Masada (miniseries)
Encyclopedia
Masada is an American
television miniseries
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
citadel in Israel
by legions of the Roman Empire
in AD 73
. 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
by the Jewish defenders when defeat became imminent.
Masada was one of several historical miniseries produced in the early 1980s following the success of NBC
's Shogun in 1980.
The miniseries starred Peter O'Toole
as Roman legion
commander Lucius Flavius Silva
, Peter Strauss
as the Jewish commander Elazar ben Ya'ir, and Barbara Carrera
as Silva's Jewish mistress. David Warner
, as Pomponius Falco, won an Emmy Award
for his role. O'Toole was nominated for an Emmy for his performance. It was his first appearance in an American miniseries. Jerry Goldsmith
composed the series' score, for which he received an Emmy.
Masada was filmed on location at the site of the ancient fortress, in the Judean Desert
, Israel. 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, the documentary recounts the history of the Jewish revolt against Rome. The network gave the documentary to its affiliates to run in the weeks prior to the premiere of the miniseries.
As was the case with Shogun, an edited, feature film
-length version of the miniseries was made for theatrical release in other countries; this was also the version that became available on home video
. The complete Masada miniseries first made it to the video market on four VHS tapes in 2001. A 2-disc DVD
release entitled Masada — The Complete Epic Mini-Series was released on September 11, 2007. A Region 2 UK, 2-Disc DVD was released on 19 January 2009.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
that aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
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 horst, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. Masada is best known for the violence that occurred there in the first century CE...
citadel in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
by legions of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
in AD 73
73
Year 73 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Domitianus and Catullus...
. The TV series' script is based on the novel The Antagonists
The Antagonists
The Antagonists is an historical novel by Ernest K. Gann about the siege of Masada. The novel explores the themes of leadership and patriotism by comparing and contrasting the two protagonists/antagonists of the story...
by Ernest Gann. The siege ended when the Roman armies
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
were able to enter the fortress, only to discover the mass suicide
Mass suicide
- Examples :Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide unconnected to cults or war that are sometimes planned or carried out by small groups of frustrated people...
by the Jewish defenders when defeat became imminent.
Masada was one of several historical miniseries produced in the early 1980s following the success of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Shogun in 1980.
The miniseries starred Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
as Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
commander Lucius Flavius Silva
Lucius Flavius Silva
Lucius Flavius Silva Nonius Bassus was a late-1st century Roman general, governor of the province of Iudaea and 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...
, Peter Strauss
Peter Strauss
Peter Strauss is an American television and movie actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s.-Personal life:...
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. She is best known for her roles as Bond girl Fatima Blush in Never Say Never Again and as Angelica Nero on the soap opera Dallas.-Early life:Barbara Kingsbury was born in San Carlos, Río San Juan,...
as Silva's Jewish mistress. David Warner
David Warner (actor)
David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
, as Pomponius Falco, won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply 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 and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for his role. O'Toole was nominated for an Emmy for his performance. It was his first appearance in an American miniseries. Jerry Goldsmith
Jerry Goldsmith
Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....
composed the series' score, for which he received an Emmy.
Masada was filmed on location at the site of the ancient fortress, in the Judean Desert
Judean desert
The Judaean Desert is a desert in Israel and the West Bank that lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. It stretches from the northeastern Negev to the east of Beit El, and is marked by terraces with escarpments. It ends in a steep escarpment dropping to the Dead Sea and the Jordan...
, Israel. 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, the documentary recounts the history of the Jewish revolt against Rome. The network gave the documentary to its affiliates to run in the weeks prior to the premiere of the miniseries.
As was the case with Shogun, an edited, feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
-length version of the miniseries was made for theatrical release in other countries; this was also the version that became available on home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
. The complete Masada miniseries first made it to the video market on four VHS tapes in 2001. A 2-disc DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release entitled Masada — The Complete Epic Mini-Series was released on September 11, 2007. A Region 2 UK, 2-Disc DVD was released on 19 January 2009.
Cast
- Peter O'ToolePeter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
- Lucius Flavius SilvaLucius Flavius SilvaLucius Flavius Silva Nonius Bassus was a late-1st century Roman general, governor of the province of Iudaea and 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... - Peter StraussPeter StraussPeter Strauss is an American television and movie actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s.-Personal life:...
- Eleazar Ben YairMasadaMasada 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 horst, on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. Masada is best known for the violence that occurred there in the first century CE... - Barbara CarreraBarbara CarreraBarbara Carrera is a Nicaraguan-born American film and television actress as well as a former model. She is best known for her roles as Bond girl Fatima Blush in Never Say Never Again and as Angelica Nero on the soap opera Dallas.-Early life:Barbara Kingsbury was born in San Carlos, Río San Juan,...
- Sheva - Anthony QuayleAnthony QuayleSir John Anthony Quayle, CBE was an English actor and director.-Early life:Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, in Lancashire to a Manx family....
- Rubrius Gallus - David WarnerDavid Warner (actor)David Warner is an English actor who is known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, both in film and animation...
- Pomponius Falco - Nigel DavenportNigel DavenportNigel Davenport is an English stage, television and film actor.- Early life :Davenport was born Arthur Nigel Davenport, however he goes by the first name of Nigel. Davenport was born in Shelford, Cambridgeshire, the son of Katherine Lucy and Arthur Henry Davenport. Davenport's father was a bursar...
- MucianusMucianusGaius Licinius Mucianus was a general, statesman and writer of ancient Rome.His name shows that he had passed by adoption from the gens Mucia to the gens Licinia. He was sent by Claudius to Armenia with Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Under Nero he is recorded as suffect consul ca... - Timothy WestTimothy WestTimothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
- Emperor VespasianVespasianVespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty... - George InnesGeorge InnesGeorge Innes is an English actor.-Stage career:He began his career on the stage with the National Theatre of Great Britain under Laurence Olivier. Before that, he trained at Toynbee Hall and evening classes at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art , where he was awarded the Shakespeare Cup...
- TitusTitusTitus , was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father.... - Giulia Pagano - Miriam
- Clive FrancisClive Francis-Early life:He is the son of actors Raymond Francis and Margaret Towner. He was born in Eastbourne.His father played Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart in the 1960s series No Hiding Place and his mother still acts today - most recently she played Jira, Anakin Skywalker's friend, in Star...
- Attius - Warren ClarkeWarren Clarke-Biography:Clarke was born in Oldham, Lancashire. His first television appearance was in the long running Granada soap opera Coronation Street, initially as Kenny Pickup in 1966 and then as Gary Bailey in 1968. His first major film appearance was in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork...
- Plinius - Vernon DobtcheffVernon DobtcheffVernon Dobtcheff is a French and British actor.Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a family of Russian descent. He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup...
- Roman Chief Priest - Michael ElphickMichael ElphickMichael John Elphick was an English actor. Elphick was known in the UK for his trademark croaky voice and his work on British television, in particular his roles as the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series Boon and later Harry Slater in BBC's EastEnders.Robust and ruggedly good-looking...
- VettiusMarcus Vettius BolanusMarcus Vettius Bolanus was a Roman soldier and politician.He served in Asia under Corbulo in AD 62 and was consul in AD 66.He became governor of Britain in AD 69 in the midst of the Year of four emperors, appointed by the short-lived emperor Vitellius... - Christopher BigginsChristopher BigginsChristopher Kenneth Biggins is an English actor and media personality.-Career:Biggins was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England and brought up in Salisbury, Wiltshire, where he took elocution lessons and participated in local drama groups...
- Claudius Albinus - Nick BrimbleNick BrimbleNick Brimble , is an English actor known for his performance as Little John in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and his appearances on various television shows....
- Milades - Joe SagalJoe SagalJoseph B. "Joe" Sagal is an American actor. He has sometimes been billed as Joey Sagal.Sagal was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Sara Zwilling, a writer, singer, and director, and Boris Sagal, a noted producer and director...
- Seth - Paul L. SmithPaul L. SmithPaul L. Smith is an American character actor. Burly, bearded, and imposing, he has appeared in films and occasionally on TV since the 1970s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys...
- Gideon - David OpatoshuDavid OpatoshuDavid Opatoshu was an American film, stage and television actor. He was born as David Opatovsky in New York City, where he was reared and educated. His father was the Yiddish writer, Joseph Opatoshu.-Television:...
- Shimon - Denis QuilleyDenis QuilleyDenis Clifford Quilley OBE was an English theatre, television and film actor who was long associated with the Royal National Theatre....
- General Marcus Quadratus - W. Morgan SheppardW. Morgan SheppardWilliam Morgan Sheppard , sometimes credited as Morgan Sheppard or W. Morgan Sheppard, is a British actor.Sheppard was born in London to an Anglo-Irish family but was educated in Ireland. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 1956-58 before spending 12 years as Associate Artist with...
- Roman Sergeant - Norman RossingtonNorman RossingtonNorman Rossington was an English actor best remembered for his roles in The Army Game, the Carry On films and the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night.-Early life:...
- Maro - Joseph WisemanJoseph WisemanJoseph Wiseman was a Canadian theater and film actor, best known for starring as the titular antagonist of the first James Bond film, Dr. No, his role as Manny Weisbord on Crime Story, and his career on Broadway...
- Jerahmeel, Head Essene - Anthony Valentine - Merovius, Head Tribune
- Patrick GormanPatrick GormanThis article is about the American actor. For the British actor, see Pat Gorman.Patrick O. Gorman is an American theatre, film and television actor....
- Tribune - Ray SmithRay Smith (actor)Ray Smith was a Welsh actor who notably played the tough-talking police chief, Detective Superintendent Gordon Spikings, in the television series, Dempsey & Makepeace.- Early life :...
- Lentius, would be assassin - Kevin McNallyKevin McNallyKevin McNally is an English actor who has worked in theatre and radio extensively as well as in film and television.-Life and career:...
- Norbanus - Richard BasehartRichard BasehartJohn Richard Basehart was an American actor. He starred in the 1960s television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in the role of Admiral Harriman Nelson.-Career:...
- Narrator