''The Antagonists'' is a 1971 historical novel by Ernest K. Gann about the

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

of the

Masada Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the D ...

citadel in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

by the 10th Legion of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

in AD 73. The novel was adapted as a television miniseries, ''

'', broadcast first in 1981. The two antagonists of the title are Eleazer ben Yair, leader of the Jewish

Zealots The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Jew ...

who make a final stand on Masada; and the Roman general Flavius Silva. A sequel, entitled ''The Triumph'', was published in 1986.

Overview

The novel explores the themes of leadership and patriotism by comparing and contrasting the two protagonists/ antagonists of the story. Little survives from history, so the account is heavily fictionalized.

References

External links

Movie Review: ''Masada''
The Prayer Foundation, 8 May 2008. 1971 American novels Novels set in the 1st century Novels set in ancient Israel American novels adapted into television shows {{1970s-hist-novel-stub