Masada is a 1981 American historical drama television miniseries aired on ABC under the tentpole ABC Novel for Television. The screenplay by Joel Oliansky is based on Ernest Gann's 1971 novel The Antagonists. A dramatization of the historical siege of the Masada citadel in Roman Palestine by legions of the Roman Empire in AD 73. A siege that ended when the Roman armies entered the fortress, only to discover the mass suicide by the Jewish defenders when defeat became imminent.

Genres

Cast

Peter O'Toole

General Cornelius Flavius Silva

Peter Strauss

Eleazar ben Yair

Barbara Carrera

Sheva

Alan Feinstein

Aaron

Giulia Pagano

Miriam

Anthony Quayle

Rubrius Gallus

Paul L. Smith

Gideon

David Warner

Senator Pomponius Falco

Clive Francis

Attius, Head Tribune

David Opatoshu

Shimon

Joseph Wiseman

Jerahmeel, Head Essene

Vernon Dobtcheff

Chief Priest