Utter poppycock. Jews were not forced out of their homes in Jerusalem by the Romans. It was radical Jews who had ambushed the Roman garrison in Judea, ambushed the Legion first sent to recover the area, and so on. The radicals also made a habit of killing more moderate Jewish factions, and the rebels set about killing each other once they had taken Jerusalem. Once the Romans retook the city, a particular sect—the Sicarii—hid in Masada. The Sicarii were assassins who thought that the Zealots were too reasonable, and they were given their name for their habit of stabbing people in crowds with daggers, which included moderate Jews.

Also, the Sicarii did not hold “out for months against the vast Roman armies.” Masada was an old fortress of Herod’s on a plateau, and there was not adequate access for the Legion to attack. It took the Romans months to build a ramp up to the old fortress. There was no effort to take the fortress prior to that time, and there also was no effort by the Sicarii to fight their way out. According to Josephus, the Jews had killed themselves aside from two women and five children, but archaeological evidence instead suggests that the Romans took the fortress with little trouble and captured the Jews inside.

Glossing over the reason for the war, suggesting that the Romans were fighting “the Jews” rather than certain radicals, and implying that “the Jews” resisted the Romans at Masada rather than hiding inside until captured all serve to demonstrate why “pop culture history” is so dangerous. Books and media like “The Dovekeepers” pass themselves off as “historical fiction,” but virtually none of it is accurate to history yet people come away thinking it is.