The novel is a fictionalized retelling of the historic Siege of Masada, one of the final events in the First Roman-Jewish War. The Roman-Jewish wars were a series of large revolts by Jewish people in Judea and the eastern Mediterranean region against the Roman Empire.

Events in the novel begin with the Fall of Jerusalem in August 70 CE when, on the orders of Emperor Titus, Roman soldiers destroyed most of the city and the Second Temple, the holy site of the Jewish people, said to have been built by King Herod. After Jerusalem fell, its surviving inhabitants fled to outposts across Judaea, the Roman province roughly analogous to regions claimed by modern-day Israel and Palestine. As Roman forces massacred Jewish insurgents across Judaea, one of the places people found refuge was the ancient fortress of Masada. Other fortresses were Herodium and Machaerus. Zealots, a sect of Jewish people who militantly opposed Roman occupation, held the fortress at Masada. Sicarii (assassins) were a sub-group of Zealots, known as such because of the sica (curved daggers) they carried. In Hoffman’s novel, Yosef and Amram are members of the Sicarii.

Intent on crushing every last bit of rebellion in the Roman Empire, the Roman legions under General Flavius Lucius Silva advanced upon Masada, the only standing freehold of the Jewish people, in 72 CE.