Sicarii (Latin plural of Sicarius 'dagger-' or later contract- killer) is a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, to the Jewish Zealots, (or insurgents) who attempted to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea: Jerusalem (Hebrew: , Yerushaláyim or Yerushalaim; Arabic: , al-Quds; official Arabic in Israel: أورشليم القدس, Urshalim-Al-Quds) is Israels capital, most populous, [1] and largest city, with a population of 724,000 (as of May 24, 2006 [2]) contained in 123 km². An ancient Middle Eastern city on the watershed... Centuries: 1st century BC - 1st century - 2nd century Decades: 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s - 70s - 80s 90s 100s 110s 120s Years: 65 66 67 68 69 - 70 - 71 72 73 74 75 Events The building of the Colosseum starts (approximate date). ... This article describes some ethnic, historic, and cultural aspects of the Jewish identity; for a consideration of the Jewish religion, refer to the article Judaism. ... Zealotry denotes zeal in excess, referring to cases where activism and ambition in relation to an ideology have become excessive to the point of being harmful to others, oneself, and ones own cause. ... An insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority, by any irregular armed force that rises up against an enforced or established authority, government, or administration. ... The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... Judea or Judaea (יהודה Praise, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ) (Greek: Ιουδαία) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael), an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank, and, in a few geographical definitions of Judea, Jordan. ...

"When Albinus reached the city of Jerusalem, he bent every effort and made every provision to ensure peace in the land by exterminating most of the Sicarii." —Josephus, Jewish Antiquities (xx.208)

The sicarii even resorted to murder to obtain their objective. Under their cloaks they concealed sicae, or small daggers, from which they received their name. At popular assemblies, particularly during the pilgrimage to the Temple Mount, they stabbed their enemies (Romans or Roman sympathizers), lamenting ostentatiously after the deed to escape detection. Literally, Sicarii meant "dagger-men". Josephus (c. ... The Temple Mount (Hebrew: הַר הַבַּיִת, without niqqud: הר הבית, translit. ...

The victims of the Sicarii included Jonathan the High Priest, though it is possible that his murder was orchestrated by the Roman governor Felix. Some of their murders were met with severe retaliation by the Romans on the entire Jewish population of the country. On some occasions, they could be bribed to spare their intended victims. If the narrative of Barabbas is not an invention to create a parable, even convicted Sicarii were occasionally released on promising to spare their opponents, though there is no evidence for this practice outside the Gospels, which are largely in accord on this point. Once, Josephus relates, after kidnapping the secretary of Eleazar, governor of the Temple precincts, they agreed to release him in exchange for ten of their captured comrades. Jonathan (יְהוֹנָתָן / יוֹנָתָן Whom the LORD gave, Standard Hebrew Yonatan/Yəhonatan, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhônāṯān) was a prince of the Kingdom of Israel, son of King Saul, and beloved of the subsequent King David (see David and Jonathan). ... Marcus Antonius Felix was the Roman procurator of Judaea 52-60 AD, in succession to Ventidius Cumanus. ... Give us Barabbas!, from The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, 1910 In the Christian narrative of the Passion of Jesus, Barabbas, according to some texts Jesus bar-Abbas, (Aramaic Bar-abbâ, son of the father), was the insurrectionary whom Pontius Pilate freed at the Passover... An ill digested lesson The Governess. ...

At the beginning of the Jewish Revolt (66), the Sicarii, with the help of other Zealots, gained access to Jerusalem and committed a series of atrocities, in order to force the population to war. In one account, given in the Talmud, they destroyed the city's food supply, so that the people would be forced to fight against the Roman siege instead of negotiating peace. Their leaders, including Menahem ben Jair, Eleazar ben Jair, and Bar Giora, were important figures in the war, and Eleazar ben Jair eventually succeeded in escaping the Roman onslaught. Together with a small group of followers, he made his way to the abandoned fortress of Masada, where he continued his resistance to the Romans until 73, when the Romans took the fortress and found that most of its defenders had committed suicide rather than surrender. Events By place Roman Empire September 22 – Emperor Nero creates the legion I Italica Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire. ... The first page of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history. ... // History In May of 66 C.E., the Roman procurator, Florus, sent troops to plunder Jerusalem, and the Jews retaliated, overpowering Roman garrisons all over Jerusalem. ... This article is about the Judean fortress. ... For other uses, see number 73. ...

In Josephus' Jewish War (vii), after the fall of the Temple in 70 CE, the sicarii became the dominant revolutionary Jewish party, scattered abroad. Josephus particularly associates them with the mass suicide at Masada in 73 and to the subsequent refusal "to submit to the taxation census when Cyrenius was sent to Judea to make one" (Josephus) as part of their religious and political scheme as resistance fighters: This article is about the Judean fortress. ...

"Some of the faction of the Sicarion...not content with having saved themselves, again embarked on new revolutionary scheming, persuading those that received them there to assert their freedom, to esteem the Romans as no better than themselves and to look upon God as their only Lord and Master" (quoted by Eisenman, p 180).

In the name of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, the epithet "Iscariot" is read by the majority of scholars as a Hellenized transformation of sicarius. The suffix "-ote" denotes membership or belonging to - in this case to the sicarii. This meaning is lost when the Gospels are translated into modern Hebrew: Judas is rendered as "Ish-Kerayot," making him a man from the townships. Robert Eisenman presents the general view of secular historians (Eisenman p 179) in identifying him instead as "Judas the Sicarios". Most of the consonants and vowels tally—in Josephus, Sicarioi/Sicariōn; in the New Testament Iscariot. (Eisenman 1997 pp 179 etc) For the American black metal band, see Judas Iscariot (band). ... An epithet (Greek - επιθετον and Latin - epitheton; literally meaning imposed) is a descriptive word or phrase. ... Hebrew (עִבְרִית or עברית, ‘Ivrit) is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Jewish communities around the world. ...

Modern Comparisons

Sicarii had obvious parallels to a far later phenomenon, the medieval Hashshashin, Muslim fanatics whose talent for murders inspired the term assassin. The assassins, like the Sicarii, were notoriously willing to butcher coreligionists who didn't back their policies, in the Assassins' view all infidels to Islam. Like the fanatical Masada holdouts, the Assassins built mountain fortresses in desolate areas to defend themselves against military enemies. They also used the dagger almost exclusively to carry out assassinations. The Hashshashin (also Hashishin, Hashashiyyin or Assassins) had a militant basis as a religious sect (often referred to as a cult) of Ismaili Muslims from the Nizari sub-sect. ... An infidel (literally, one without faith) is one who doubts or rejects central tenets of a religion, especially those regarding its deities. ...

A more overt reference to Sicarii occurred in Colombia since the 1980s. Sicarios, professional criminals adept at kidnapping, bombing, and theft, gradually became a class of their own in organized crime in Colombia. Described by Mark Bowden in his investigative work Killing Pablo, the sicarios played a key role in the wave of violence against police and authorities during the early 1990s campaign by the government to capture and extradite fugitive druglord Pablo Escobar and other partners in the Medellin cocaine cartel. Unlike their ancient namesake, sicarios have never had an ideological underpinning. Perhaps the only cause that they were attributed to was the opposition to extradition of Colombian criminals. Though Escobar employed sicarios to eliminate his enemies, these assassins were active more as independent individuals or gangs than loyal followers of a leader, and there were plenty of sicarios willing to serve the rival Cali cartel. Nevertheless, many died in combat against police forces, indicating that they were not all inclined to bend to the wind. Indeed, long before Escobar's time, Colombia in particular had a long legacy of professional kidnappers (secuestradores) and murderers, whom he emulated. Mark Robert Bowden (II) (born July 17, 1951) is an accomplished American writer. ... Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (December 1, 1949 – December 2, 1993) gained world infamy as a Colombian drug dealer. ... The Medellín Cartel was a well-organized but very loose network of drug smugglers originating in the city of Medellín in Colombia and operating through the 1970s and 1980s. ... The Cali Cartel (Spanish: Cartel de Cali) is a drug cartel based in the south part of Colombia, around the city of Cali. ...

In Mexico, the word 'Sicario' is used to refer the drug cartel killers who have specific targets.

References

• Jewish Encyclopedia: "Sicarii"
• Robert Eisenman, James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls,1997 (VikingPenguin)

Dr. Robert H. Eisenman is a Professor of Middle East Religions and Archaeology and Director of the Institute for the Study of Judeo-Christian Origins at California State University, Long Beach; and Visiting Senior Member of Linacre College, Oxford University. ...

See also

• Hashshashin
• Josephus
• Judas Iscariot