Sicarii

Sicarii (Latin plural of Sicarius , 'dagger-' or later contract- killer) is a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, to the Jewish Zealots , (or insurgents ) who attempted to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea : "When Albinus reached the city of Jerusalem, he bent every effort and made every provision to ensure peace in the land by exterminating most of the Sicarii." — Josephus , Jewish Antiquities (xx.208) The sicarii even resorted to murder to obtain their objective. Under their cloaks they concealed sicae, or small daggers, from which they received their name. At popular assemblies, particularly during the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount, they stabbed their enemies (Romans or Roman sympathizers), lamenting ostentatiously after the deed to escape detection. The victims of the Sicarii included Jonathan the High Priest, though it is possible that his murder was orchestrated by the Roman governor Felix . Some of their murders were met with severe retaliation by the Romans on the entire Jewish population of the country. On some occasions, they could be bribed to spare their intended victims. Even convicted Sicarii were occasionally released on promising to spare their opponents. Once, after kidnapping the secretary of Eleazar, governor of the Temple precincts, they agreed to release him in exchange for ten of their captured comrades. At the beginning of the Jewish Revolt ( 66 ), the Sicarii, with the help of other Zealots, gained access to Jerusalem and committed a series of atrocities, in order to force the population to war. In one account, given in the Talmud , they destroyed the city's food supply, so that the people would be forced to fight against the Roman siege instead of negotiating peace. Their leaders, including Menahem ben Jair, Eleazar ben Jair , and Bar Giora , were important figures in the war, and Eleazar ben Jair eventually succeeded in escaping the Roman onslaught. Together with a small group of followers, he made his way to the abandoned fortress of Masada , where he continued his resistance to the Romans until 73 , when the Romans took the fortress and found that all of its defenders had committed suicide rather than surrender. In the name of Judas Iscariot , the apostle who betrayed Jesus, the epithet "Iscariot" is read by some scholars as a Hellenized ("-ote" denoting membership or belonging, as in "Cypriote") transformation of sicarius. When the Gospels are translated into modern Hebrew, Judas is rendered as "Ish-Kerayot," making him a man from the townships . Based on a 1903 Jewish Encyclopedia, with some additions and editing.

Sicarii (Latin plural of Sicarius 'dagger-' or later contract- killer) is a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, (probably) to an extremist splinter group of the Jewish Zealots , who attempted to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea . Nachman Ben-Yehuda, The Masada Myth: Scholar presents evidence that the heroes of the Jewish Great Revolt were not heroes at all. , The Bible and Interpretation

Sicarii (Latin plural of Sicarius "dagger-men", in Modern Hebrew rendered siqariqim סיקריקים) is a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE , to an extremist splinter group of the Jewish Zealots , who attempted to expel the Romans and their partisans from the Roman province of Judea . The Sicarii carried sicae , or small daggers, concealed in their cloaks, hence their name. At public gatherings, they pulled out these daggers to attack Romans or Roman sympathizers, blending into the crowd after the deed to escape detection. Nachman Ben-Yehuda, The Masada Myth: Scholar presents evidence that the heroes of the Jewish Great Revolt were not heroes at all. , The Bible and Interpretation Martin Goodman, Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilisations (2008,:407) talks of sicarii practising "terrorism within Jewish society".

The Sicarii ( Modern Hebrew : סיקריים siqariyim ) were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE , strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel them and their sympathizers from the area. The Sicarii carried sicae , or small daggers , concealed in their cloaks. At public gatherings, they pulled out these daggers to attack Romans and Hebrew Roman sympathizers alike, blending into the crowd after the deed to escape detection. The Sicarii are regarded as one of the earliest known organized assassination units of cloak and daggers , predating the Islamic Hashishin and Japanese ninja by centuries. The derived Spanish term sicario is used in contemporary Latin America to describe a hitman working for a drug cartel . Martin Goodman, Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations (2008,:407) talks of sicarii practicing "reverse terrorism within Hebrew society".

Group of Jewish assassins during the Jewish–Roman wars The Sicarii were a group of Jewish assassins who were active throughout Judaea in the years leading up to and during the First Jewish–Roman War , which took place at the end of the Second Temple period . Often associated with the Zealots (although this relationship is uncertain), they conducted a high-profile campaign of targeted assassinations of Romans and of Jews who collaborated with them. They later became notorious for a reported mass suicide during the Siege of Masada . The group's signature weapon and namesake was a type of large dagger known as a sica , which they concealed in their cloaks before attacking their targets at public gatherings, thereafter blending in with the crowds to escape undetected. Other than the Roman-era Jewish historian Josephus , there are no sources for the history and activities of the Sicarii. According to Josephus's account, the Sicarii's victims may have included Jonathan the High Priest , who was assassinated inside of the Second Temple shortly after being designated as the High Priest of Israel ; and more than 700 Jewish women and children at Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea . To date, the Sicarii are one of the earliest known organized " cloak and dagger " assassination forces, predating the Order of Assassins and the ninjas (among other examples) by many centuries. Due to there only being a single source on the group, their true allegiances and motives remain subjects of discussion among historians. The group is not believed to have engaged in open conflict beyond Masada and possibly the Zealot Temple siege , when they executed any Jews advocating surrender to the Roman army . In modern Israel , the legacy of the Sicarii was widely reviewed as part of the Masada myth , which asserts that the group was entirely dedicated to preserving Jewish national dignity during the Jewish–Roman wars . While it served as a means of promoting feelings of resilience and nationalist pride in ancient Jewish history , the narrative has been scrutinized for downplaying Josephus's description of the Sicarii's fanaticism and murders of numerous innocent Jews. However, the popularity of the Masada myth in Israeli society has waned since the late 20th century due to the Sicarii's extremist connotations, which inspired Jewish terrorist groups like the Sicarii of 1989–1990 , who claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against Palestinians and against Israelis who expressed support for the Israeli–Palestinian peace process . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ). Those that were called Sicarii had taken possession of it formerly, but at this time they overran the neighboring countries, aiming only to procure to themselves necessaries; … when they were sent back into the country of their forefathers, they came down by night, without being discovered by those that could have prevented them, and overran a certain small city called Engaddi:—in which expedition they prevented those citizens that could have stopped them, before they could arm themselves, and fight them. They also dispersed them, and cast them out of the city. As for such as could not run away, being women and children, they slew of them above seven hundred.”; [ch 13] “The first man who was slain by them was Jonathan the high priest, after whose death many were slain every day, while the fear men were in of being so served was more afflicting than the calamity itself; and while every body expected death every hour, as men do in war, so men were obliged to look before them, and to take notice of their enemies at a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust them any longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain.” Cockburn, Patrick (1997-03-30). [Josephus] says that the defenders of Masada took no part in the war against Rome during the siege of Jerusalem, but instead plundered local villages including En Gedi on the Dead Sea, where "women and children, more than 700 in number, were butchered"… Professor Yadin wanted to prove that the defenders of Masada were the hard-core supporters of a national resistance movement led by the Zealots, the movement which fought in Jerusalem. He interpreted scrolls found at Masada as showing that the defenders came from different sects and groups, though the scrolls may have been looted from nearby villages. What Josephus actually said was that the defenders of Masada were Sicarii, an extreme Jewish group who specialised in assassination and had killed the High Priest in Jerusalem.