Masada Myth: Collective Memory and Mythmaking in Israel

by Nachman Ben-Yehuda

Overview

In 73 A.D., legend has it, 960 Jewish rebels under siege in the ancient desert fortress of Masada committed suicide rather than surrender to a Roman legion. Recorded in only one historical source, the story of Masada was obscure for centuries. In The Masada Myth, Israeli sociologist Nachman Ben-Yehuda tracks the process by which Masada became an ideological symbol for the State of Israel, the dramatic subject of movies and miniseries, a shrine venerated by generations of Zionists and Israeli soldiers, and the most profitable tourist attraction in modern Israel.
Ben-Yehuda describes how, after nearly 1800 years, the long, complex, and unsubstantiated narrative of Josephus Flavius was edited and augmented in the twentieth century to form a simple and powerful myth of heroism. He looks at the ways this new mythical narrative of Masada was created, promoted, and maintained by pre-state Jewish underground organizations, the Israeli army, archaeological teams, mass media, youth movements, textbooks, the tourist industry, and the arts. He discusses the various organizations and movements that created "the Masada experience" (usually a ritual trek through the Judean desert followed by a climb to the fortress and a dramatic reading of the Masada story), and how it changed over decades from a Zionist pilgrimage to a tourist destination.
Placing the story in a larger historical, sociological, and psychological context, Ben-Yehuda draws upon theories of collective memory and mythmaking to analyze Masada's crucial role in the nation-building process of modern Israel and the formation of a new Jewish identity. An expert on deviance and social control, Ben-Yehuda looks in particular at how and why a military failure and an enigmatic, troubling case of mass suicide (in conflict with Judaism's teachings) were reconstructed and fabricated as a heroic tale.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299148348
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	01/15/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	424
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Nachman Ben-Yehuda is professor of sociology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of Deviance and Moral Boundaries, The Politics and Morality of Deviance, Political Assassinations by Jews, and (with Erich Goode) Moral Panics.

Table of Contents

	Illustrations	xi
	Tables	xiii
	Acknowledgments	xv
	Prologue: Masada--A Chronology	xix
I.	The Puzzle and the Background
1.	Introduction: The Research Puzzle	3
2.	The Historical Events of Masada	27
3.	Excavations of Masada	50
II.	The Masada Mythical Narrative
4.	Shmaria Guttman	71
5.	Masada and Youth Movements	83
6.	Masada and the Pre-State Jewish Underground Groups	127
7.	Masada and the Israeli Army (IDF)	147
8.	Masada in Textbooks	163
9.	Masada, the Media, and Tourism	179
10.	Masada in Children's Literature and in Art	206
11.	The Masada Mythical Narrative	228
III.	Analysis, Discussion, and Summary
12.	Methodological Framing	261
13.	Theoretical Interpretation	271
14.	Summary and a Personal Note	307
Appendix	Main Jewish Underground Groups in Palestine, 1920-1948	317
	Notes	325
	Bibliography	350
	Index	375

Editorial Reviews

“"The Masada Myth" is both a scholarly and a passionate book, analyzing with great clarity the relationship between deviance and mythology.”—Pat Lauderdale, Stanford University

""The Masada Myth" is both a scholarly and a passionate book, analyzing with great clarity the relationship between deviance and mythology."--Pat Lauderdale, Stanford University

""The Masada Myth is both a scholarly and a passionate book, analyzing with great clarity the relationship between deviance and mythology."--Pat Lauderdale, Stanford University

From the Publisher

Ben-Yehuda's fascinating and controversial work researching the Sicarii mass suicide at the Masada fortress in 66 A.D. claims that historical evidence does not substantiate the assertion that the group were Zealots whose last stand against the Romans has become a national rally point. Rather, he performs a sociological archeology which unearths the group as assassins who escaped to the fortress site, but never fought the Romans there. He traces the Masada narrative as it is transformed and then dispersed to the public, becoming part of youth movements, the army, textbooks, and finally an economic source of tourism. An important treatise on myth and truth, sensitive but tough in its treatment. Paper edition (unseen), $22.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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