Courtesy Ehud Netzer

Attack and defense. Since the terrain forced the Rornans to concentrate their attack on one portion of Masada’s outer wall, the Zealots knew where to focus their defensive efforts. The main threat came from a battering ram, which probably looked like this one, used to recreate these events in the television movie Masada. With the rope attached to the left end of the ram, a body of men behind the siege engine could pull the swinging ram back and then release it, allowing it to swing forward powerfully into the wall.