Israel Post Masada 1965

ISRAEL POST on 3 February 1965 issued a First Day Cover set of three Masada commemorative stamps. The stamps depicted different views of Masada: the Palace-Lower Terrace, the Northern Palace, and a view from the west. The postmark from Jerusalem. The text "Masada shall not fall again" is prominently featured, referencing the historical siege of Masada. These stamps commemorated the swearing-in ceremony of Israeli Armoured Corps soldiers at Masada, a practice initiated by Moshe Dayan.

Masada (fortress) is an ancient fortification in southern 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 Dead Sea 20 km east of Arad.

Herod the Great built two palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BC.

According to Josephus, a first century Jewish Roman historian, the siege of Masada by Roman troops from 72 to 73 AD, at the end of the First Jewish–Roman War, ended in the mass suicide of the 960 Sicarii rebels -- an extremist Jewish splinter group antagonistic to a larger group of Jews referred to as the Zealots -- who were hiding there.

However, archaeological evidence relevant to a mass suicide event is ambiguous at best and rejected entirely by some scholars. In modern times, the story of the siege was revived as the Masada myth, a selectively constructed narrative based on Josephus's account. The mythical narrative became a national symbol in the early years of Israel's nationhood