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A new account of the famous site and story of the last stand of a group of Jewish rebels who held out against the Roman EmpireTwo thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children -- the last holdouts of the revolt against Rome following the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple -- reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman army. This dramatic event, which took place on top of Masada, a barren and windswept mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, spawned a powerful story of Jewish resistance that came to symbolize the embattled modern State of Israel. The first extensive archaeological excavations of Masada began in the 1960s, and today the site draws visitors from around the world. And yet, because the mass suicide was recorded by only one ancient author -- the Jewish historian Josephus -- some scholars question if the event ever took place.