Bibliography
| Title: "The suicide of Eleazar ben Jair and his men et Masada, and the ""Fourth Philosophy""" Pages: 367-398 Type: Generic Year: 1982 Abstract: "The article discusses the end of the Jewish War and the siege of Masada, the speech of Eleazar ben Jair compared with other speeches in Josephus' War, other examples of suicide in the Greco-Roman world and its periphery, individual and collective suicide among Jews during the Second Temple period and in subsequent generations, and the ideology of the Sicarii as the ""fourth philosophy."" In transforming the principle of not recognizing foreign rule into a religious tenet so sanctified that death was to be preferred to any transgression, the followers of the ""fourth philosophy"" were unique in Jewish history. - D.J.H. // This article is divided into five sections. The first section deals with the end of the Great Rebellion and the siege of Masada. The second part compares the speech of Eleazar with other speeches in ""The Jewish War"", and analyzes its ideas. Other examples of suicide in the Greco-Roman world and its barbarian periphery are discussed in the third section, while the fourth section treats individual and collective examples of suicide among Jews during the Second Temple period and in subsequent generations. The fifth section of the article examines the ideology of the sicarii, the fighters of Masada, referred to by Josephus as the ""Fourth Philosophy"". The author stresses that by raising the principle of non-recognition of foreign rule to a religious tenet, so sanctified that death was to be preferred to any transgression, the followers of the ""Fourth Philosophy"" were unique in Jewish history. The propagation and wider acceptance of such a principle would have precluded the establishment of any modus vivendi with the Roman Empire or any other rule, both in the ancient world and in later times." Keywords: Groups and Religious Movements in Palestinian Judaism |