"Everyone has his own Masada."

Eitan Campbell, director of Masada National Park, said that to President Bush today when he visited the mountaintop fortress, where hundreds of Jewish rebels slit the throats of their wives and children — then each other and the last man standing, himself — to avoid being enslaved by the Romans.

The symbolism of the president's visit was heavy, even ham-handed — to celebrate Israel's 60th anniversary, the leader of the nation's strongest ally toured a spot where the Jews made a final stand against its foe. The site's brochure calls Masada "a symbol of humanity's continuous struggle for freedom from oppression."

The story, especially as told by Campbell (at right, with Bush), whose visceral connection to the site is palpable and who tells the story with a still-fresh passion and emotion, is remarkable. In 73 or 74 A.D., members of the Jewish rebellion against the Romans, known as Zealots, took refuge atop 1,500-foot-high plateau fortress, built by King Herod as a winter palace. More than 8,000 Roman soldiers laid seige to the mountain, but could not break the rebels, who had stored years worth of food and had a complex water cistern system that was indestructable.

For months, the Romans built a ramp up to the fortress's main gate and set it on fire. The gate, and an earth-and-wood wall behind it, was sure to give way eventually, but the wind — always across the desert, west to east — turned back, blowing off the Dead Sea and pushing the flames back.

With the reprieve from death — but annihilation certain — rebel leader Eleazar Ben Yair gathered the men and delivered a speech, retold by historian Josephus Flavius.

"Since we, long ago, my generous friends, resolved never to be servants to the Romans, nor to any other than to God himself, who alone is the true and just Lord of mankind, the time has now come that obliges us to make that resolution true in practice. … We were the very first that revolted from them, and we are the last that fight against them; and I cannot but esteem it as a favor that God hath granted us, that it is still in our power to die bravely, and in a state of freedom, which hath not been the case of others, who were conquered unexpectedly. It is very plain that we shall be taken within a day's time, but it is still an eligible thing to die after a glorious manner, together with our dearest friends …

"Let our wives die before they are abused, and our children before they have tasted slavery; and after we have slain them, let us bestow that glorious benefit upon one another mutually and preserve ourselves in freedom."

The men drew lots (they were found by archeologists and are on display in the Masada museum, at right) to decide which 11 would kill each other, and which man himself (just one man committed suicide, against his religion).

Josephus wrote that when the Romans entered the fortress, they "were at a loss to conjecture what had happened. Here encountering the mass of slain, instead of exulting as over enemies, they admired the nobility of their resolve and the contempt of death display[ed] by so many in carrying it, unwavering, into execution." In all, nearly 1,000 Jews were dead; two women and five children had hidden themselves in the cisterns and told the Romans what had happened.

Bush and first lady Laura spent 90 minutes atop the plateau today, riding the modern cable car up to the ancient "Snake Path" gate of the fortress. Along with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (suffering his own Masada of late with a bribery scandal that threatens to force his resignation) and his wife, the four (pictured at left, listening to Campbell) passed through the gate and walked along a complex of stone storage rooms, and then the buildings at the northern end, which include a small palace and a bathhouse. They visited the sophisticated water-storage system and walked past the Roman ramp to the synagogue, the oldest in the world (by some acounts).

It was here the Zealot leaders cast lots that one night nearly 2,000 years ago, here that archeoligists found several scrolls, including one containing the Prophesy of the Dry Bones, which foresees the rebirth of Israel — and here that Campbell told the president, "Everyone has his own Masada."

— Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent, The Washington Times