TheSicarii[a][1] were a group ofJewish assassins who were active throughoutJudaea in the years leading up to and during theFirst Jewish–Roman War, which took place at the end of theSecond Temple period. Often associated with theZealots (although this relationship is uncertain),[2] they conducted a high-profile campaign of targeted assassinations ofRomans and ofJews who collaborated with them. They later became notorious for a reported mass suicide during theSiege of Masada. The group's signature weapon and namesake was a type of large dagger known as asica, which they concealed in their cloaks[3] before attacking their targets at public gatherings, thereafter blending in with the crowds to escape undetected.
Other than the Roman-era Jewish historianJosephus, there are no sources for the history and activities of the Sicarii. According to Josephus's account, the Sicarii's victims may have includedJonathan the High Priest, who was assassinated inside of theSecond Temple shortly after being designated as theHigh Priest of Israel; and more than 700 Jewish women and children atEin Gedi on theDead Sea.[4][5]
To date, the Sicarii are one of the earliest known organized "cloak and dagger" assassination forces, predating theOrder of Assassins and theninjas (among other examples) by many centuries.[6][7] 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 beyondMasada and possibly theZealot Temple siege, when they executed any Jews advocating surrender to theRoman army.
In modernIsrael, the legacy of the Sicarii was widely reviewed as part of theMasada myth, which asserts that the group was entirely dedicated to preserving Jewish national dignity during theJewish–Roman wars. While it served as a means of promoting feelings of resilience and nationalist pride inancient Jewish history, the narrative has been scrutinized[by whom?] for downplaying Josephus's description of the Sicarii's fanaticism and murders of numerous innocent Jews.[citation needed] However, the popularity of the Masada myth in Israeli society has waned since the late 20th century due to the Sicarii's extremist connotations,[citation needed] which inspired Jewish terrorist groups like theSicarii of 1989–1990, who claimed responsibility for a number of attacks againstPalestinians and against Israelis who expressed support for theIsraeli–Palestinian peace process.
In theKoine Greek of Josephus the term σικάριοιsikarioi was used. InLatin,Sicarii is the plural form ofSicarius "dagger-man", "sickle-man".[2]Sica, possibly fromProto-Albanian *tsikā (whenceAlbanianthika, "knife"), fromProto-Indo-European *ḱey- ("to sharpen") possibly viaIllyrian.[8][9] In later Latin usage, "sicarius" was also the standard term for a murderer (see, e.g., theLex Cornelia de Sicariis et Veneficiis),[10] and to this day "sicario" is a salaried assassin in Spanish[11] and a commissioned murderer in Italian[12] and Portuguese.[13]
The term Σικαρίων (Sikariōn) is used in Acts 21:38 of theNew Testament as an accusation againstPaul the Apostle, when a tribune asks if he isthe Egyptian who led "4,000 men of thesicarii into the desert". It is translated as "terrorists" in theNew International Version, "murderers" in theKing James Bible and "assassins" in theAmerican Standard Version.[14] According to historianSteve Mason, this reference is problematic because it lacks a clear connection to anti-Roman sentiments and is "best explained as a mangled recollection of Josephus."[15]
The derivedSpanish termsicario is used in contemporaryLatin America to describe acontract killer.
The Sicarii are known to history from only one source –Josephus. In a 2009 studyThe Sicarii in Josephus's Judean War, Professor Mark Brighton ofConcordia University Irvine wrote that Josephus referred to the Sicarii directly fifteen times in eight separate contexts ofThe Jewish War:[16]
Brighton also noted five passages where the Sicarii are not mentioned directly but their activity is implied from the wider context:
Victims of the Sicarii are said by Josephus to have included theHigh PriestJonathan, and 700 Jewish women and children atEin Gedi.[4][5] Some murders were met with severe retaliation by the Romans on the broader Jewish population of the region. However, on some occasions, the Sicarii would release their intended victim if their terms were met. Much of what is known about the Sicarii comes from theAntiquities of the Jews andThe Jewish War byJosephus, who wrote that the Sicarii agreed to release the kidnapped secretary of Eleazar, governor of the Temple precincts, in exchange for the release of ten capturedassassins.[17][18]
At the beginning of theFirst Roman-Jewish War, the Sicarii, and (possibly) Zealot helpers (Josephus differentiated between the two but did not explain the main differences in depth), gained access to Jerusalem and committed a series of actions in an attempt to incite the population into war against Rome. In one account, given in theTalmud, they destroyed the city's food supply, using starvation to force the people to fight against the Roman siege, instead of negotiating peace. Their leaders, includingMenahem ben Yehuda andEleazar ben Ya'ir, were notable figures in the war, and the group fought in many battles against the Romans as soldiers. Together with a small group of followers, Menahem made his way to the fortress ofMasada, took over a Roman garrison and slaughtered all 700 soldiers there. They also took over another fortress calledAntonia and overpowered the troops of Agrippa II. He also trained them to conduct various guerrilla operations on Roman convoys and legions stationed around Judea.[7]
Josephus also wrote that the Sicarii raided nearby Hebrew villages includingEin Gedi, where they massacred 700 Jewish women and children.[19][20][21]
The Zealots, Sicarii and other prominent rebels finally joined forces to attack and temporarily take Jerusalem from Rome in 66 AD,[22] where they took control of the Temple in Jerusalem, executing anyone who tried to oppose their power. The local populace resisted their control and launched aseries of sieges and raids to remove the rebel factions. The rebels eventually silenced the uprising and Jerusalem stayed in their hands for the duration of the war.[23] The Romans returned to take back the city, counter-attacking and laying siege to starve the rebels inside. The rebels held out for some time, but the constant bickering and lack of leadership caused the groups to disintegrate.[22] The leader of the Sicarii, Menahem, was killed by rival factions during an altercation. Finally, the Romans regained control and destroyed the whole city in 70 AD.
Eleazar and his followers returned to Masada and continued their rebellion against the Romans until 73 AD. The Romans eventually took the fortress and, according to Josephus, found that most of its defenders had died by suicide rather than surrender.[7] In Josephus'The Jewish War (vii), after the fall of the Temple in AD 70, thesicarii became the dominant revolutionary Hebrew faction, scattered abroad. Josephus particularly associates them with themass suicide at Masada in AD 73 and to the subsequent refusal "to submit to the taxation census when Cyrenius was sent to Judea to make one," as part of their rebellion's religious and political goals.
Judas Iscariot, one of theTwelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament, was believed by some to be a sicarius.[24][25] Modern historians typically reject this contention, mainly because Josephus inThe War of the Hebrews (2:254–7) mentions the appearance of the Sicarii as a new phenomenon during theprocuratorships ofFelix (52–60 AD), having no apparent relation with the group called Sicarii by Romans at times ofQuirinius.[26] The 2nd century compendium of Jewishoral law, theMishnah (Makhshirin 1:6), mentions the wordsikrin (Hebrew:סיקרין), perhaps related to Sicarii, and which is explained by the early rabbinic commentators as being related to theGreek:ληστής (= robbers), and to government personnel involved with implementing the laws ofSicaricon.[27]Maimonides, in his Mishnah commentary (Makhshirin 1:6), explains the same wordsikrin as meaning "people who harass and who are disposed to being violent."[28]
The Sicarii were the basis of theMasada myth in earlyZionism. They also served as the namesake of several modern Jewish militant groups, both Zionist andanti-Zionist—most notably theSicarii of 1989 and theSikrikim.
InThe Chosen, the first multi-season series about the life of Jesus of Nazareth,Simon the Zealot is called a "Zealot Sicarii" in episode 7 of Season 2 ("Reckoning").[29]
Often associated with the Zealots were the Sicari. This name comes from Latin sica, a curved-shaped dagger (sickle), the weapon favored by these "terrorists" (the NIV rendering of sikarios G4974 in Acts 21:38). They conducted a campaign of terror-kidnapping, extortion, robbery, and murder, especially against Romans and their sympathizers. The relation between the Sicarii and the Zealots is unclear. Just as there was a connection between the Zealots and Judas's fourth philosophy, the same is true for the Sicarii. With the exception of the battles at Masada after the fall of Jerusalem, the Sicarii are never depicted as participating in open conflict.
[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.
Often associated with the Zealots were the Sicari. This name comes from Latin sica, a curved-shaped dagger (sickle), the weapon favored by these "terrorists" (the NIV rendering of sikarios G4974 in Acts 21:38). They conducted a campaign of terror-kidnapping, extortion, robbery, and murder, especially against Romans and their sympathizers. The relation between the Sicarii and the Zealots is unclear. Just as there was a connection between the Zealots and Judas's fourth philosophy, the same is true for the Sicarii. With the exception of the battles at Masada after the fall of Jerusalem, the Sicarii are never depicted as participating in open conflict.
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