the cistern were only two women and three children who escaped the mass suicide to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans. It is this immense tragedy that makes Masada famous, but then it was also a Roman city, and finally a Christian monastic community in the Byzantine era. This is the first part (of two) of the visit to all the ruins (Herodian, Roman and Byzantine) of Masada. Images by Francesco Zampini, editing by MariaChiara Salvi and Francesco Zampini.