catapulting humans
I think it's been established that not all of the Masada movie is historically accurate, but what about the part where the Romans are catapulting Jewish slaves. Is this part true? Gruesome!
shareThe latest is that they wouldn't have used slaves to build the ramp at all because Roman soldiers would have been far more efficient engineers, and skilled labor is more cost effective than cheap labor. The Roman soldier spent more time building than fighting.
shareWhich of course is why modern-day construction workers are all highly skilled and have degrees in advanced engineering.
History fail.
Slavery was widespread in the ancient world, and the Romans were well-known for treating their slaves badly. That's why the Masada defenders killed not only themselves, but also their women and children. They figured they were all better off dead than living as slaves to the Romans, which is exactly what would have happened to them. It's what did happen to the few women who decided not to go along with the mass suicide.
As for the ramp, it wasn't as big a job as it seems in this miniseries. Recent geological studies at Masada have revealed that the ramp was built on top of a natural spur. Most of the hardest work had already been done by nature.
"I don't deduce, I observe."