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Masada (miniseries)

 
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Masada was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 television miniseries
Miniseries

A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes....
 that aired on ABC in April 1981. Advertised by the network as an "ABC Novel for Television," it was a fictionalized account of the historical siege of the Masada
Masada

Masada is the name for a site of ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel on top of an isolated rock plateau, or large mesa, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea....
 citadel by legions of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 in 73 A.D.
73

Year 73 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar....
. The TV series' script is based on the novel "The Antagonists" by Ernest Gann. The siege ended when the Roman armies were able to enter the fortress, only to discover the mass suicide
Mass suicide

Mass suicide occurs when a number of people kill themselves together and/or for the same reason....
 by the Jewish defenders when defeat became imminent.

It was one of several historical miniseries produced in the early 1980s to capitalize upon the success of NBC's Shogun in 1980.






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Masada was an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 television miniseries
Miniseries

A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes....
 that aired on ABC in April 1981. Advertised by the network as an "ABC Novel for Television," it was a fictionalized account of the historical siege of the Masada
Masada

Masada is the name for a site of ancient palaces and fortifications in the South District of Israel on top of an isolated rock plateau, or large mesa, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea....
 citadel by legions of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
 in 73 A.D.
73

Year 73 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar....
. The TV series' script is based on the novel "The Antagonists" by Ernest Gann. The siege ended when the Roman armies were able to enter the fortress, only to discover the mass suicide
Mass suicide

Mass suicide occurs when a number of people kill themselves together and/or for the same reason....
 by the Jewish defenders when defeat became imminent.

It was one of several historical miniseries produced in the early 1980s to capitalize upon the success of NBC's Shogun in 1980. The decision to make the miniseries was also influenced by the mass suicides at Jonestown
Jonestown

Jonestown was the informal name for the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project", an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple, a cult from California, United States, led by Jim Jones....
, Guyana
Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and previously known as British Guiana, is the only state of the Commonwealth of Nations on mainland South America....
 in 1978, since press coverage often mentioned the events at Masada as the most obviously historical counterpoint .

The miniseries starred Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole

Peter Seamus O'Toole is an Irish people actor of stage and screen who achieved instant stardom in 1962 playing T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia ....
 as Roman legion
Roman legion

The Roman Legion is a term that can apply both as a translation of legio to the entire Roman army and also, more narrowly , to the heavy infantry that was the basic military unit of the Roman army in the period of the late Roman Republic and the Roman Empire....
 commander Lucius Flavius Silva
Lucius Flavius Silva

Lucius Flavius Silva was a late-1st century Roman general, governor of the province of Iudaea and Roman consul. History remembers Silva as the Roman commander who led his army, composed mainly of the Legio X Fretensis, in 73 AD up to Masada and laid siege to its near-impenetrable mountain fortress occupied by a group of Jewish rebels c...
, Peter Strauss
Peter Strauss

Peter Strauss is an United States television and movie actor, perhaps best known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s. He won an Emmy Award for his role on the 1979 made-for-television movie The Jericho Mile....
 as the Jewish commander Elazar ben Ya'ir, and Barbara Carrera
Barbara Carrera

Barbara Carrera is a Nicaraguan-born American film and Television actress as well as a former Model ....
 as Silva's Jewish mistress. David Warner
David Warner

David Warner may refer to:* Dave Warner, or David Robert Warner, Australian author, rock musician and screenwriter* David Warner , British actor...
, as Pomponius Falco, won an Emmy for his role. O'Toole was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award

The Emmy Award, also known as the 'Emmy', is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards....
 for his performance. It was his first appearance in an American miniseries.

Masada was filmed on location at the site of the ancient fortress, in the Judean Desert, Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
. Remains of a ramp, created during the filming to simulate the ramp built by the Romans to take the fortress, can still be seen at the site.

ABC, concerned that the audience would be unfamiliar with the historical background of the story, commissioned a 30 minute documentary, "Back To Masada" starring Peter O'Toole, to provide a history of the Jewish revolt against Rome. The Network gave the documentary to its affiliates to run in the weeks prior to the premier of the mini-series.

As was the case with Shogun
Shogun (TV miniseries)

Shogun is an United States television miniseries based on the namesake Shogun by James Clavell. The miniseries was broadcast over five nights, between September 15 and September 19, 1980 on NBC in the United States....
, an edited, feature film-length version of the miniseries was released to the home video
Home video

Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or hired for home entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into the current DVD/Blu-ray Disc age....
 market. The complete Masada mini-series made it to the video market on 4 VHS tapes in 2001.

A 2-disc DVD
DVD

DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc,"is a popular optical disc data storage device media format. Its main uses are video and data storage....
 release entitled "Masada - The Complete Epic Mini-Series" was released on September 11, 2007.

The Region 2 UK, 2-Disc DVD will release on 7th July 2008.

External links

  • Masada TV Mini-Series (ISBN 0-7832-2282-3)