"The people of Masada were wrong to die as they did"
I disagree with this statement.
Some people might say that killing themselves was a cowardly thing to do, and they should have faced up to the Romans. However, I think that it takes a great deal of courage to kill yourself and your family, because it is a tremendously difficult thing to do. There would also be no point in facing up to the Romans, because the Zealots were outnumbered 10:1, and if the Romans won, then the women might be raped, the children tortured and the men killed. It was better for them to die freely of their own will.
They could have surrendered and been made slaves, but I believe that slavery is worse than death, as it is painful and torture. They had tasted their freedom, and would never want to go back. Husbands, wives and children would be split up, and you'd never know if they were still alive, or even where they could possibly be. If everyone died, they would all be together in their death, and because they were Jewish, they would believe that they would all go to Heaven together. They also believed freedom and family were important, as well as friends.
People might also argue that it is murder to kill your own wife and children and other men, not suicide. Yet I believe that if it was murder, it was for God, so it was less bad because the Zealots were kind of martyrs for their belief they believed that Masada was their land and that they had been given it by God. In the beginning they were given Israel, the land which was promised to them.
Others might also say that they could have died in a less drastic way than cutting each others' throats, but the alternatives are worse. Poison, for example, would be very slow and painful way to die, even if they could get hold of it up on the mountain unlikely, since they were surrounded Jumping off Masada would be horrible they might not die, and would land in an enemy camp anyway, as the Romans surrounded the...