WEAPONS AT MASADA

Swords and a dagger, Canaanite period

The weapons illustrated above were NOT found at Masada - all such weapons have long since vanished.

But weapons were, in essence, why the Zealots were at Masada in the first place.

When a revolt begins, rebels need arms. They do not have a ready supply to hand, as a standing army does. They may have caches of hidden weapons, and indeed the Jewish rebels had been planning revolt for decades. But a cache of hidden weapons does not equip an army.

Rebels can resort to another stratagem to arm themselves: they can raid a government armoury. This is what the Zealots did at Masada.

Herod the Great had left an enormous arsenal there: arms for ten thousand men, with large stores of food and munitions. He had stored them there in 34BC when he thought he might have to fight Cleopatra. The dry climate had preserved them for a hundred years. 

One of the Jewish leaders, Manahem, saw his opportunity. When rebellion broke out, he travelled south to Masada. He surprised and killed the Roman garrison stationed there, gathered up the arms, left a detachment of his own men in the citadel, and returned with his much-needed booty to Jerusalem.