The Myth of Masada

[Justtristo]

Yes and no. The Romans were not above building up their enemies so that their triumphs looked better than they were. But it is true that this was the last battle of a war that Josephus began on the other side until he went over to the Romans so perhaps he was given to nostalgia?

The Romans almost exclusively practiced cremation in the first century so the lack of bodies is not much of a surprise. They were either crucified as a lesson or burned.

Most Confederates did not own slaves in either case. If you read recruiting posters from 1861-2, soldier's journals or letters, and the lyrics to their songs, there is not a lot of talk about slavery on either side. It's quite a curious topic for discussion.

It almost seems as though they fought because they wanted to fight.

I was actually stating that there was a correlation between support for succession and the level of slave ownership, even if a minority of the white population owned slaves.



Percentage of the population who were slaves before the Civil War



Support for succession by county.


West Virginia became a state during the civil war, because the counties which would become West Virginia opposed succession. While on the rest of Virginia supported succession. Also there were much fewer slaves in those counties than in the rest of Virginia.