Highlander - Donna Lettow [118]
Little is known about the last hours of Masada, except what is reported in Flavius Josephus’s The Jewish Wars. Josephus, a one-time Jewish rebel turned Roman collaborator, purported he got his facts from two women who survived Masada by hiding in a cistern. Recent archaeological evidence does support much of what Josephus wrote, including the pottery shards inscribed with the commanders’ names which were used to draw lots. The shards confirm the presence of Eleazar ben Yair the legendary commander of Masada, who I’ve borrowed for this book.
A note about Jewish naming conventions. According to Rabbi Morrison David Bial, the practice of naming children only after deceased relatives was originally an Ashkenazic tradition (Jews from Central Europe), not biblical or talmudic in origin, and so wouldn’t have been adhered to at the time of Masada.
Of the many books and references I consulted, three really stand out: Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by Israel Gutman; The Struggle for Peace: Israelis and Palestinians edited by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea and Mary Evelyn Hocking; and Masada, by Yigael Yadin, the archaeologist who uncovered the rock’s mysteries in the 1960s.
Thanks to “St. Catherine’s fifth grade”—Jennifer, Darla & Dr. Amy—for the beta testing.
Thanks to Sara Schwager, who brought the Hebrew in line with the pronunciation used in the 1940s.
Thank’s also to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., for refusing to let memories die away like the smoke from the camps. And to the writings of Elie Wiesel, who brought Avram Mordecai into sharp focus for me when he wrote of having to remember, even if “condemned to live as long as God himself.”
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.…
But not when it comes to new HighlanderTM novels! Watch in May 1998 for a new novel by Rebecca Neason, author of Highlander: The Path.
The Immortal known as Darius began life as a leader of the Goths. His army swept out of the Urals, sacked Rome, then headed to Paris—where Darius’s life was changed forever by his encounter with a holy man whose Quickening he took. As a result, Darius became a priest and forswore the Immortals’ game. This is the story of his centuries-long friendship with Duncan MacLeod, in which the two face danger and treachery, in the name of Immortal brotherhood.…
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE...
He is immortal. A Scottish warrior born four hundred years ago. He is not alone. For centuries he has fought others like himself. He can die only if a foe takes his head, capturing his life-force in an event known as the Quickening. But his battles are eternal...for in the end, there can be only one. He is Duncan MacLeod. The Highlander.
NEVER AGAIN
The Hebrew warrior Avram Mordecai has defended his people since the Roman siege of Masada, through 2000 years of Diaspora, ghettos, pogroms, and the Holocaust. And MacLeod has fought beside him, saving Jews from the Nazis in World War II. Now the Highlander is protecting a beautiful Palestinian diplomat at peace talks that the Zealot has vowed to disrupt by any means-including murder...